New Buffy showrunner speaks on reboot concerns, telling fans it is time for a new Slayer

Buffy the Vampire’s reboot may have some fans concerned, but new showrunner Monica Owusu-Breen says it is about time a “new Slayer” came around.

When news broke that the popular Joss Whedon series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was getting the reboot treatment, there seemed to be equal parts excitement and dread on social media. That fan concern has actually led to showrunner Monica Owusu-Breen penning a message to the fans.

Through a post on Twitter, Owusu-Breen made it clear that she has every intention of respecting the original series we all know and love. In fact, as a “genre writer,” she feels as if Buffy was her personal Star Wars.

In the letter to the fans, the showrunner, who has previously been an EP for the series Midnight Texas, said that she is herself a fan of Buffy and the Scooby gang. She explained that like the rest of us, she also remembers watching Buffy Summers and her friends grow up and get through school. Owusu-Breen shared that she remembers all the fighting, struggles, and hardships that the original Buffy had to deal with in her efforts to save the world and her home.

And it is because of her appreciation for the original series, and her belief that, “there is only one Buffy. One Xander, one Willow, Giles, Cordelia, Oz, Tara, Kendra, Faith, Spike, Angel,” she acknowledged that these are not characters who can be replaced.

As fans, we know that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is irreplaceable and something that should not be rebooted. There was magic in that series and much of that magic stemmed from the cast and their chemistry. Thanks to the assurances of Owusu-Breen, fans can rest assured the new Slayer and her crew will have that too.

Of course, in an entertainment landscape that seems destined to bring us reboots and revivals of all of our favorite shows, we are not surprised that Buffy is getting revived for a new generation. As the new showrunner for the series pointed out, it has been 20 years, and we live in a much different world than we once did. Maybe it is time for a brand new slayer to save the day.

Our only hope is that as Monica Owusu-Breen said in her post, the new Buffy is not a replacement, but really an entirely new slayer. A slayer who is able to learn from her predecessor and face the day with the same kind of grit, strength, and ability to be flexible yet unbending.

A new Buffy series might seem like a daunting idea for the fans, but perhaps it is exactly what we want and need. Let’s just hope we really are getting a brand new slayer.