Buffy reboot casts new Sarah Michelle Gellar approved-Slayer... but fans are divided

The hotly-anticipated Buffy reboot has cast its new slayer with OG Slayer Sarah Michelle Gellar breaking the news to her new co-star.
The acclaimed actress, 48, revealed Ryan Kiera Armstrong, 15, been cast as the titular character in the reboot of the WB hit, that was originally the air from 1997 to 2003.
The casting decision came via a Zoom call in which Gellar asked Armstrong one very important question.
'Do you want to stand beside me and save the world?,' Gellar asked and Armstrong replied, 'I'm so honored, thank you for trusting me,' an elated Armstrong said through a mixture of tears and laughter.
'From the moment I saw Ryan's audition, I knew there was only one girl that I wanted by my side,' Gellar said.
'To have that kind of emotional intelligence, and talent, at such a young age is truly a gift. The bonus is that her smile lights up even the darkest room.'
And it was Armstrong's elated and charming reaction to the news that captured the hearts of the Buffy fan universe who are largely on the new Slayer's side.
Sarah Michelle was 18 when she stepped into the Slayer's shoes.
Armstrong's breakthrough role came at the age of eight in 2019's The Art of Racing in the Rain opposite Amanda Seyfried.
Armstrong has also been busy in TV with a recurring role in Anne with an E on Netflix as well as FX's American Horror Story: Red Tide, Disney+'s Star Wars: Skeleton Crew with Jude Law and in a recurring role on Ethan Hawke's The Lowdown.
Ryan also stepped into the role Drew Barrymore once held in the remake of Firestarter in 2022.
Fans were divided over the casting of Armstrong - with some delighted at the new slayer and others citing Buffy lore, and wondering why all the Slayers were activated in season seven of Buffy the Vampire Slayer if they aren't going to be used now.
Ryan poses in an iconic Buffy Summers pose while Sarah Michelle Gellar is shown in the OG pose
Some fans were excited about the casting news
Some fans were not happy with the news and posted their reasons why
The new Buffy is a reboot of the popular WB series set in the present day. All those reactivated Slayers would be 22 years older than they were in the final season of the series in 2003.
The Slayer was always going to be a teenaged girl.
Sarah Michelle has shut down rumors of a Buffy remake for years and earlier this week, she revealed why now is the right time for a reboot of the beloved show.
The actress said on SiriusXM's The Morning Mash Up that she wants the project to bring comfort to fans living in particularly divided times.
'You know, I hope that it brings comfort. I think for me that was like, the big thing is that when you realize all these years later that the show still translates, 'cause sometimes you watch a show that you loved and you see it now and you're like, "OK," but it doesn't have the same meaning,' she began.
'Buffy is still hitting people who are watching it for the first time and they're seeing themselves and they're seeing their friends and they're finding their chosen family,' Gellar told co-host Ryan Sampson.
'I think more than ever right now, as we get more and more divided, we need that chosen family, so I hope to provide a new chosen family.'
She appeared on the morning show with Alyson Hannigan and said the reason why now is the right time is that there is a story that picks up where the show left off 22 years ago.
'[I did it for] Chloé Zhao and the Zuckermans — I call them the Zucks,' SMG explained.
Zhao is signed on to direct the series' pilot based off a script written by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman.
'They had the story and I think that's why no one, everyone was just trying to redo it,' Gellar continued.
'[The Zuckermans] had a continuation of where it goes now and, you know, as Alyson and I now have teenagers and you see the circle of what's needed, which is actually why we're here today.'
Lilla and Nora Zuckerman used some Buffy terminology to praise Armstrong.
'We are so overjoyed to have found this generation's slayer in Ryan Kiera Armstrong, she absolutely blew us away — there is no question in our mind that she is the chosen one,' they said.

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