Why The Buffy The Vampire Slayer Sequel’s Biggest Obstacle Is Joss Whedon’s Comics

If Sarah Michelle Gellar returning for a “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” sequel series was on your 2025 bingo card, congratulations, you’re a leg up on the rest of us. According to Variety, the project is nearing a pilot order at Hulu with Nora Zuckerman and Lilla Zuckerman attached as writers and Academy Award-winning director Chloé Zhao behind the camera. Things aren’t quite set in stone, but that never stopped anyone from speculating on details. And when it comes to a direct successor to “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” there’s one particular detail that will need to be addressed (or, preferably, totally ignored) early on.

Dedicated fans of the late-’90s supernatural action/drama/comedy series will know that there were many more “Buffy” stories told after the series concluded at the end of season 7. And no, I’m not talking about that last season of “Angel,” which extended past the “Buffy” finale and brought Spike (James Marsters) back. I’m talking about the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” sequel comics written by series creator Joss Whedon and others between 2007 and 2018. Dubiously titled “Season 8” through “Season 12,”

Whedon’s involvement alone may be enough to ward off would-be readers, given the numerous allegations of workplace toxicity, sexual misconduct, and overall power abuse that have come out in recent years. But that’s not the only reason to dodge these comics completely. Whedon himself was barely involved for the majority of the extra “seasons,” choosing to duck in and out after extensive involvement in “Season 8.” The rest was penned by comic book writers like Christos Gage and Corinna Bechko, but the new sequel series would do best by ignoring these follow-up stories entirely.

The setup for “Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8” sees Buffy and the other slayers from season 7, along with longtime Scooby Gang members like Xander and Willow, formed into a global monster-fighting organization. Various chapters span the planet, with Buffy’s primary headquarters based out of a castle in Scotland. It’s a major expansion in scale compared to the TV series, but it’s also one that makes sense given the new medium. This global, well-funded organization might as well be S.H.I.E.L.D., and the main characters are basically the Avengers.

That’s not a bad concept on its face, and things start out interesting enough with some stylish art and a new mysterious villain on the loose. But the storylines quickly take a nosedive into the perplexing, upsetting, and downright bad. In the interest of sparing you, I’ll run down some of the most baffling narrative choices below. Look away now if you don’t want to be spoiled.

Among other things, Angel gets seduced/possessed/tricked by the spirit of an alternate dimension, kills Giles, and learns to levitate. Buffy goes to the future and kills Willow. Xander and Dawn get together romantically — a move that’s extra gross given the age gap, the fact that Whedon has said Xander is the character he relates to the most, and the more recent revelation that there was a rule on set that Whedon couldn’t be alone with Michelle Trachtenberg.

And that’s all just in the first “season.” While the later installments honestly have some stronger material (perhaps due to Whedon not being so involved), they all work off of this foundation, and things get off the rails so soon that it’s hard to recommend anyone sticking it out.

Hopefully, that brief list of unhinged nonsense gives you some idea as to why the new “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” sequel series should completely ignore the comics. While the TV show certainly embraced some sci-fi and fantasy comic book storylines from time to time (Whedon has long been a fan of the medium), those indulgences were never what made the show great. Strong character writing, great chemistry within a core ensemble, goofy charm, and a lot of heartfelt emotional moments — that’s why most fans love “Buffy,” I think, and it’s certainly why I do. The times when the show gets too caught up in high-concept genre storytelling — seasons 4 and 7 jump out — are generally when it’s at its weakest.

Of course, the bigger reason why the new show should (and surely will) completely ignore the comics is that a tiny percentage of the folks who love “Buffy” have ever read them. The show remains enormously popular, and there’s no reason to arbitrarily gatekeep the majority of fans for a bunch of asinine storylines they’ve never even heard of. Will the new “Buffy” series be any good? That’s yet to be proven. Heck, we don’t even know for sure if it’s happening yet. But it’s certainly an exciting prospect as long as the creatives behind the scenes focus on what always made the original strong.

Please, please don’t pull a “Force Awakens”https://www.slashfilm.com/”Dark Empire” with this one.

If we remove the comics from the picture, there’s a lot of potential for new storylines in a “Buffy” sequel series. At the end of the show, Buffy leads a whole team of slayers alongside her friends. You can do a lot with that setup without going full-blown “Vampire Spec-Ops in a Castle.” It remains to be seen if the events of “Angel” season 5 will be factored in, but given that most of “Angel” cuts back and forth with “Buffy,” it would be hard (and nonsensical) to excise the spin-off. That puts the classic Spike/Angel romantic question back on the table (it’s Spike, we all know the right answer is Spike).

Given the amount of time that’s passed, of course, the new show will be jumping ahead decades, which puts a question mark on some actors returning. David Boreanaz and James Marsters, for instance, are much older now, but their vampire characters theoretically shouldn’t age. There’s no word even on if either could return, but if they do, some supernatural justification may be in order. But hey, they’ve all died, been revived, and gotten new souls before, so that’s easy.

While it would be great to get more of the old cast involved, the Variety report only mentions Gellar right now. But hey, that’s the one person you absolutely need, so we’re starting on the right track.