The Slayer is back in a new role.
It’s a dream come true for Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans – Sarah Michelle Gellar has returned to the supernatural genre with her new show Wolf Pack!
Yep, the Slayer herself is back on our screens in a new series from Teen Wolf creator Jeff Davis, that sees a California wildfire awaken a terrifying supernatural creature.
Gellar plays arson investigator Kristen Ramsay, leaving plenty of room for the action she’s so well known for.
After believing that she would never return to the genre, the actress has pointed out the key similarities between Buffy and Wolf Pack that made it impossible for her to say no.
Speaking about why Buffy was so enduring, she explained at a Q&A in London: “I wish I knew all the reasons because I could bottle that and make everything that successful.
“As an actor you hope what you do resonates and means something and you hope it stands the test of time. And that test of time is getting harder and harder because we’re looking at shows through such a different lens.
“So even movies that we love, now they’re sexist, they’re too whatever, whatever lens we’re looking at them [through]. So that’s hard.
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“But I think the beauty of Buffy was she represented every single one of us, right? Whether it was a girl and her first love, whether it was someone coming out to their parents, whatever that emotion was, there was something that resonated for everybody.
“And, to make the full parallel, that, to me, is what the show represented. Each of these characters [in Wolf Pack], Everett’s dealing with this huge anxiety that his parents don’t think is real. Well, that’s what every teenager feels – ‘My parents don’t know me, they don’t understand.’ There is this disconnect.
“You have Bella [Shepard]’s character who wants no technology. Well, guess what? That’s not the answer, either. Because that is how we connect…
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“Tyler’s character really is that boy trying to become a man, separating from the parents, looking for, ‘what do I have in common with you, you’ve raised me, does that make me who I am?’
“Every one of us has a part of those characters. And I think that’s what ultimately makes something successful. It’s not the monster. It’s not the witty dialogue. It’s, does this mean something to me?
“And what I realised in the last couple of weeks, too, is that supernatural really does allow you to tell the most super human stories, because life’s really hard right now.”
Based on Edo van Belkom’s 2004 book of the same name, Wolf Pack follows a group of teen werewolves who find each other after a wildfire leads to a horrifying turn of events in California.
Despite some confusion, it’s not a Teen Wolf spin-off (although fans of the Teen Wolf franchise will have plenty to watch too, with the release of the new film).
Gellar is clearly still mega proud of her role as Buffy Summers, which she played from 1997 to 2003.
However, while she’s clearly open to returning to supernatural fare more generally, we won’t ever see her as the Slayer again.
She previously told SFX: “I am very proud of the show that we created, and it doesn’t need to be done. We wrapped that up.
“I am all for them continuing the story, because there’s the story of female empowerment. I love the way the show was left: ‘Every girl who has the power can have the power.'”
Wolf Pack is available to stream on Paramount Plus, with episodes dropping weekly. Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on.
All seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer are available to stream now on Disney Plus. Sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 for a year.
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