The BUFFY Cartoon Show That Never Was (But Could Still Be)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer remains one of the most influential TV shows of all time, nearly thirty years after its debut on the now-defunct WB Network. And it will soon return to the zeitgeist, with a legacy sequel series featuring returning “Chosen One,” Sarah Michelle Gellar, as Buffy Summers. However, as a recent piece in Collider reminded us, Buffy the Vampire Slayer nearly had another TV iteration in the early 2000s, as an animated series. Thirteen scripts for a first season were written, and a four-minute presentation was created with most of the main TV series cast returning to their roles. You can watch the full presentation of what might have been down below:

The series, produced by creator Joss Whedon and iconic comic book scribe Jeph Loeb, would have taken the story back to its roots, with Buffy and her Scooby gang back in their sophomore year at Sunnydale High School. Essentially, it would have been the “lost” episodes of the first season of the live-action series. Most of the voice cast agreed to return, except Sarah Michelle Gellar. Voice actress Giselle Loren, who sounded a lot like Gellar and voiced her in video games, took over the role. The series would have been lighter in tone, taking place before things got super heavy and dark between Buffy and her vampire lover, Angel.

So what the heck happened? A few things. First, every network got squeamish about doing a horror-themed show on weekday afternoon cartoon blocks. No matter how much lighter the show was, kids would still be exposed to blood sucking vamps. And that freaked the suits out. Second, the leading choice to run the series, Fox Kids, closed up shop. When that happened, the writing was on the wall. Some of the stories would find new life adapted into a comic book format. But most scripts remain sitting on a shelf, waiting. An interesting twist the show would have included is a 10-year-old version of Buffy’s sister Dawn, played by Michelle Trachtenberg. Dawn did not exist until season five. But the cartoon would have been based on the false memories Buffy had of Dawn being there her whole life.

With Buffy Summers coming back in live-action, does this mean the animated show might get a second chance too? Certainly, weekday afternoon cartoon blocks are no longer a thing. But a PG-rated Buffy animated show, probably featuring the entire original cast, seems like a no-brainer for Disney+. Set it in the ’90s like X-Men ’97, and we guarantee this show is huge. We’d maybe move the setting to the “lost episodes” of early season two, to include iconic vamps Spike and Drusilla. But the rest, we’d keep the same. In the meantime, we’ll just watch that animated presentation for Buffy: TAS for the tenth time, and dream of what might have been.