BREAKING:‘Avengers: Endgame: Encore’ Trailer Drops With New Footage Ahead of ‘Doomsday’

Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz Reunite at the Emmys With a Savage Dig at the Cancelled ‘Buffy’ Reboot

Avatar photoByJosip Kraljik Published on
0 Comments
Depositphotos
Our Editorial Policy

Share:

Nostalgic reunions have become something of a signature move at award shows in recent years, with producers regularly bringing former co-stars back together to relive the shows that shaped their careers. This year’s Emmys leaned into that formula once again, pairing up two performers whose on-screen romance became one of the defining relationships of late-’90s and early-2000s television.

‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ spent seven seasons chronicling the complicated bond between Buffy Summers and the vampire with a soul, Angel, a relationship fans have affectionately nicknamed “Bangel” for decades. That legacy brought Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz back together on the Peacock Theater stage to present the award for Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, an honor that ultimately went to Matthew Rhys.

Before getting to the actual presentation, the pair used their moment together to take a pointed jab at the franchise’s most recent misfortune. Boreanaz set up the joke by walking through the show’s premise with exaggerated seriousness, joking about how strange it was for a teenage vampire slayer to fall for someone “carrying around a couple hundred years of regret,” before turning the bit toward the fan-favorite pairing directly.

RELATED:

No Actors of Color Win Major Emmy Prizes as ‘Emmys So White’ Hashtag Resurfaces Five Years Later

“You know, Sarah, I always thought that Buffy and Angel would end up together,” Boreanaz said, according to The Hollywood Reporter’s coverage of the ceremony. Gellar shot back with, “Well, I guess we won’t find out,” a line that took the audience a moment to register before landing with a wave of delayed laughs and applause.

The joke carried real weight beyond just fan service. Gellar had spent the past two years attached to reprise her role as Buffy in a reboot series titled “Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale,” which was set to be directed by Oscar winner Chloé Zhao and had already filmed a pilot before Hulu abruptly pulled the plug on the project earlier this year.

Gellar had previously opened up about the sting of that cancellation, telling fans in a March video message that she wanted them to hear the news directly from her, calling it something nobody saw coming. She had also pointed to friction with a Hulu executive during the show’s development, describing someone on the project who wasn’t a fan of the original series and was open about never having watched it in full.

Beyond the reboot joke, Gellar and Boreanaz used their time on stage to reflect on the franchise’s more somber recent history. The two paid tribute to castmates lost over the past two years, referencing the deaths of Michelle Trachtenberg in 2025, Nicholas Brendon earlier this year, and Anthony Head, who played Rupert Giles and passed away in June at age 72 from complications of pneumonia.

Gellar noted that it had been a genuinely difficult stretch for the show’s extended family, telling the crowd they felt lucky to have known and worked alongside such remarkable people, a sentiment Boreanaz simply echoed with a quiet “Indeed.”

For a franchise that hasn’t had new material since the original series ended more than two decades ago, this brief Emmys reunion offered fans a bittersweet mix of nostalgia, sharp humor, and heartfelt remembrance all in one segment. Whether “Buffy” ever finds its way back to screens in some form remains uncertain, but for one night at least, Sunnydale’s most iconic couple got to share the spotlight one more time.

What was the best part of Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz's Emmys reunion?

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!

Don't miss:

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted