Sarah Michelle Gellar Breaks Silence on Anthony Head’s Death

Sarah Michelle Gellar paid tribute to her late Buffy the Vampire Slayer costar Anthony Stewart Head following his death at age 72.

“‘Tell Giles I figured it out and I’m ok’ Well I don’t have it figured out and I’m not ok,” Gellar, 49, wrote via Instagram on Friday, June 5. “But I know I’m the lucky one because I knew you. Thank you to Daisy and Emily who not only shared their dad with me, but with the world.”

Alongside her heartfelt words, Gellar shared a series of throwback photos of herself and Head with the Buffy cast, as well as with her husband, Freddie Prinze Jr., and their daughter, Charlotte. She also added a scene from the pair’s cult classic series. “Does it ever get easy, life?” Buffy, played by Gellar, asks, to which Head’s Giles replies, “What do you want me to say?”

“Lie,” Buffy demands, so Giles humors her. “Yes. It’s terribly simple. The good guys are stalwart and true. The bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats and we always defeat them and save the day. Nobody ever dies and everybody lives happily ever after.”

Anthony’s daughters, Emily and Daisy Head, announced on Friday, June 5, that the acclaimed British actor — who played Gellar’s mentor and watcher on Buffy— died following a battle with pneumonia. (Anthony also made memorable appearances on Ted Lasso, Doctor Who and Bridgerton throughout a near 50-year career.)

“It is with heavy hearts that we announce the death of our extraordinary father, Anthony Head,” they said. “He passed away peacefully of complications due to pneumonia, surrounded by his family.”

Emily and Daisy continued, “It has been, and forever will be, an honor and a privilege to be his daughters, and to have witnessed firsthand the impact both he and his work have had on so many. We know how dearly he will be missed by friends, colleagues, and fans of the shows he was in — he loved his job very much, and he always considered himself incredibly lucky, to have been able to work alongside such exceptionally talented people, in such wonderful productions, across a career that spanned several decades.”

While Anthony portrayed Gellar’s onscreen mentor on Buffy, he revealed that they actually grew closer off screen in the years after the supernatural drama ended.

“I hung out with everyone, pretty much,” Head recalled in 2020. “I spent a lot of time with Nicky [Brendon] and Alyson [Hannigan], and Emma [Caulfield, who played Anya]. Couldn’t really spend much time with Sarah Michelle — I’ve spent a lot of time since, whenever I visit [her in the U.S.] — but because she was working all the time.”

Head was a mainstay on Buffy for its first five seasons before stepping back into a recurring role for its final two years.

The Buffy cast has dealt with multiple tragedies in recent years, as Michelle Trachtenberg — who played Buffy’s sister Dawn Summers — died from complications of diabetes mellitus at age 39 in February 2025. (Per the Mayo Clinic, diabetes mellitus is the name of a “group of diseases that affect how the body uses blood sugar.”)

Gellar reacted to Trachtenberg’s death by quoting one of their iconic Buffy scenes, writing at the time, “‘Michelle, listen to me. Listen. I love you. I will always love you.’ The hardest thing in this world, is to live in it. I will be brave. I will live… for you.’”

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Earlier this year, Xander Harris actor Brendon died at age 54 from atherosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease, with acute pneumonia and previous myocardial infarction (heart attack) as a contributing factor.

“It’s a tragedy,” Gellar said of Brendon’s death at a press conference in March. “It’s a tragedy when you lose anyone at any point. It’s a bigger tragedy when you lose someone way sooner than needs to be.”

Gellar was attached to produce and potentially appear in a new version of Buffy in recent years before Hulu eventually passed on the project in March.