It's hard not to draw comparisons between Sarah Michelle Gellar's iconic and generation-defining role as Buffy Anne Summers, and her involvement in her latest television project Wolf Pack.
In both, we know what goes bump in the night – and it's likely to have sharp teeth, abnormal strength and healing powers. But 20 years after leaving Sunnydale and its monsters behind, Gellar's return to the supernatural genre actually couldn't be more different. And for her, that is "probably part of the fun".
"I wouldn't want to do that character again, because it would never be as good," she says to Digital Spy in an exclusive interview. "It would never be that moment."
On the face of it (and for the first few episodes, at least) Gellar is a no-nonsense arson investigator called Kristin Ramsey, pursuing leads for a wild fire that she's convinced has been caused by a teen in the local high school. She seems like the kind of woman you'd want in your corner, but wouldn't want to cross.
It's giving subtle Principle Snyder vibes – a comparison that Gellar doesn't seem overly enamoured by ("he was a clueless, bumbling idiot", she jests) but kindly doesn't dismiss, despite her revelation that most reactions have name-dropped beloved Watcher and librarian Giles instead.
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"I like it... That's the point of entertainment, right?," she says. "It's not about all of us being the same, having the same emotions. Because we are all different people, we are going to look to different characters. And so that actually makes me happy that you see it differently than they do. That's the point."
Of course, the intention was never to tarnish Wolf Pack's Kristin Ramsey with the same brush as the former Sunnydale High principal, who was in cahoots with the evil mayor and who later became known affectionately as that 'nasty, bigoted little rodent man' (all hail Joyce Summers).
My summation was more to do with her switch to being the grown-up that's now trying to catch out the supernatural teens; a direct reversal of the part she played in Buffy. But having only seen two episodes as of time of writing, there's a lot that can still change – and Gellar wants fans to know that there's more to her character yet to be unpacked.
"I think it's important that I do [tease what's to come] because I want people to understand, like, you have to know that I'm not doing it just to be the arson investigator," she explains. "There's definitely a reason and a motivation that she's there, you have to wait for it."
"There might be some twists along the way, that are also not even why she's really there," she continues. "But it's really cool. I promise. By the end, you will know why I'm there. You will get your action sequence, you will get it all."
As for the balance of strength and softness that made Buffy so special, Gellar also shares: "There are some vulnerabilities to Kristin. You'll have to wait to episode eight to find out what they are. But they're there. But they're very – they're not as on the surface as hers [Buffy's]."
In addition to treating audiences to all of the ingredients they've come to expect from a Sarah Michelle Gellar project, she's also been making her mark behind the camera as an executive producer on the series.
"So the script was already written when I came in," she explains. "But I said to Jeff Davis, who's our incredible creator and showrunner, and I said, you know, you have to understand that for me being an executive producer, it's not a vanity title. I'm going to have opinions, I'm going to have critiques. And you have to be willing to hear them."
"I think the conception of these characters was one of the reasons why I did love it so much," Gellar explains. It's something that's taken up quite a lot of our chat, and her passion and enthusiasm for the representation that Wolf Pack explores, through its younger cast members (made up of mostly newcomers), really radiates.
Blake (played by Bella Shepard) opens the show with visible acne, something that is painfully relatable for many of us that shied away from the mirror growing up, but that – Gellar finishes our sentence – you realise you've never "seen a character that has acne on television like that".
"That's the whole idea, is normalising so many of these things," she adds. "Normalising anxiety, that was one of the themes that really struck me when I first read it, was dealing with teenage – and just adult – anxiety, in sort of a different manner."
Related: How to watch Wolf Pack
Everett (played by Armani Jackson) is a central character that openly discusses his anxiety, and the coping mechanisms that he uses to manage it day-to-day. "Jeff and I really spoke about it at length, and he was talking to a lot of child psychologists," Gellar shares.
"And there's a belief that anxiety is your body running at peak condition. But we don't know how to manage when our body is at that. And so if we can learn to harness it, if we can learn how to manage, it becomes like this superpower. But what are those tools that we can do to manage in those situations, when your brain starts to run?"
And then there's Harlan (Tyler Lawrence Gray), a main protagonist whose sexuality is neither ambiguous nor made into a big deal just for the sake of a storyline. "And he's not sexually fluid. He is gay," Gellar underlines.
"Like I want to be clear about that. And another thing, talk about normalising, like just to normalise it, the lead character is gay and it's not a plot point. It's not a plot point with his parents, with his dad… it's not a plot point with his sister, nobody cares. And that's a normalisation that I'm very excited to be a part of."
We revisit this later in our conversation, where Gellar points to Harlan as being "the only real character that has, for quite some time, that has a love interest" – a very different creative decision than she experienced in the noughties, with Willow's storyline.
"Going back to Buffy, I mean, obviously, we had a fight to make Willow gay, and she wasn't even the lead character."
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I couldn't leave our chat before taking the opportunity to tell Sarah Michelle Gellar just how much Buffy has meant to me throughout my life. It's something she humbly thanks me for, before letting me indulge in some dream casting.
After a gazillion rewatches, I've often flirted with the idea that the season six incarnation of Buffy Summers could have unlocked the memory of the time she spent with Angel when he became human. (If you're unfamiliar, this emotional chestnut went down in Angel season one in an earth-shattering episode entitled 'I Will Remember You'.)
"Oh… that would have been really cool," she says, "that's one of my favourites – I love that episode."
Gellar was just 18 when she filmed the pilot for what was to become one of the biggest shows of the 21st century. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is relentlessly iconic and truly beloved, empowering generations that they could be the hero of their own stories.
From the clothes to the pop culture references, it's also a time capsule of a moment in time. But when it comes to memorabilia for its lead star, Gellar shares that they "weren't allowed" to take things from set at that time (while also noting, "I was so young. I didn't realise what it would mean later").
But she does have one Mister Pointy at home, she reveals. A real "diva", she calls her whittled takeaway, there were numerous versions of the lucky stake on set.
With so many cheerleaders in her corner (although hopefully none that will set themselves on fire), Sarah Michelle Gellar's big comeback has sparked the imagination of Buffy fans.
One theory – a comment below the Wolf Pack trailer – is choosing to believe that Kristin Ramsey is actually a retired Buffy, who has changed her name and relocated, but that the final episode will reveal her to be the Slayer.
"That's really funny. I like it. I'm down for it," Gellar says in response to the idea. "No, I can tell you that one is not the case. That is not what you will find out, but that's funny."
But then she does leave us with the biggest mic drop of all: "Wouldn't it be funny if you just found out, [Wolf Pack] season two is just Buffy? It's all a ruse."
Wolf Pack is available to watch now on Paramount+ in the US and in the UK.
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TV Editor, Digital Spy Laura has been watching television for over 30 years and professionally writing about entertainment for almost 10 of those. Previously at LOOK and now heading up the TV desk at the UK's biggest TV and movies site Digital Spy, Laura has helped steer conversations around some of the most popular shows on the box. Laura has appeared on Channel 5 News and radio to talk viewing habits and TV recommendations. As well as putting her nerd-level Buffy knowledge to good use during an IRL meet with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Laura also once had afternoon tea with One Direction, has sat around the fire pit of the Love Island villa, spoken to Sir David Attenborough about the world's oceans and even interviewed Rylan from inside the Big Brother house (housemate status, forever pending).
