Even as fans are eager to see the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot, Sarah Michelle Gellar has another TV show in the works!
After a long time out of the spotlight, Sarah Michelle Gellar has been making a nice return to TV in the last few years. The actress got her start on All My Children, which won her a Daytime Emmy Award. She was then launched to stardom with the title role on the modern classic show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and added movies like I Know What You Did Last Summer.
Gellar made a few more TV shows, such as Ringer and The Crazy Ones, before taking a break to concentrate on her family. However, Gellar is making a comeback, starting with 2023’s Wolf Pack, which ended after one season. She now has a recurring role on Dexter: Original Sin.
Buzz is building on Gellar attached to a planned sequel series to Buffy, produced by Oscar winner Chloé Zhao. But before that, it looks like she’s got another big TV role lined up!
Sarah Michelle Gellar developing Bad Summer People
As reported by Deadline, Gellar will both star and executive produce an adaptation of the novel Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum. According to Deadline, Cara DiPaolo (No Good Deed) will write and executive produce the project, produced by Linden Productions and A+E Studios, who will develop it internally before taking it out to buyers. Also executive producing are Riva Marker and Deanna Barillari with Linden Productions, and JoAnne Colonna.
The 2023 novel is set in the town of Salcombe, Fire Island, and focuses on “frenemies” Jen Weinsten and Lauren Parker. The pair are experts manipulating others for their own gain while their husbands are supposed long-time friends with their own secrets. The plot kicks off with a murder that slowly exposes the dark truths behind these elites. That has Jen and Lauren in a twisted battle to save their own lives and, more importantly to them, their social standing.
The story has obvious parallels to hit shows like The White Lotus and the growing sub-genre of TV series about rich hamlets filled with secrets. It’s obvious Gellar will play one of the leads, although it's uncertain if it’ll be Jen or Lauren and who her co-stars will be. Anyone who’s watched Ringer and Cruel Intentions knows Gellar can be delightful as a wicked vixen and no wonder she was drawn to the story.
The series has only just been announced so there's obviously still a lot of pre-production work to do. There’s also how Gellar is busy with the Buffy reboot and possibly more of Dexter. However, it does sound like a show worth waiting for, as Gellar will deliver another fine TV role.