The Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot has added three new cast members, including one who has a similar role to Buffy in season 7. A Buffy the Vampire Slayer pilot was ordered at Hulu with Sarah Michelle Gellar returning as Buffy Summers in a recurring role and as a producer on the show. She will be joined by new Slayer, Nova, who will be played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong.

Per Deadline, the revival has cast three new actors with Merrin Dungey (The King of Queens), Audrey Hsieh (Found), and Audrey Grace Marshall (The Flight Attendant). Dungey will play Ms. LaDuca, a college counselor at the New Sunnydale Academy. Hsieh and Marshall will portray Keiko and Jessica, fellow students of Nova’s who are members of the school’s Evangelical Christian group.

What This Means For Buffy The Vampire Slayer

The casting adds new detail to reports about the Buffy reboots plot. The new show will feature two vampires killing a teen and attempting to raise an army during Sunnydale’s Vampire Weekend festival. The last time Sunnydale was seen, it was a gigantic crater that had formed after Spike (James Marsters) used an amulet to beat back The First Evil and temporarily sacrifice himself.

Dungey playing Ms. LaDuca as a college counselor is similar to a role Buffy had in season 7, where she also took a job as a school counselor. Ms. LaDuca will likely be far more qualified, as Buffy was unknowingly only given the job because she was the Slayer.

Keiko and Jessica add a new wrinkle to the universe by being Evangelical Christians. Despite plenty of religious imagery, like crosses in Buffy, and the titular character going to a version of heaven after her second death, religion played a very small role in the original narrative. Introducing their group will bring a new perspective to the universe that involves gods and monsters.

Our Take On The New Casting

The casting is expanding the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in interesting ways. While the show will have to maintain a similar feeling, the casting does not represent replacing old characters with new actors. While there are hopes that legacy characters like Angel and Spike will return to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the new show does not look to be dependent on solely relying on nostalgia.

As the reboot will hopefully be picked up for a full series order, the casting adds intriguing new details. There seems to be more of a focus on expanding the entire high school, instead of relying on only a small group of characters.

Despite Gellar wanting to bring back dead Buffy characters, the Hulu series looks to be creating its own identity. While Buffy the Vampire Slayer did have its share of supporting roles, the revival looks to potentially expand on that.

Source: Deadline