Season 8 News

Here are excerpt from articles about the end of BtVS and possible spin-offs or how it might go on.

Scoop SMG / Spin-off? Interview with JM
Joss Whedon Interview - Ending Buffy by Fred Topel @ About.com (Text)

Nicholas Brendon on the Buffy finale by Fred Topel @ About.com (Text)

Seth Green - Scooby-Doo 2 scoop by Fred Topel @ About.com (Text)
Scoop: Gellar Quits Buffy! ( Wednesday, February 26, 2003)
by Michael Ausiello from TVGuide.com

The Chosen One has finally made her decision: Sarah Michelle Gellar will exit Buffy the Vampire Slayer at the end of the season, TV Guide Online has learned. Although UPN and 20th Century Fox declined to comment, sources confirm that the 25-year-old actress — whose Buffy contract expires in May — is leaving the cult-classic series to pursue her film career full time.

Talk of Gellar's probable Buffy departure has been gathering steam for months. Adding fuel to the fire: the recent announcement that the Scooby-Doo star will begin shooting the feature Romantic Comedy in August, around the time she would have been returning to work on a new season of Buffy. As one Gellar confidante puts it, "You do the math."

And if Buffy fans think that bites, there's more bad news. That rumored spinoff starring Eliza Dushku, who plays Buffy's rival slayer Faith, is now occupying a plot at the Sunnydale Cemetery. Dushku, who had apparently been knee-deep in discussions to succeed Gellar in a Buffy offshoot, has instead signed on to headline the Fox pilot Heroine.

Still, not all hope is lost. As Buffy creator Joss Whedon told TV Guide Online in October, a Dushku-led series is "one of many" possibilities he's considering. Among the others: a show revolving around Buffy's kid sister Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg) or sidekick Willow (Alyson Hannigan).

Incidentally, during an interview with TV Guide Online last year, Gellar said she believes Buffy could — and should — forge ahead, even if that means anointing a new Slayer. "Absolutely," she offered. "I don't know if it would be Buffy the Vampire Slayer per se, because you kind of need Buffy for that. But it doesn't mean that there's not Dawn and [reformed vengeance demon] Anya. There are a lot of characters that could easily go on, and I'd hope that they would."

The silver lining in the clouds for Buffy fans? Gellar's swan song will reunite her with TV soulmate David Boreanaz. As TV Guide Online reported earlier this month, the Angel leading man has agreed to cross over to his old haunt in May, so that the do-gooder vamp can bid farewell to his Chosen One at the same time as we do ours. —
Scoop SMG / Spin-off? Interview with JM / Top
The real-life Scooby Gang behind Buffy still has a stake in the show
By Patrick Lee from SciFi.Com (click to read the rest of the article)
James Marsters, are you contracted for season eight? Are you coming back?

Marsters: I'm interested in continuing with the show. Contractually, it depends on if it's still Buffy or not whether I'm committed to it. That's the legal sense. But artistically, I'm interested in continuing with the writers and producers.
Some cast members have said they'd come back; some are waffling. Do you have a sense it's going to end?

Marsters: I think there's a lot of variables. A lot of them are about money, and those are not in control of everybody. I think artistically, there is still a lot of good work we could do. I don't think the show has run its course artistically. I think it's poised to go other cool places. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be back. But commercially, there are [TV] commercials to be sold on a project like that, so there's hope. Look, you can't pay attention too much about what people are saying right now, because everyone's holding out for money. So they're not going to come out and say, "I will do it for free."
Is it about money for Sarah? What do you think would be a compelling reason for her to want to stay?

Marsters: Man, Sarah's got a great movie career. She's got a new husband [Freddie Prinze Jr.]. She's a woman. She probably wants to be a mother. If I were her, and I asked myself what would make it worth it to continue on ... I probably wouldn't want to come back. But if they throw an absolute mammoth ton of money, I guess I couldn't turn it down. But I don't think she's really trying to get money or anything. I think she's very honestly done seven years of a lead of an action show, and she's a girl. Fighting in the dirt is not usually what girls want to do every single Friday night of their lives.
Do you have a sense of what a spinoff might be? Marti said that there was a very definite idea. Do you know what it is?
Marsters: Yeah.

Can you tell me?
Marsters: If Marti didn't, I'm not going to touch it. Sorry.

Does it have to do with another Slayer? [Rumors include a spinoff featuring Faith, played by Eliza Dushku.]
Marsters: We would still have to slay vampires, so yeah. Another chosen one. I don't know how that mythology is being worked out.
Would it be a Spike show?

Marsters: If they would like it, I'd love that. Hell, yeah. But at the same time, I don't know. The demographics of the show are such that there's a lot of young girls who watch the show, and the most respectable wisdom would say that you would need a young girl to lead in order to make the structure work and the fantasy work for the audience. So they would have to take a big risk by completely changing that and putting up some male character.
Are they talking about Dawn now?
Marsters: Everyone always talks about Dawn [laughs]. But you're not going to get me, man.

You've been quoted as saying you're getting tired of being hung up and tortured this season. Are you going to have other stuff to do?
Marsters: It's weird. There's a part of me that just loves it. It's weird. They're dumping me in this water that's been on the stage forever. Yeah, and then part of me is just, "This is cool. It's still just like playing GI Joe. This big scary demon that's been in makeup for 12 hours ... is beating you up, and it's like being a kid." But yeah, your body hurts afterwards. Oh my God.
Scoop SMG / Spin-off? Interview with JM / Top
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