I’m a hardcore Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan, and this week news started to go around about a reboot of the popular television show. According to the Hollywood Reporter “Plans for a Buffy reboot, news of which broke Friday, were met with almost immediate backlash. While many die-hard fans of the original series were excited for a new take with Whedon involved, others voiced disappointment that anyone would attempt to replicate the original series. ”
Some of these concerns with the project were answered by showrunner and writer Monica Owasu-Breen
— monicaowusubreen (@monicabreen) July 26, 2018
The show is in the early stages and who knows what the future will hold. Personally both as a fan and a television scholar, I’m optimistic about women of color being involved with the project both behind and in front of the scenes. #Blerds like me have long taken issue with Joss Whedon, Buffy’s creator. In 2017 I attended the Blerd City conference panel about his 2006 script for Wonder Woman, which panel moderator Valerie Complex said “could be interpreted as sexist, tone deaf, stereotypical.” This Buffy may be the chance he needs to partially redeem himself, if such a thing is possible. Those of us with a good memory know that there already was a Black Slayer, Kendra played by Bianca Lawson. When she appeared on the show Lawson gave us all hope for a more diverse cast. Most recently Lawson can now be seen on Queen Sugar, which I have praised frequently on this blog.
When I heard about the project my first thought was to ask Buffy scholar Jason Winslade, PhD about the show. “Well, from a canonical standpoint, I hope it recognizes the national status quo that the comics have established – that the Slayers are accepted but viewed suspiciously, that some work for the government and private Contracting firms, while others work on the fringes. Also, that the general public knows about vampires and some, like Harmony, are even celebrities. So much interesting stuff to mine there. I would look to how iZombie has done its worldbuilding going from a few that knew the secret to an entire society dealing with this new, strange reality. But all that’s just window dressing, stuff in the background. I hope we get all new characters. I hope it’s a Slayer of color who is responsible for a specific area, like Cleveland (there’s still a hellmouth there, right?). Maybe a passing reference to the Slayer that started it all based in San Francisco, maybe an eventual occasional cameo from someone like Willow, Faith, Riley, maybe Xander (heck, Nick Brendan needs the work), even Andrew. Most of all, I want it to work. I want to love the new characters. I want that sense of family. I want the stories to be unique. Not too heavy handed with the politics but apt metaphors for current times. No need for high school shenanigans, been there done that. Give us something different. Darker and edgier than what was on broadcast television. But still funny. Seeing as this will likely be Netflix or something, more creative license is available. Primarily, I want it to be good.”
I think we all want it to be good, so here’s hoping. As always if you have enjoyed what you read here please remember to like, comment, and share !
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