Sarah Michelle Gellar has revealed that children of the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast members came in to audition for the forthcoming reboot, which was first announced in February.
The series will see Gellar reprise her iconic role as Buffy Summers while 15-year-old Ryan Kiera Armstrong will star alongside her as a new slayer.
In the original 1997 show, Buffy battled supernatural creatures alongside her watcher Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), and friends Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) and Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon).
Speaking to Us Weekly alongside Hannigan, Gellar said: “I know somebody who was on the show whose child auditioned on the show. I know a few people from the show whose children came in.”
Hannigan, who has two daughters – Satyana Marie, 16, and Keeva Jane, 13 – with her husband Alexis Denisof, quickly joked: “It better not have been one of my kids!”
Gellar revealed that Armstrong had been cast in the forthcoming Buffy reboot last week. Her character in the as-yet-untitled show was described in the casting materials as an introverted high school student.
Canadian-born Armstrong received her breakout role when she was eight years old, starring in The Art of Racing In the Rain opposite Amanda Seyfried. Her other film credits include IT: Part Two, The Tomorrow War, The Glorias, and Black Widow.
She previously played the lead in the 2022 Stephen King adaptation Firestarter and starred in the 2023 Western film The Old Way with Nicolas Cage.
There has been no further news on which members of the original Buffy cast might make an appearance in the new show. In February, however, James Marsters, who played anti-hero vampire Spike in the original series, hinted that he would be returning.
Buffy fan and acclaimed filmmaker Chloé Zhao, who won the Oscar for Best Director in 2020 for Nomadland, is set to direct the pilot episode.
The original show ran for seven seasons, concluding in 2003 after a total of 144 episodes.
