Buffy The Vampire Slayer Returning For 25th Anniversary Special
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is returning for a 25th anniversary special, marking the time period since the original series came on the air
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These days, reunions are all the rage with a number of different, high-profile franchises getting some of the original cast members and creatives back together. It’s always fun to revisit stories from the past, especially when the characters are iconic in nature. Another franchise, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is getting an anniversary of its own, but this one is going to be a bit different. That’s because BOOM! Studios has announced that they are releasing a huge, one-shot issue of the character in comic book form for the 25th anniversary of the original series hitting the big screen.
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer 25th Anniversary Special #1 will hit stands in March of next year and will honor the original series which debuted back in 1997. The anniversary special will kick off a bunch of new and original stories around the character, while also supposedly tying up some loose ends from the original series. BOOM! Studios has controlled the character since 2018. They released their first edition back in 2019, rebooting the Buffyverse on the printed page after Dark Horse Comics had the licensing rights for decades.
While the BOOM! Studios version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a reboot of the original Joss Whedon series, the characters are set in a different universe than those characters. Think the Multiverse, but for vampire hunters. That came out with four single issues, updating the story though keeping many of the same characters. This latest anniversary edition will take a similar path, though it appears they are planning to go much deeper into the universe around the titular character.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer hit the small screen back in 1997 and was a reboot of the movie which had come out in 1992. The movie was written by Joss Whedon, but he had originally intended for it to have a darker and less campy tone than what ended up happening on the big screen. This led to him creating and showrunning the series on The WB. It starred Sarah Michelle Gellar in the lead role as Buffy and tells the story of her life at Sunnydale High dealing with the typical teenage issues while also battling vampires in her spare time.
The show was a hit for The WB, running for seven seasons and spawning the spinoff Angel. The series had a significant cultural impact because of both its cast and the themes present. But Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been mired in some controversy of late, specifically around the allegations levied at Whedon regarding his treatment of the cast while the series was shooting. Series cast members Charisma Carpenter and Michelle Trachtenberg have both said Whedon was abusive on set.
While we are also gearing up for a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot soon with the series still in development. It doesn’t appear any of the original folks are involved. In the meantime, it is cool to know the character is still hanging around on the comic book pages. The cultural relevance likely means at some point we will get a new version of the character in some form or another.
