Sarah Michelle Gellar offered a rare look at her lower back tattoo at the 2026 Emmy Awards.
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer star, 49, turned heads in a hot pink Versace dress with a dramatically low open back and a thigh-high slit on the red carpet at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Monday, September 14, completing her look with silver Jimmy Choo platform heels.
The dress’ open back offered a peek at the two dragon fly tattoos on Gellar’s lower back. (Gellar also has a heart pierced by a dagger on her right ankle while there are cherry blossoms on a green vine and a Chinese kanji character on her left ankle.)
Buffy fans were treated to an unexpected cast reunion on the red carpet at the Emmys as Gellar posed with former costar David Boreanaz. Unlike their TV counterparts, star-crossed lovers Buffy Summers and immortal vampire Angel, Gellar and Boreanaz, 57, were all smiles.
“We are so back,” Gellar captioned a photo of her red carpet reunion.
Gellar and Boreanaz’s Emmys selfie comes on the heels of the disappointing announcement that a Buffy the Vampire Slayer revival series will not be happening.
Despite previous skepticism about returning to the franchise, Gellar agreed to take part in a spinoff from writers Nora and Lilla Zuckerman and Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao. Gellar filmed a pilot for Hulu with newcomer Ryan Kiera Armstrong, who was cast as the next generation of slayers.
One year after the project was first announced in February 2025, Gellar revealed in March that Hulu declined to move forward with the pilot.
“We had an executive on our show who was not only not a fan of the original, but was proud to constantly remind us that he had never seen the entirety of the series and how it wasn’t for him,” she told People later that month. “That’s very hard when you’re taking a property that is as beloved as Buffy, not just to the world, but to me and Chloé.”
Gellar added, “So that tells you the uphill battle that we had been fighting since day one, when your executive is literally proud to tell you that he didn’t watch it.”
Disney — which owns Hulu — released a statement to explain why the streamer opted to pass on the highly-anticipated Buffy reboot.
“We have had a long and very successful relationship with Chloé [Zhao], Sarah [Michelle Gellar] and Gail [Berman] — their track records speak for themselves and they are incredible partners,” a company spokesperson said in March. “Our decision not to move forward with a series order is not a reflection of our respect and admiration for the creative team, including Lilla and Nora.”
The original Buffy the Vampire Slayer series — which was based on a 1992 cult classic movie starring Kristy Swanson in the title role — aired from 1997 to 2003.
