Buffy the Vampire Slayer Star 'Hopeful' for Reboot Role After 'Unjust' End in Original Series

Charisma Carpenter, prima of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel, has said she's hopeful of a relation successful the franchise's upcoming reboot, contempt her quality Cordelia's untimely demise.

Last month, Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar, said she was keen for the reboot to diagnostic a premix of caller and returning characters, including those who were nary longer live astatine the extremity of the franchise's archetypal TV run.

Now, speaking to IGN arsenic she launches a caller podcast, Carpenter has expressed a beardown tendency to instrumentality and said it would beryllium "poetic" to rejoin the bid nether its caller originative team, aft an "unjust" extremity to her quality successful Angel's last season.

"I americium truthful excited for fans, and I cognize it volition beryllium fantastic due to the fact that of who's involved," Carpenter said of the reboot, which is being spearheaded by a squad that includes Gellar and Oscar-winning Nomadland manager Chloé Zhao, with nary engagement from archetypal Buffy creator Joss Whedon. "To spot this really hap for the fans makes maine thrilled. I americium truthful hopeful to beryllium included, for Cordelia to beryllium a portion of this caller iteration."

Carpenter's quality was a bid regular connected Buffy done its 3rd season, earlier crossing implicit to Angel. But aft respective seasons arsenic a pb connected the spin-off, Carpenter was written retired arsenic a bid regular, and lone impermanent starred erstwhile successful Angel's last run, successful an occurrence that saw Cordelia fixed a bittersweet goodbye.

"I don't cognize truly what to marque of it," Carpenter says of the proposition that Cordelia was 1 of the franchise's fallen characters that could present instrumentality — not that decease ever proved peculiarly problematic for actors popping backmost into the franchise.

"I'm definite determination are caveats — Cordelia died connected Angel not connected Buffy," Carpenter continued, "I don't cognize what that means for Cordelia specifically — but I'm hopeful that it includes Cordelia obviously, it would beryllium a imagination to beryllium included, and it would conscionable beryllium truthful poetic for that to occur, and for it to hap with this group.

"These writers are wildly creative, I'm definite they could fig it retired if they wanted to, if it was a instrumentality thing, wherever if determination was a thirst oregon craving oregon request for Cordelia to beryllium there, I'm definite with 1 hellhole of a originative squad they person starring the writers room, it would beryllium possible."

Carpenter has returned to the franchise previously, via an Audible spin-off bid that starred the histrion arsenic an alternate beingness mentation of her character, with Cordelia present a vampire slayer. That bid reunited Carpenter with assorted different Buffy actors and their characters — galore of whom are besides present dormant — including Emma Caulfield Ford's fan-favorite ex-demon Anya (dead), Amber Benson's beloved witch Tara (dead), Anthony Head's Giles (alive, though killed and revived successful spin-off comics), positive James Marster's Spike and Juliet Landau's Drusilla (undead).

"Listen, you're not gonna get an statement retired of me," Carpenter continued, erstwhile IGN suggested determination has to beryllium a mode for her to return. "Because the mode it went down for her was conscionable — without utilizing inflammatory connection — conscionable was not... she was built up truthful big, she'd grown truthful much, she'd had this singular journey, and for her to spell retired the mode that she did conscionable felt truthful unjust."

Cordelia has 1 of the astir transformative arcs successful the Buffy canon, from a self-centered precocious schoolhouse queen to a strong, caring state capable to person godlike visions from the series' mysterious Powers That Be. But her storyline successful Angel's 4th play proved arguable with fans, arsenic Cordelia is possessed and impregnated by the deity Jasmine, past unceremoniously near successful a coma. Her consequent instrumentality arsenic a peculiar impermanent star, successful Angel's 100th episode, is simply a beardown send-off, but each excessively brief.

Carpenter has antecedently had overmuch to accidental astir her exit, but fans volition beryllium capable to get her thoughts connected some Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel afresh arsenic portion of the actress' caller Patreon podcast show, The Bitch Is Back, whose rubric references a peculiarly rousing code by Cordelia successful archetypal play Angel occurrence Rm w/a Vu. Fans tin ticker the archetypal occurrence present via YouTube, with aboriginal episodes disposable connected Patreon via subscription. Carpenter plans to grounds a podcast for each Buffy and Angel occurrence — of which determination are implicit 250 — successful viewing order, with the 2 series' interlinked arsenic primitively broadcast to instrumentality vantage of their crossover episodes.

"We'll beryllium astatine this a while," Carpenter said of the podcast, which has been successful the readying stages for respective years. "I deliberation it's astir 254 episodes and past who knows, you know... possibly with the reboot I'll screen that too? I'm each astir the Buffyverse and privation to enactment each of it. I devoted truthful overmuch clip and vigor to some shows, it's specified a elephantine portion of my life, my formative clip arsenic a woman, it makes consciousness to support the shows alive, to support Cordelia — who has shaped who I americium contiguous — successful the forefront of this fandom. It's ever been my extremity to support that relationship.

"I cognize a batch of actors often privation to region themselves from a peculiar quality who mightiness person helped their vocation get to a definite level, and they conscionable privation to determination connected from that and ne'er speech astir their quality again — and I don't subscribe to that mode of reasoning astatine all, I privation to thin in, due to the fact that [Cordelia]'s inspired me.

"I'm 1,000% who I americium contiguous due to the fact that of that character," Carpenter continued. "I utilized to beryllium a batch much demure, a batch much of a people-pleaser, a batch little outspoken, a batch smaller. Cordelia has informed who I americium successful a precise large way. She brought out, successful me, a broadside I didn't cognize existed, but that's what happens erstwhile you play a quality for astir 10 years."

Charisma Carpenter and impermanent prima Julie Benz, successful The Bitch is Back occurrence 1.

The Bitch is Back's archetypal occurrence covers the archetypal occurrence of Buffy Season 1, Welcome to the Hellmouth, with co-star Julie Benz (Darla) arsenic a guest. Together, the brace sermon however they were some hired for the show, its unsocial connection and — arsenic is precise Cordelia — its 1990s fashion. There's besides treatment of however the series, present astir 30 years old, subverted genre tropes of the time, successful a mode that inactive feels fresh.

"I deliberation the amusement resonates with fans contiguous due to the fact that of its cosmopolitan themes," Carpenter said, erstwhile asked wherefore there's intelligibly inactive caller appetite for Buffy now. "I deliberation there's a large atrocious satellite retired determination and [you get] to ticker this radical of kids navigate the harshness of precocious schoolhouse successful conjunction with the realities of a hard world, grounded successful world similar having a genitor who doesn't recognize you, oregon unrequited love, oregon having to marque hard decisions astir friendships, oregon feeling similar an outcast who doesn't belong.

"This amusement speaks to the empowerment of being different. Being an outsider is benignant of great, it empowers that, it allows abstraction and country for radical to beryllium antithetic and not each beryllium the same, and to fto your freak emblem fly. Diversity of property and benignant of being should beryllium praised. That's what makes beingness interesting, and I deliberation those themes resonate connected a halfway level, still.

"And it does consciousness similar a large atrocious satellite retired determination much than ever," Carpenter concluded, "and I can't deliberation of a amended clip to beryllium bringing this podcast retired to supply much comfortableness and to effort to satiate what seems to beryllium an insatiable thirst for Buffy and Angel."

Photo credit: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for ReedPop.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You tin scope Tom astatine [email protected] oregon find him connected Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social