The new Buffy the Vampire Slayer series has cast 15-year-old Ryan Kiera Armstrong opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar for the forthcoming reboot, which was first announced in February.
Armstrong, who has previously been seen as Fern in the Star Wars series Skeleton Crew, will play the new slayer in the as-yet-untitled show, with her character described in the casting materials as an introverted high school student.
The series will see Gellar reprise her iconic role as Buffy Summers. The 48-year-old is also working as an executive producer on the series.
In fact, it was Gellar who broke the news to Armstrong.
In a clip shared on Instagram, Gellar spoke to Armstrong over a video call, telling her: “I know this process has been hard, and there’s been so many parts. There was just sort of one part of it that I just wanted to ask you, and I wanted to make sure that you were okay with: How do you feel about helping me save the world?”
The teenage star tentatively replied by saying: “Good.”
“You want to be my chosen one? Will you stand by my side and save the world?” Gellar then asked, prompting Armstrong to break down in tears.
“Ryan, we all love you, and from the second we all saw your tape, there was nobody else in our eyes that could do it, that we wanted to do it with. And I am so excited to stand by your side and have you be my partner on this journey.”
Armstrong, who appeared visibly stunned, whispered under her breath: “This is so exciting.”
Referencing the fictional location of the Buffy series, Gellar noted: “Welcome to new Sunnydale.”
Ryan, you earned it. There’s nobody else in any of our eyes. You are our chosen one,” she continued.
Gellar then told Armstrong to call her father to come over and celebrate. “I just kind of overheard what was happening here, and I know that this is exactly where she’s supposed to be right now: With you on this insane, insane new journey,” he said when appearing on the call.
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 was the co-lead in the 2023 Western film The Old Way with Nicolas Cage.
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.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which began airing in 1997, follows high schooler Buffy Summers. As the newest “slayer”, she is fated to battle supernatural creatures such as vampires.
She is guided in her quests by her watcher Rupert Giles, played by Anthony Stewart Head, and has a loyal group of friends to help her including Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) and Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon).
The show ran for seven seasons, concluding in 2003 after a total of 144 episodes.
There has been no further news on who will be in the cast and who is set to return. In February, however, James Marsters, who played anti-hero vampire Spike in the original show, did hint that he would be returning.
