Sarah Michelle Gellar is returning to TV — however this time she’s working with werewolves.
The “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star headlines the Paramount+ collection “Wolf Pack,” directed by Jeff Davis (“Teen Wolf”) and premiering Jan. 26.
Gellar, 45, advised The Post that she was initially reluctant to do one other supernatural present.
“I simply assume [that] while you’ve lived in a world that also stands the check of time, and that people are still watching, it’s arduous to do one thing that is likely to be thought-about related and have inevitable comparisons,” she mentioned, referring to her starring function on “Buffy,” which ran for seven seasons and 144 episodes (1997-2003).
“It simply doesn’t make sense since you’re not making an attempt to repeat your self,” she mentioned. “But, on the identical time, if individuals love you in romantic comedies, you don’t keep away from all of them. You simply discover the one which speaks to you and says one thing. It was additionally the right timing for me.”
“Wolf Pack” relies on a e-book collection by Edo Van Belkom and follows youngsters Everett (Armani Jackson), Blake (Bella Shepard), Luna (Chloe Rose Robertson) and Harlan (Tyler Lawrence Gray) — introduced collectively by mysterious circumstances involving a California wildfire and the chunk of a werewolf. Rodrigo Santoro (“Westworld,” “Lost”) co-stars as park ranger Garrett Briggs, the adopted father of Luna and Harlan. Gellar, who’s additionally an govt producer, performs arson investigator Kristin Ramsey.
“In the primary couple of episodes, she’s there to unravel who began the hearth … Later on, her motivations will develop into clearer and extra layered. I believe it’s necessary to notice, too, that one in all our principal characters is homosexual, and that’s simply the best way it’s,” mentioned Gellar, referring to Harlan.
“So usually on these reveals, it’s a aspect character. Or if it’s a principal character, there are massive discussions about how his sexuality impacts the household. I bear in mind on ‘Buffy’ there have been arguments when Willow fell in love with Tara. People had been like, ‘I don’t know if we need to do that. We have to clarify!’ But now, there’s this normalization of [Harlan’s] sexuality on this present that I’ve by no means skilled earlier than. I simply like to see how that’s developed.”
Gellar’s lengthy resume consists of her Daytime Emmy-winning function on “All My Children” and films reminiscent of “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “Cruel Intentions.” She took a step back from Hollywood after her 2013 CBS comedy, “The Crazy Ones,” (co-starring the late Robin Williams) in order to give attention to elevating her two youngsters with husband Freddie Prinze Jr., 46. But now that her youngsters are 10 and 13, Gellar is prepared for her comeback.
“In the back of my head, I all the time meant to [return],” she mentioned. “I knew I might know when the time was right, and it began to really feel like that earlier than COVID. And then the pandemic hit and it was like, ‘Oh, there goes that concept!’ But throughout [that time], I noticed that whether or not it’s new reveals you watched or older reveals you found, how a lot storytelling helped us get by means of this era. I needed to be a part of that tradition once more. And my youngsters are older now. I joke they depart me extra usually than I depart them.”
Gellar, who’s targeted on “Wolf Pack” for the time being, mentioned “I’m taking it slower; my days of three tasks directly are over.” She’s a fan of the HBO anthology collection “The White Lotus” and who like to look in the collection: “Me and all people else in the universe, I’m positive!”
