A 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' reboot? Fox's Gary Newman says 'When Joss decides it's time, we'll do it'
Buffy The Vampire Slayer “is probably the most ripe show we have for bringing back,” Fox Chairman and CEO Gary Newman said this morning at the INTV conference in Jerusalem. He refrained from confirming such a move for fear of not being able “to get out of the building alive.” But he did allow, “It’s something we talk about frequently. Joss Whedon is one of the greatest creators we’ve ever worked for. When Joss decides it’s time, we’ll do it.”
The comments came during a chat about the current trend towards reviving beloved series. Fox has done it with The X-Files and is developing another new 24. Reaching back further, 20th Century Fox TV is co-producing a reboot of The Greatest American Hero and doing a new iteration of Prison Break.
But Newman said, “Reboots aren’t actually a focus for us. Most of the time it starts with a creator coming in. Admittedly, we chased The X-Files for a while. But when we first brought it back it was Chris and David and Gillian. The 24 franchise… we’ll always want it.”
What’s so hot about them? The built-in familiarity. “In this world with nearly 500 scripted series, getting a leg up on marketing is an opportunity,” Newman said.
But, he cautioned, “If you do it cynically, if you don’t have a great creative reason to to it, I don’t think it’s going to work.”
A trailblazing and genre-busting series, Buffy starred Sarah Michelle Gellar, David Boreanz, Alyson Hannigan, Charisma Carpenter, Anthony Stewart Head,
Seth Green and James Marsters. It celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, after originally running for seven seasons, five on the WB and two on UPN.
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