Chase Sui Wonders On ‘Buffy’ Reboot Role: “It’s The Dream”

The rumors are true! Chase Sui Wonders will appear in the upcoming Buffy reboot which has a pilot order at Hulu.

In an interview with Deadline, Wonders said she was currently shooting the new Buffy pilot in Los Angeles, where the original series was filmed. Wonders came to the project after connecting with Sarah Michelle Gellar on this year’s I Know What You Did Last Summer.

“Sarah Michelle Geller is just such a force to be reckoned with,” Wonders said. “We became fast friends on I Know What You Did last Summer. She’s an incredible woman and just a cool person, and she asked me if I wanted to do it. Then she told me about Chloe Zhao directing and the Zuckermans showrunning. And then Eric Kissack, who is actually our editor on The Studio, is also editing the Buffy series.”

The new Buffy reboot follows Buffy Summers (Gellar) as she trains high-school student Nova (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) to be the new vampire slayer.

Wonders remained tight-lipped about the exact details of her character—although we understand her name is Shirley and that this will be a one-off guest role. Wonders was, however, able to reveal a few details of her on-set experience: “What I can say is that it’s a very fun way to enter this series, and [Gellar] is on set every day, from as soon as we start to when we wrap. She’s very hands on.”

Since signing on, Wonders said she had dived deep into the Buffy-verse. “I’ve watched the entirety of the [original] series, so I’m really living inside Sunnydale at the moment. It’s very cool and surreal to see young Sarah Michelle just be a total badass, which I knew, but it’s cool to see that she’s been a badass for a long time.”

She added, “It’s the dream to bring back a show like this, to have someone who was there day in and day out and through the origin of the series, be the consultant. She’s the onset consultant for all kinds of things of like, how do you react to these types of vampires, or how does someone react to a bite, and all the lore she’s got stored in her brain. So, it’s very helpful.”

Wonders is a rising star in both film and television. This year she has starred as Quinn, an up-and-coming executive in Apple TV+ Seth Rogen-led comedy series The Studio, which received 23 Emmy nominations last month, and as Ava in I Know What You Did Last Summer. She first broke out as Riley in the HBO Max series Generation, followed by the role of Emma in the Halina Reijn comedy-horror film Bodies Bodies Bodies.

Of working with Zhao who is directing the Buffy reboot pilot, Wonders said, “Upon first meeting her, I was like, this woman is very, very heart-on-her- sleeve, and she has a very unique approach to filmmaking and the process of it all. You can tell that her roots are in this very naturalistic indie filmmaking with non-actors. The Rider was a total masterpiece. To get to work with her on this canon, pulpy sort of fantastical series is really fun. She’s incredible.”

The previous announced series regulars are Faly Rakatohavana (Unprisoned), Ava Jean (Law & Order: SVU), Sarah Bock (Severance), Daniel Di Tomasso (CSI: Vegas) and Jack Cutmore-Scott (Frasier), plus guest star Kingston Vernes (The Survivor).

Rakotohavana will play Hugo, a privileged high-schooler, Jean will play Larkin, a student described as a “chronic do-gooder,” and Bock is Gracie, the ringleader for a group of church-going students. Di Tomasso will play Abe, Nova’s single father who is a photojournalist. Scott will play Mr. Burke, a popular high school teacher and Vernes will play Carson, a student at New Sunnydale Academy who is the object of Nova’s crush.

The reboot hails from Buffy the Vampire Slayer studio 20th Television and Searchlight TV where Zhao has been under a first-look deal.

Gellar is executive producing with Zhao via her Book of Shadows banner, alongside Nora and Lilla Zuckerman, and the original series’ EPs Gail Berman of the Jackal Group, Fran Kuzui & Kaz Kuzui via Suite B and Dolly Parton whose company Sandollar was producer on the original.