Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s iconic lesbian witch reveals how magical the planned reboot really could be
Makers have hinted that the show could be revived. (Creative Commons)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Amber Benson has thrown her weight behind the planned reboot, saying she would like to see the story told in a “diverse world”.
It was reported in 2018 that the series’ creator Joss Whedon was working on a planned reboot that would star a Black actress as Buffy.
Producer and screenwriter Monica Owusu-Breen was named as showrunner on the planned reboot, and fans have been anxiously waiting further details ever since.
Benson, who played lesbian character Tara Maclay during the show’s original run, told Digital Spy that she is in favour of the reboot.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Amber Benson is excited to see a Black woman take on the iconic role.
“I was so excited because Joss [Whedon] was involved, a woman of colour was going to be running the show, and Buffy was going to be a woman of colour,” she said.
“I thought that was really important.
“So Buffy – it had some diversity. But I feel like it could have had more,” she continued.
I would very much like to see Buffy in a diverse world. I think it would be a really amazing thing.
“And that was just the time. That sort of onus wasn’t on the creative world to show the world in a diverse way.
“I would very much like to see Buffy in a diverse world. I think it would be a really amazing thing.”
Benson and Alyson Hannigan played lesbian witches Willow Rosenburg and Tara Maclay on the classic series, which ran for seven seasons until 2003.
In a 2017 interview with EW, Benson and Hannigan reflected on the groundbreaking on-screen lesbian relationship.
It is finally time to ‘meet a new slayer’, according to the producers.
“It was a beautiful relationship, and it wasn’t gratuitous, it wasn’t about two girls making out, it was about two people who both happen to identify as a female who fall in love,” Benson said.
“They were good to each other, they treated each other way. It was a normal relationship. You normalise it, and make it OK because it is OK.”
Speaking about the planned reboot, Owusu-Breen previously said she had been a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer throughout its original run.
“For seven seasons, I watched Buffy Summers grow up, find love, kill that love. I watched her fight and struggle and slay,” she said.
“Joss Whedon’s brilliant and beautiful series can’t be replicated. I wouldn’t try to. But here we are, 20 years later… and the world seems a lot scarier. So maybe, it could be time to meet a new slayer… And that’s all I can say.”
