Here’s a riddle you might not have heard before. What do you get when you take Buffy the Vampire Slayer, remove Joss Whedon, Sara Michelle Geller, then don’t include supporting characters like Angel, Xander, Willow, or Spike? My guess is pissed off nerds. I don’t know if you’ve heard this before but Joss Whedon fans have been rumored to go a little crazy when things don’t go their way. I think a Whedonless Buffy reboot would count as not going their way, but apparently that’s exactly what Vertigo Entertainment is planning to do. According to thr.com Joss dosn’t actually own the rights to to Buffy, apparently those are held by the first film’s director Fran Rubel Kuzui and her husband, Kaz Kuzui.

The Kuzuis (Or The Great Kazuis as they like to refer to themselves in private) bought the rights to Buffy back in the early 90’s from a then unknown Whedon and now find themselves in a position to do whatever the hell they want to do with his concept. The film they are talking about doing is neither a sequel or a prequel, but rather a re imagining of the next generation of slayer; a concept that has always been inherent in the series. The film would be darker than what any of us are used to from Whedon, and would hopefully bring with it the potential to continue the franchise.

I’m not exactly sure what I think of this news. On the one hand I’m not one of Whedon’s rabid horde of followers waiting to serve the master in whatever way he desires. I don’t think the earth revolves around his writing. Now on the other hand, I loved Buffy and think that anything more that comes from the vampire slayer concept is going to be a lot better with him in it than it would be if he were left out. I guess I’m sitting on the fence a little, but I’m prepared to give it a chance if we absolutely can’t have a Buffy without Whedon doing the writing. I’m actually more disappointed that it won’t be tied to the TV series in any way, than I am that it won’t be penned by the series creator. But I suppose life goes on.