In recent weeks, fans of Buffy The Vampire Slayer were dealt a bad and surprising blow. After years of hype and building anticipation, it was announced that the planned reboot from director Chloe Zhao is not moving forward and that the filmed pilot won't air. It's a sad time to be a part of the fandom, but there are some silver linings: all seven seasons of the original run of the show are able to stream with a Hulu subscription, and audiences can currently go to theaters to see Sarah Michelle Gellar participating in some staking action.
The actress is in villain mode instead of slayer mode in the new film Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come, but the film nonetheless has her executing a proper stabbing, and star Samara Weaving is on the receiving end of it. The weapon is a pistol priming rod instead of a wooden stake, but Weaving was nonetheless proud of the moment, as I discovered when I asked her about it during the film's Los Angeles press day. When I asked if she was aware of the connection, she explained,
Oh no, I was excited. What an homage! What an honor.
As for how the moment came together and whether or not it was intentionally inspired by Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Weaving couldn't say for certain, but she recalls that there was a knowingness in the moment. When I asked if the staking was included as a deliberate reference, she said,
I think so. I think they quickly wrote it in. They were like, 'Hey, we've got SMG, let's quickly put a little stabby in there.' Yeah.
In the film, Sarah Michelle Gellar plays Ursula Danforth: a member of one of six elite families that have sold their souls to the devil a.k.a. Mr. Le Bail. As part of an agreement, the clans have to compete for a ring that will let them control the world, and that means playing a game of hide and seek where the "seeked" is Samara Weaving's Grace MacCaullay – who is fresh off a previous round of the game, as seen in 2019's Ready Or Not.
Ursula is more of a "power broker" type, and her primary weapon is a pistol (hence her possession of a pistol priming rod), but the film still had her get in on some hand-to-hand action… which she apparently wasn't expecting. Weaving added,
I think she didn't realize she had a big fight scene and then we were like, 'Yeah you do!'
Considering that Sarah Michelle Gellar got to peace out from production before the epic, bloody finale, it's good that she got to participate in some fresh on-screen combat.
Also starring Kathryn Newton, Shawn Hatosy, David Cronenberg, and Elijah Wood, Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come is now playing in theaters.
