For fans of the series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” the past few months haven’t been easy. The same was true for the show’s stars, Sarah Michelle Gellar (49) and David Boreanaz (57), who took the Emmy stage on Sunday night for the 2026 awards. “You know, Sarah, I always thought Buffy and Angel would end up together,” Angel actor Boreanaz quipped during the ceremony. “Well, I guess we’ll never know,” replied lead actress Gellar.
Their lighthearted exchange hinted at the end of the planned Buffy reboot. In March it was revealed that the project, working titled “Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale,” would not become a series (TheColu.mn covered the news). Gellar had been open to returning to the program, but only if a new, younger generation of Slayers—led by Ryan Kiera Armstrong (16)—took the helm.
Age Differences in “Buffy – Im Bann der Dämonen”
Looking back on her portrayal of Buffy, Gellar quipped during the ceremony: “A teenage girl chosen by fate to fight vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness — and then she falls in love with a soul-bearing vampire who carries centuries of remorse.”
Boreanaz’ Angel described Buffy’s darkly charismatic counterpart as “a very, very much older vampire with a soul and torturous guilt about his past. For those who don’t know: His character was 241 years old.”
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Tragic Deaths Among Buffy Stars
But it wasn’t only the cancellation of the “New Sunnydale” project that pulled at Buffy fans recently. After Buffy star Michelle Trachtenberg, who died in February 2025 at the age of just 39, fans mourned again in June with the death of Buffy star Anthony Head. The actor, who played Rupert Giles, passed away at 72.
Just a few months earlier, in March 2026, Buffy star Nicholas Brendon had died. Brendon, who portrayed Xander Harris from 1997 onward, was one of Buffy Summers’ closest friends, and the character he played secretly harbored a crush on the titular vampire slayer.
“Buffy—Im Bann der Dämonen” originally aired in the United States from 1997 to 2003. The show, created by Joss Whedon (60), proved immensely popular in Germany as well. The tough, fearless Buffy Summers—portrayed by Gellar—has long been celebrated as a feminist icon in action-horror storytelling. The 144-episode run also drew attention for Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan), a lesbian character, at a time when openly gay main characters in American network dramas outside of sitcoms were virtually unheard of (Queer.de noted).
