Chloe Zhao is "not surprised" at Hulu's shocking cancelation of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot

It looks like Hulu has put a stake in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot. Just what happened to this seemingly solid revival, and how does director Chloé Zhao feel about it?

It appeared that the latest show to join the “legacy sequel” TV train would be Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There had long been efforts to revive the 1997-2003 series, a landmark of genre television that made Joss Whedon a name and influenced scores of TV shows, movies, and comics since.

The revival had major backing with Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar, reprising her role, with Buffy serving as a mentor to a new Slayer played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong. Even more exciting, the pilot was directed by Academy Award winner Chloé Zhao, a self-professed fan of the series, with a script by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman, co-creators of the Peacock mystery drama Poker Face.

However, over the weekend, Gellar shared the surprising news that Hulu was not going forward with the show despite its completed pilot. That was a shock to fans who thought this revival was basically a done deal. The talk about what happened has grown, and on the Oscars red carpet, Zhao (nominated that night for the drama Hamnet) confessed to Variety she wasn’t shocked by this.

"I'm not surprised," Zhao said. "I had an incredible time with Sarah, with the whole cast and crew doing this and we, first and foremost, see ourselves as the guardians of the original show. Our priority has always been to be truthful to the show, and be truthful to our fans. So things happen for a reason and we keep our hearts open and welcome the mystery for what this may lead us to."

New vampire slayer Ryan Kiera Armstrong added her own thoughts on her Instagram page. "I'm sure many of you have already heard the news by now. I'm really proud of what we did. I'm sad that you guys won’t be able to see it, but it doesn’t take away from the amazing experience that I had. I guess all I want to say is, we brought this back for you guys and Buffy is such a big part of all of our lives, and it's not going anywhere. So, who knows what the future will hold."

It’s still amazing that a property that seemed perfect for a revival is being shut down after a completed pilot and some good buzz. Just what happened to this new take on Buffy?

What was to blame for Buffy’s end?

It’s tricky to figure out the truth, but Deadline quotes unnamed sources who say Hulu executives were concerned over the show’s tone. Supposedly, there was a feeling that Zhao’s more intimate arthouse picture sensibilities didn’t quite mesh with the tone of the series.

This may sound familiar, as Marvel fans have made much the same comments about Zhao’s 2021 Eternals film, which was a box office and critical disappointment. No one can deny Zhao's amazing talents as a director, as proven by her Oscar-winning Nomadland and Hamnet, which just earned Jessie Buckley a Best Actress Oscar.

However, not every director is capable of handling multiple genres and styles equally. Quite a few directors who are experts at small, intimate dramas falter when they try to tackle mainstream studio fare, especially sci-fi and fantasy. Eternals showed that Zhao may simply be out of her depth handling a special-effects-laden blockbuster.

As much as Zhao is a fan of Buffy, the show’s fans would agree the series needs more of the quippy, action vibe that Whedon (for all his many faults) managed to capture perfectly. The original show was a coming-of-age tale using the supernatural as a metaphor for teenage angst. The revival could use the idea of Buffy handling adulthood and a new generation following her. That would require a deft hand and Zhao just may not have been able to pull it off.

Then again, Gellar has come out with her own version of events that pinpoints one particular executive for the reboot's failure. “We had an executive on our show who was not only not a fan of the original, but was proud to constantly remind us that he had never seen the entirety of the series and how it wasn't for him," she told People. "That's very hard when you're taking a property that is as beloved as Buffy, not just to the world, but to me and Chloé. So that tells you the uphill battle that we had been fighting since day one, when your executive is literally proud to tell you that he didn't watch it."

The fate of the show is up in the air. Shopping it to another streamer is unlikely as Disney/Hulu owns the rights to the series. There is a chance that the issue wasn't with the script as much as the direction, so perhaps there’s a possibility it can be reworked and tried again with a different creative team.

So it looks like Buffy is done for now, but if there’s one thing fans know about the Slayer, she’s hard to put down for good. Maybe one day Buffy will live again!