Turns out that some Slayers don't even need a stake to stop your heart, which I discovered when EW reunited the Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast after 20 years. I suddenly found myself with some pretty serious palpitations, so I guess I'm the vampire in this scenario I just created, because it's my heart we're talking about stopping. But you'll be in the exact same boat as soon as you see Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz respectively smirking and glaring out at you from the magazine cover, which was released Wednesday. It's a full dose of nostalgia straight to the old pumper, so I hope you were sitting down and ready to handle it. Otherwise, you might find yourself as one of Buffy Summers' latest unsuspecting victims.
In the special double issue, the magazine does all of our childhood selves an enormous solid and brings the Scooby Gang back together two decades after the show's premiere on The WB in March 1997. Buffy went on to air for seven supernatural seasons, breaking ground with its portrayal of a strong, independent, ass-kicking (or I guess I should say heart-staking) woman as its lead character, and fleshing out (sorry) the overlapping worlds of high school and vampires before that was even a ~thing~.
It's hard to say it better than Gellar: "It’s the ultimate metaphor: horrors of adolescence manifesting through these actual monsters. It’s the hardest time of life," she says in the article. Um, yes, thank you for noticing that was a wretched time in my life. Thankfully, Buffy was and is a guiding light, not just for me but for every fan.
But there's also almost certainly some dark magic afoot, because these two haven't aged a single day. And neither has their ability to stop my heart. I mean, come on. It would be overwhelming already just to see the cast reunited with the show's creator Joss Whedon again after all this time. But the fact that we also get these self-aware, introspective interviews proving that everyone involved knew how important the show was? My childhood self and my adult self are crying.
Now, read what Angel actor David Boreanaz has to say, to give me an opportunity to wipe my eyes.
When you’re going through a really horrible part of your life, like your teenage years, you feel alone. And Buffy was a way to tell the audience you’re not alone.
I'm overwhelmed. This whole article is full of quotes from the cast and walks down memory lane that have me in head-to-toe warm and fuzzies — all capped off by this thought from Whedon that makes it impossible to tell if this reunion is more meaningful to us or to them:
The most important thing to me is that I have had people come up to me and say the show made me feel different about what they could be, about what they could do, about how they respond to problems, about being a female leader. People getting strength from my own little terrors is… There is no better legacy than that.
Whedon, Gellar, Boreanaz, and the entire cast and crew has earned every moment of the adulation coming their way now, and I'm delighted that they get to see how much they mean to fans even 20 years down the line. I have no doubt that it will be the same at 30, 40, 50, and beyond, and I can't wait to be along for the whole glorious ride.
