David Boreanaz Buffy Angel

David Boreanaz gives the Buffy reboot, and possibly recasting Angel, his blessing

Contributed by
Aug 3, 2018

No matter which side you fall on, it's easy to see that the reaction to the upcoming reboot/revival of the beloved supernatural series Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been... mixed. Some fans applauded the promise of a more diverse cast, a new showrunner, and even the clarification that the show will focus on a new Slayer rather than a recast Buffy.

Others didn't see the point at all, while still others simply shrugged and considered the show yet another cog in the nostalgia profit machine. Now that the fans have weighed in, the original stars of the Buffyverse are beginning to react themselves, and for his part David Boreanaz is happy to see the franchise move into a new era.

Speaking to Yahoo! about the reboot news, Boreanaz gave the show his blessing in no uncertain terms, framing the eventual new series as a tribute to the impact of the original show, rather than a replacement for it.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “I’m sure they’ll find the right storylines and the right people to fill shoes of whatever characters they want to portray. It was great to be a part of it when it first started, and now to see it being revived is just another testimony to the hard work that we did. I congratulate that, and applaud that.”

Boreanaz got his big break on Buffy when the show debuted in 1997 as the mysterious vampire with a soul known as Angel, and actually ended up playing his character longer than Sarah Michelle Gellar played Buffy Summers. After co-starring on Buffy for three seasons, the character left Sunnydale and Boreanaz got his own spinoff, Angel, which ran for five seasons before its cancellation in 2004. Though he's since moved on to other successful shows like Bones and his current series SEAL Team, Boreanaz will forever be identified with Angel, which of course begs the question: How would he feel if another, younger actor stepped into those immortal shoes?

“[Angel] doesn’t age, so it’s not like he’s not around! Whatever they want to do with the character, it’s such a wide, huge universe, you can really go anywhere with characters," he said. "I think the storylines will somehow reflect what the characters were about in the past. It’s all bloodline, so to speak. Ironic that I called it that! There’s always a bloodline somewhere, right?”

We still don't know exactly what form the return of Buffy will take, only that it's more of a revival of the show's mythology rather than a full-on remake of the original series. Just this week, Fox executives noted that they're happy to take their time with the project for now, and that there's not even a script available yet, so it's not clear when we'll learn more. It's always possible that classic Buffy characters and the actors who played them could be asked to come back to the show in some way, but at the moment Boreanaz isn't concerned with that.

“For now, I just let it be and lend my support from afar,” he said.

So, at least in its early stages, the return of Buffy carries the David Boreanaz seal of approval, and that has to mean something to trepidatious fans.

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