Warner Bros today finally confirmed what fans of Joss Whedon’s plucky vampire slayer have long suspected/feared, and that is the finger poised above the Reboot button has now found its mark and a new Buffy will battle Sunnydale’s undead.
The L.A. Times spoke with the woman charged with the not inconsiderable task of following fanboy favourite Joss Whedon and taking on the beloved franchise, her name is Whit Anderson and she cites Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins as a way to bring a well known character up to date.
This is her take on the character of Buffy,
The deep struggle she had with duty and destiny, that tug between what you’re supposed to be doing and what you want to be doing. The fate of the world is on her shoulders but some days she wakes up and she just doesn’t want to do it. And are we doomed and destined to love someone? That conflict was very interesting to me. Those are the things I loved about her and her world. She also represents — like all the heroes — something empowering for us.
The article also quotes the project’s producer Charles Roven, who had this to say,
There is an active fan base eagerly awaiting this character’s return…. While this is not your high-school Buffy, she’ll be just as witty, tough and sexy as we all remember her to be.
Not to be unkind to the man, but I think that the character the ‘active fan base’ is mostly awaiting is Whedon himself, or the much teased Giles-centred Ripper, but the notion of a Joss-less Buffy doesn’t ruffle my feathers as I’m sure there’s enough in the mythology of the series to withstand an update. I watched series three through a few weeks ago and while it was as funny and charming as ever it was decidedly dated so here’s hoping Anderson has something great to show us. Roven says she has,
Whit’s take is pretty compelling and a lot of fun, and it’s interesting to see all of this re-imagined. This is a completely new reboot. Tone is extremely important and you want the audience to realize what is at stake and the peril is real, but at the same time what’s going on should be fun and inviting and keep everyone engaged. It needs to be relevant to today, too, and that is what Whit has found a way to do
Fingers crossed.
