Sarah Michelle Gellar Calls 'Buffy' Reboot Return 'Emotionally Overwhelming'

Sarah Michelle Gellar will always be a badass heroine to Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans — but working on the show’s reboot has brought up a lot of mixed feelings.

“It’s incredibly emotionally overwhelming,” Gellar, 48, exclusively told Us Weekly on August 27 of stepping onto the Buffy reboot set more than two decades after she hung up her stake. “It’s just a place I didn’t know that I would find myself.”

The actress explained, “While it was new, it was also incredibly familiar, and I feel very lucky.”

Gellar — who was promoting the launch of eBay’s ’95 Shop, which opened on Wednesday, September 3 — played teenage vampire slayer Buffy Summers on The WB’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer from 1997 to 2003.

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More than 20 years later, Us confirmed in February that Gellar would be reprising her role in Hulu’s upcoming follow-up series. The revival, however, is described as, “the next chapter in the Buffyverse” and will follow a new slayer played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong.

Gellar, for her part, will have a recurring role, according to Variety, and will serve as an executive producer on the project.

Byron J. Cohen/20th Century Fox Film Corp/Everett Collection

“All I can say is the same thing I keep telling everyone: we are doing it slowly and carefully because there’s no point in doing it unless we can do it right,” Gellar exclusively told Us in August. “So we’re going to make sure that everything is in place before it’s something that we’re ready to share.”

While the actress didn’t give away much about the upcoming show, she revealed that the team “won’t change any of the DNA of the show,” including its campy vibes.

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“I mean, for me, Buffy was about your found family,” Gellar said, noting that the reboot will keep that message at the forefront. “I think now more than ever, found family is incredibly important. We all need a place where we feel like we can be ourselves and be honored for being ourselves and loved for who we are. And that to me is — that’s the point.”

Chloé Zhao, who is the director for the new Buffy, confirmed on Sunday, August 31, that they “just wrapped the pilot,” telling The Los Angeles Times that it is “set 25 years later.”

Michael Simon / Getty Images for eBay

Although the new slayer-focused TV show will be a modern take on Buffy, fans have nostalgia for the ‘90s, which Gellar was a very big part of cultivating. That’s why, the TV star teamed up with eBay to announce its ‘95 Shop, which is a retail experience in New York City and online where fans can shop iconic fashion staples from that decade as well as collectibles and vintage items.

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“That’s the whole point of the eBay ‘95 shop is that there is something about the ‘90s that holds something really important for so many people,” Gellar told Us. “Either people that live through it or people that are just discovering the ‘90s. And so to be able to have the shop and at the same time give back to Make-A-Wish Foundation and make other kids’ dreams come true, who might not be as fortunate as all of us. I think that’s really special.”

Courtesy of eBay

She continued, “And I love that eBay is staying true to their roots. We’re having the popup in New York, which is super fun. If anyone can get there, it’s really going to be a great experience, but if you can’t get there, then it’s on the internet for everybody. Just like eBay. And everyone will have the same access to be able to have a piece of these really special items.”

The eBay ‘95 Shop, which officially kicked off on Wednesday — the pop up was on Thursday, September 4, in the Big Apple — features bids starting at 95 cents for the auction portion. All proceeds from Wednesday’s auction went to Make-A-Wish.

Michael Simon / Getty Images for eBay

“It’s not just that [there is] a Gianni Versace jacket from the ‘90s, it’s a jacket that Prince actually had on his body. That’s incredible that these items are meaningful,” Gellar teased to Us of what was available to purchase. “The ‘90s was eBay. [That] was really the first place where you could purchase items safely on the net. It was like the one place where it’s like, ‘OK, if I get it from here, I know it’s real. I know there’s a way to authenticate.’”

The items also included Barbies, a Michael Jordan autographed jersey, Pokémon cards, a 1997 Land Rover Defender 90 and, of course, Buffy the Vampire Slayer pieces.

“The Buffy items that we were able to auction, we actually found on eBay,” Gellar revealed. “Talk about meta. I went on eBay to find the items to put in the eBay ‘95 shop.”

eBay’s seven-day online auction of the “greatest hits” will run through Tuesday, September 9, with live bidding running until 9 a.m. ET.