3 Possums in a Prom Dress

I am not ashamed to say I cried when the news broke. I do not know where I would be without Buffy Summers, and I feel so much sadness that another generation won't get their Slayer. Now that we are in the age of understanding PR campaigns I think we all know better than to believe what they're saying. It's worth having a conversation about the wording that the executives used when they responded to the backlash. This is the work of PR, not a failing on the creative team.

Sarah Michelle Gellar turned down several reboot opportunities because she felt they weren't good enough. She signed on to this project because she thought it was honest to the original, while still allowing a new generation to find their own Slayer. She's been training for months for this project. She hand picked the new Slayer. She cares about the legacy of this show as much as we all do.

Chloé Zhao has won Oscars, and is well known for her visionary filmmaking. Her movie Hamnet just got nominated several times this Oscars season. Everyone who has worked with her applauds her artistic vision and relentless passion. She is no pushover.

The writers Nora and Lilla Zuckerman just came off of a very successful run with Pokerface on Peacock which may not have won many awards, but did at the Screen Actors Guild. They've worked for extremely successful shows like Fringe, and Agents of Shield.

This was a project written, directed, and envisioned by a collaboration of women that was for the intended viewing of other women. Which was squashed by a man who openly admitted he never liked the original and "didn't get it". This coming from a company that has been reproducing animated classics in to live action with aggressively large CGI budgets and get slammed every time. Yet they continue to make them.

When they say "it wasn't very good". What they're saying is damage control. The announcement wasn't left to them, who knows what it would have said if it was. They don't want to go toe to toe with Sarah Michelle Gellar who is one of the most beloved fan favorite actresses, or Chloé Zhao who is one of the biggest directors in Hollywood right now. They are attacking the writers who are the lowest hanging fruit. This is the same old song and dance.

It should be noted that whenever a female lead series comes out that people don't like, their excuse is usually "the writing". We see it in Star Wars, in Marvel, and pretty much every major fandom. Always attack the writers to find an excuse to not like something. Disney has taken notes from toxic fan culture and turned it back on all of us.

Pilots are re-written and re-shot all the time. It would make sense for the pilot to not center Buffy as the series is called "New Sunnydale". Sarah already said we would be following the new Slayer as well as catching up with Buffy where she is now. Disney wanted a rehashed version of the original, which couldn't work now that so much has come out about it's original creator. This was meant to be a new Buffy for a new generation and Disney didn't want to take that gamble. And now Disney owns the rights so the show cannot be shopped to another network.