Sorry, Buffy fans. Sarah Michelle Gellar‘s vampire slaying days are long behind her.
During a recent appearance on the “On With Mario Lopez” podcast, the 43-year-old actress admitted that she has no interest in participating in a reboot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, especially amid allegations of creator Joss Whedon‘s misconduct.
“What worked for Buffy was that the monsters represented, they were a metaphor for the horrors of adolescence,” Gellar explained of the supernatural teen drama. “I don’t think it’s me, I don’t think I should be the one doing it. … [I’m] way too tired and cranky to put in that work again.”
The New York native portrayed title character Buffy Summers in the ’90s series, starring alongside Alyson Hannigan, David Boreanaz and more for seven seasons. While she doesn’t think she’ll pick up her slaying weapons again any time soon, Gellar said she loves that the story “holds up” and “that people are calling for” more empowered women on screen.
Gellar’s comments on the show’s legacy come shortly after former costar Charisma Carpenter accused Whedon, 56, of creating “hostile and toxic work environments” on the sets of both Buffy and its spinoff, Angel. Carpenter, 50, outlined a number of allegedly “traumatizing” interactions with the director, even claiming that he “unceremoniously” fired her after she welcomed her son in 2003.
“While he found his misconduct amusing, it only severed to intensify my performance anxiety, disempower me, and alienate me from my peers,” the Baywatch actress claimed in a lengthy social media statement on February 10. “The disturbing incidents triggered a chronic physical condition from which I still suffer. It is with a beating, heavy heart that I say I coped in isolation and, at times, destructively.”
Whedon has yet to respond to Carpenter’s claims, but several of her former colleagues have publicly shown their support. Gellar issued a brief statement of her own on Instagram and appeared to distance herself from Whedon and his work.
“While I am proud to have my name associated with Buffy Summers, I don’t want to be forever associated with the name Joss Whedon,” she wrote on February 10. “I am more focused on raising my family and surviving a pandemic currently, so I will not be making any further statements at this time. But I stand with all survivors of abuse and am proud of them for speaking out.”
Nicholas Brendon, for his part, admitted in a recent Facebook video that he wasn’t “ready” to address the accusations.
“It’s very personal for me, so I’ll speak on that when I’m ready to speak on that because he and I had a relationship,” he explained. “It’s a big part of my life, a very emotional part of my life and I want to give it the proper respect and time that it deserves. … I love and support [Charisma] very much and I know that story, and it’s not a kind story.”
