The revival of Buffy the Vampire Slayer sequel series, as is Oscar winner Chloé Zhao, who's slated to direct the pilot episode. With Poker Face showrunners Nora and Lilla Zuckerman as writers, the new Buffy's creative team will almost certainly have a fresh perspective on the world of the original.

The overarching metaphor for the first few seasons of the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer was that "high school is hell", which expanded after Buffy's graduation to include how being a young adult was also hell. With the Buffy revival returning to high school, it's a metaphor that's even more apt today. Nova and her friends will almost certainly face extra pressures as 21st-century teenagers, especially compared to the woes that Buffy's original Scooby Gang dealt with. The world has changed since the turn of the millennium, and that means Buffy the Vampire Slayer has to change with it.

6 Make Technology An Intentional Part Of The Buffy Sequel's Story

New Tech Can Build New Monsters

Willow (Alyson Hannigan) types on a laptop computer as Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) looks aside in Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 7 Help

Technology will have to be a more intentional part of the story in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot than it was in the original. Buffy seemed to trail behind how rapidly communications technology evolved from 1997 to 2003, as Cordelia Chase's (Charisma Carpenter) brick phone in the Buffy pilot was a marker of her wealth. Buffy put off anyone else having a cell phone until season 7's premiere episode, "Lessons", when Buffy and Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg) both get them. Later that season, in episode 4, "Help", Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) famously introduces Buffy to the concept of googling someone.

It's no longer a niche hobby to know how to use a computer, and simply having a phone isn't a status symbol.

Back then, Buffy the Vampire Slayer treated the internet and related technology like another mystical force. Technology itself built Adam as the Big Bad in Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 4, even as Willow started exploring the intersection of technology and magic. But technology can't be so inscrutable in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot. It's no longer a niche hobby to know how to use a computer, and simply having a phone isn't a status symbol. Both are essential parts of our daily lives that will have to be normalized in the Buffy revival.

Buffy on her landline and on her cellphone
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As part of that, the terrifying landscape of modern social media can add another layer to Buffy the Vampire Slayer's original "high school is hell" metaphor. Newer technologies, like generative AI and smart speakers that are (probably) listening to us, are exactly the kinds of things that the original made into monsters, so there's still potential for the Buffy revival to comment on how modern tech can be both good or bad, depending on how it's used.

5 Give Vampires A Shot At Redemption

Buffy Already Knows Tradition Isn't Everything

Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Spike (James Marsters) in Buffy season 7 with potential Slayers

After Spike (James Marsters) willingly underwent trials to earn a soul, the Buffy reboot has to recognize that some vampires aren't unquestionably evil, and do actually deserve a shot at redemption. This could fundamentally change Buffy the Vampire Slayer lore, which says that vampires aren't really the people they were in life, but demons who take up residence in their bodies. Because of that, the vamps Buffy staked on her usual patrols were pretty much cannon fodder who were easily dusted, because they weren't actual people.

Spike was only supposed to appear in season 2 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but proved to be popular enough to warrant a brief, but sympathetic return in one season 3 episode, "Lover's Walk", and full-time status as a regular cast member starting in season 4.

But the new Buffy the Vampire Slayer show could approach the concept of vampires with a little more comion, especially if James Marsters' Spike is one of the returning characters in the Buffy revival. Buffy herself often rejected long-held traditions in favor of modern, practical solutions, like when "no weapon forged" could kill the Judge in season 2, so Buffy hauled out the rocket launcher to off the villain. With Buffy now taking on a more Giles-esque role, she's likely to that loose interpretation of tradition down to her own Slayer.

4 Make The Buffy Universe World Bigger

Expand The Scope Of Storytelling With More Slayers

Potential Slayers study weapons in Buffy season 7

The world in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot needs to be much bigger than it was in the original series, because the real world is also much bigger than it once was. Buffy's Scooby Gang was relatively isolated in Sunnydale, so their stories could remain localized, but today's teenagers are much more aware of worldwide issues. It's no longer just about balancing homework, extracurriculars, dating, and Slayer stuff; instead, Nova could face off against a supernatural metaphor for climate change, another impending pandemic, culture wars, or economic crises. (Plus vampires.)

