New Buffy the Vampire Slayer Series Is a Go — and Sarah Michelle Gellar Is Set to Return!

Scoobies, grab your stakes — Buffy’s back!

Over two decades after Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s final bow, a new chapter in the Buffyverse is officially in the works with the slayer herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar, slated to return, PEOPLE has learned. Deadline and Variety were first to report the news on Monday, Feb. 3.

Gellar, 47, is expected to reprise her career-defining role as titular slayer Buffy Summers in the currently untitled project, which is nearing a pilot order at Hulu, according to Deadline and Variety. The Hulu project will focus on a new slayer, not Buffy, with Gellar appearing in a recurring role.

Oscar winner (and Buffy fan!) Chloé Zhao is set to direct and executive produce the Buffyverse pilot, and Nora and Lila Zuckerman are attached to write, showrun and executive produce, both outlets reported.

Gellar is also set to executive produce, along with the original series’ executive producers, Gail Berman, Fran Kuzui and Kaz Kuzui.

Dolly Parton — who was an uncredited producer on the hit ’90s show through her company Sandollar Entertainment — will also return to the Buffyverse to executive produce the Hulu pilot. The country star, 79, has also long been attached to a potential Buffy reboot, which was first announced in 2018 and put “on pause” four years later. Searchlight Television and 20th Television will also produce.

Hulu and 20th Television declined to comment on the project when reached by PEOPLE.

Notably absent from the incoming installment is Buffy creator and showrunner Joss Whedon. In 2021, Charisma Carpenter (who starred in both Buffy and its spin-off Angel) publicly accused Whedon of abusing his power and creating a “hostile and toxic” work environment — allegations that were subsequently corroborated by her costars Amber Benson and Michelle Trachtenberg.

After speaking out about her experiences on the sets, Carpenter received vocal support from several of her fellow Buffy alumni, Gellar included. Whedon has largely denied the allegations.

Gellar has not yet commented on the latest installment in the beloved supernatural franchise. She did, however, drop a Buffy Easter egg — a nod to her character’s “yummy sushi pajamas” — in a cheeky Instagram selfie just a day before news of the project broke.

The actress also sent waves through the Buffy fandom after changing her tune about a potential reboot of the supernatural series late last year.

“It’s funny. I always used to say no, because it’s in its bubble, and it’s so perfect,” Gellar said of stepping back into the slayer’s shoes on The Drew Barrymore Show in December.

But, Gellar explained, seeing revival series like Sex and the City’s And Just Like That and Dexter: Original Sin (which she stars in!) made her realize that “there are ways to do it,” she said, adding that it “definitely does get your mind thinking, ‘Well, maybe.’ ”

“It could be anything,” Gellar added of a potential premise for a new Buffy installment. “It’s a universe. And it makes you realize that in this world, we need those heroes, I think, more so than ever.”

While Gellar remains tight-lipped about the in-the-works pilot, another series mainstay, Emma Caulfield, wasted no time reacting to news of the project. The actress, who starred as Anya in the original show, shared a screenshot of Deadline’s article on Instagram on Feb. 3 and wrote, “Aaaaaaand it’s out.” (She did not, however, confirm whether she’s involved in the project.)

Aside from Gellar, there is no word yet on which — if any — of the characters from Buffy, which ran for seven seasons from 1997 to 2003, or Angel, which ran from 1999 to 2004, are set to return.

Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Head, David Boreanaz, Nicholas Brendon, James Marsters, Eliza Dushku and Seth Green were also among the main Buffy cast.