Kristy Swanson, star of the original film version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has stated that she would welcome the opportunity to appear in the upcoming Hulu revival of the hit TV series.
This past weekend at a Q&A at Nickel City Comic Con in Buffalo, NY, Swanson was asked by the moderator (our own Jeff Heller) if she would be open to appear in the reboot of the popular series, to which she had this to say:
“I would never say never. First of all, I was super excited that they were making it a series because I love the character of Buffy, and as a girl, it’s great for young girls to be able to see this strong female character every week on TV. I thought, ‘That’s a great thing.’ So, I was really happy with that and the success of the show. However, Paul Reubens and Luke [Perry] and I were like, ‘Are they ever going to ask us to come do a cameo or something?’ That would be fun, you know? It was more like just a flippant conversation. But yeah, we could have done that back then. That would have been kind of fun. If they had asked, I’m sure all of us would have said yes. But yeah, if they are going to continue the Buffyverse, I would always be open to being involved with that, do something or contribute in some sort of way.”
Swanson starred as the titular Buffy in the 1992 Buffy the Vampire Slayer film, in which a cheerleader discovers that she is next in a long line of ‘Chosen Ones,’ a girl in each generation who is imbued with the supernatural strength, skill, and agility to fight vampires, demons, and other forces of darkness to protect humanity. Swanson was joined in the film by Donald Sutherland, Luke Perry, Rutger Hauer, Paul Ruebens and Hillary Swank. The film was a moderate success, but was met with mostly negative reviews.
Disappointed by the direction of the film due to changes in his script, screenwriter Joss Whedon pitched the story as a TV series with his original vision in tact, which was picked up by the fledgling network the WB, becoming a massive hit. It starred Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, and had Buffy starting at a new school in the town of Sunnydale hoping to put all of her vampire slaying behind her, only to discover that her new town is located on top of a Hellmouth. The series also starred Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan, Charisma Carpenter, Anthony Stewart Head, David Boreanaz, Seth Green, and James Marsters. The show ran for seven seasons, from 1997-2001 on the WB, and on UPN for its final two seasons from 2001-2003. Buffy spawned the spin-off series, Angel, starring Boreanaz, which ran for five seasons on WB, as well as a slew of novels, comic books and merchandise.
The new version of the series will see the return of Gellar as Buffy, as well as Star Wars: Skeleton Crew actress Ryan Kiera Armstrong as the newest Chosen One. Nora Zuckerman and Lila Zuckerman are attached to write, showrun, and executive produce. Chloé Zhao is attached to direct and executive produce under her Book of Shadows production banner. Gellar would also executive produce along with Gail Berman. Fran Kuzui and Kaz Kuzui will executive produce via Suite B, with Dolly Parton executive producing via her production company, Sandollar.