Instead of Nova being the singular prophesied girl standing against the forces of evil, an entire Slayer network could exist.

A potential way to expand the Buffy reboot's scope is baked right into established canon, as one of the unresolved storylines the Buffy reboot has to address. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer's final season, Buffy and Willow awakened the Slayer powers of every potential girl who could take on the mantle. Instead of Nova being the singular prophesied girl standing against the forces of evil, an entire Slayer network could exist, with the resources to help Nova and Buffy do what they need to do. With more Slayers, the reboot's scope will have to be bigger than the original's.

3 Avoid The "Bury Your Gays" Trope

The Buffy Reboot Should Let LGBTQ+ Characters Live

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot can fix how the original mistreated LGBTQ+ characters. Originally, Buffy was revolutionary for positively depicting the same-sex romance between Willow and Tara Maclay (Amber Benson), because Willow and Tara were on the same footing as the show's heterosexual couples. But that all came to a halt when Tara was fatally shot by a bullet meant for Buffy in season 6, episode 19, "Seeing Red". With Tara's needless death, Buffy the Vampire Slayer succumbed to the "bury your gays" trope, in which queer characters are disproportionally killed off for shock value.

Willow and Tara embrace in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
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"Bury your gays" implies that queer characters aren't allowed to survive, let alone live happily ever after. In our current climate, positive LGBTQ+ representation in popular media matters more than ever. While the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot might not be able to undo Tara's death, the new Buffy show can do even better when it comes to its LGBTQ+ characters simply by keeping them alive.

2 Figure Out What Magic Actually Represents

Willow's Mixed Magic Metaphor Had Unfortunate Implications

Willow taking Rack's power in buffy the vampire slayer

The Buffy revival has to change the clunky way that the original handled what magic was supposed to be a metaphor for. Initially, Willow's development as a witch mapped easily onto discovering her queer identity, especially because Tara was also a witch. In Buffy season 6, however, magic became a metaphor for substance abuse, as Willow experimented with increasingly dangerous spells and ultimately became the season's Big Bad. The unfortunate implication of magic representing both queerness and addiction was that being gay is a vice, and it was not a good look.

The new Buffy the Vampire Slayer show can change this by quietly burying the magic-as-a-drug storyline from the original, and definitively figuring out what magic actually represents in the Buffyverse — if anything. Although most supernatural elements are metaphors for something, it would be okay for magic to simply be a thing on its own, so witchcraft doesn't have to represent something specific. Instead, the Buffy revival can build up its own mythology around what magic is, who gets to use it, and whether it changes the people who wield it.

1 Diversify Buffy The Vampire Slayer's Cast

And Treat Characters Of Color Better

Buffy and Kendra in Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 2 What's My Line

The Buffy revival has to change one of the biggest problems with the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which was that the main cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer had no people of color in it. There were only 10 Black characters in Buffy's entire run, and they were usually reduced to frustrating stereotypes before being killed off. Buffy tried to remedy this in season 7 with D.B. Woodside's Principal Robin Wood being a more well-rounded character, but other characters of color introduced in season 7, like potential Slayer Chao-Ahn (Kristy Wu), were still treated like punchlines.

The new Buffy show already has more diverse voices behind the scenes than its predecessor.

Chloé Zhao being attached to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer revival as a director promises that the new Buffy show already has more diverse voices behind the scenes than its predecessor. Right now, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Kiera Armstrong are the only two cast confirmed for the Buffy revival. But the rumored cast also includes Nova's friends, reportedly named Gracie and Hugo, who have yet to be cast. One or both of the new Scoobies being played by people of color would be the best change that Buffy the Vampire Slayer could make.