Can Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot top the original?

Cult TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer is getting a reboot, with original creator Joss Whedon producing the project.

Whedon says he has been working on a pilot episode since last year, along with writer Monica Owusu-Breen, best known for Alias and Lost.

Some fans are sceptical about whether the remake will be able to live up to the original, however. The hit series, which starred Sarah Michelle Gellar and ran from 1997 to 2003, forged a “mythic, feminist-inflected meld of horror, comedy, and teen drama”, according to The New Yorker’s Emily Nussbaum.

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Vox goes further, saying the show “blew up established formats and made the people who made TV rethink how they approached the medium”.

“Buffy is a genuine TV watershed, a landmark that deserves serious attention,” says the news site.

So how will a reboot be different?

As the Sky News site points out, the original TV show itself was actually a reboot of sorts, based on a 1992 comedy horror film of the same name that also was written by Whedon.

The new small-screen version will once again be produced by Fox Television but will now feature an, as yet unnamed, African-American actress in the titular role of Buffy Summers.

“Like our world, it will be richly diverse, and like the original, some aspects of the series could be seen as metaphors for issues facing us all today,” producers on the project told entertainment news site Deadline.

What has the reaction been?

Many fans are upset that the show is being brought back.

One tweeter slated Whedon for allegedly implying that the original “wasn’t inclusive and diverse enough”.

Others are hoping the reboot will add a new spin to the original, rather than simply repeating old storylines and themes:

WhatCulture has previously described the idea of a reboot as “terrible”, suggesting that its legacy would be stronger without a remake.

“There are zero guarantees that a redo would work, and about a zillion things that could go wrong,” the site said. “Given how the show remains both wholly relevant and eminently watchable, there’s also no necessity for the show to be brought back.”