The popular fictional Buffyverse established by TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel has led to attempts to develop more commercially viable programs set in the fictional 'Buffyverse'. However some of these projects remain undeveloped for various reasons: sometimes, vital cast members may be unavailable; alternatively, studios and networks which would provide capital for the spinoffs might remain unconvinced that such projects are financially viable.
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A summary of the undeveloped productions:
| Title | Idea first publicly revealed |
|---|---|
| Description | |
| Corrupt (unaired Angel episode) | 1999 |
| Corrupt was originally intended as the second Angel episode, but the script was replaced due to the dark tone of the story. | |
| Buffy the Animated Series | 2002 |
| Buffy the Animated Series was an undeveloped animated TV show based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. | |
| Ripper | 2002 |
| Based upon the life of the character of Rupert Giles in England. | |
| Slayer School | 2003 |
| The show might have used some of the Potentials who had become slayers after the Buffy finale. | |
| Faith the Vampire Slayer | 2003 |
| Tim Minear was behind an unfulfilled idea for a Buffy spinoff in 2003 featuring Eliza Dushku as the popular antihero slayer Faith. | |
| Spike | 2004 |
| Spike is a proposed movie based upon the character | |
Buffy the Animated Series was an undeveloped animated TV show based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Development began on the show in 2001 and the series was initially greenlit by 20th Century Fox in 2002. Six scripts were completed by members of Mutant Enemy and in 2004 a four minute presentation was produced (which was distributed only within the industry). However it went ultimately unproduced and unaired when no network was willing to buy the series.
"Corrupt" was originally intended as the second Angel episode. The story used dark and adult themes. The script written by David Fury included the character Kate Lockley as a drug-addicted cop deep undercover as a prostitute, and also included Angel tasting the blood of a victim. The production was abandoned, and instead the "lighter" episode, "Lonely Hearts," was written and produced.
Tim Minear was behind an idea for a Buffy spinoff in 2003 featuring Eliza Dushku as the popular antihero slayer Faith. Instead, Dushku would go on to star as the main character in the series Tru Calling.
Ideas intended for the spin-off were later borrowed in small part by Brian K. Vaughan for his "No Future for You" arc in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight.
Ripper was originally a proposed television show based upon the character of Rupert Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (created by Joss Whedon). More recent information has suggested that if Ripper were ever made it would be a TV-movie or a DVD-movie.[4] Giles, played by British actor Anthony Stewart Head, was nicknamed 'Ripper' while he was dabbling in the occult during his rebellious youth.
Whedon said that the show would be in the tradition of "classic English ghost stories" and would explore the theme of loneliness. Head described the idea as being like "Cracker with ghosts";[5] Whedon elaborated on some the themes he had planned for the series: "The people who live there, it's all very isolated. [Giles] himself has been gone for many years. He was surrounded by a de facto family that he no longer has. And [he is] sort of picking up his life all alone, and then getting involved in the underbelly of other people's lives, and finding out all about them. Loneliness is what I think of. It may not be the theme so much as the emotional intent of the series, but that's what really attracts it to me the most"[6] It was later reported that Whedon had written the two-hour pilot, and that Espenson and other Buffy staff writers had penned story outlines for other potential episodes.[7]
Originally in 2001, the show was planned to be aired as a miniseries on the BBC. Later mentions suggested a TV movie, however in an interview in December 2005, Head suggested that Ripper would be a "two hour movie, that might become part of a series of [Buffyverse] DVDs".[4] However, Whedon was then involved in his new TV series Dollhouse which ended in 2010 and comic book Buffy Season 8. Whedon announced plans for a Ripper series as soon as Head left Buffy in 2001 to return to his home in England. Over the past eight years, the idea has evolved.
At Comic Con 2007, Joss Whedon confirmed that talks were almost completed for a 90-minute Ripper special on the BBC,[8] with both Head and the BBC completely on board.
The development process was supposedly set to begin in 2008 and Ripper was to be shown in the summer of that year.[9] However, in a BBC interview in April 2008, Head stated that 'Creator Joss Whedon is busy with another project, I'm tied up too, so at the moment I'd just say that it's still out there.'[10] In this same interview, Head mentioned that Whedon had discussed the project with Doctor Who and Torchwood producer Julie Gardner.
"Originally, when he pitched it to me, it was a series, and it was Giles as this sad, lonely man in England without a real reason to be," Head said. "It was pretty much ghost stories. Week by week, some ghost story would somehow affect him. Then he said he didn't want to. By that time, I think he had been affected by Angel, the need to write a weekly story. I think he found at that point the drive was different, so he suggested this one film that we were going to make. He told me this story that he had written, and it's absolutely beautiful, and I hope that one day it gets made, whether it's in the guise of Ripper or whether we just tell it as a one-off TV movie. It's a lovely, lovely story. It's kind of a ghost story. It's also about a man investigating his own soul, and it's fascinating, lovely, sad, and it's classic Joss Whedon. I hope we get to make it one day. From there on in, if it was successful, maybe he could have been convinced to do a series. As I say, now he's back in the seat of doing a weekly series with Dollhouse; maybe he can be convinced otherwise. Never say never, but at the same time, I think it's on a shelf for a while."
Later Joss Whedon gave an interview to TV Week's James Hibberd and was surprisingly non-committal about Ripper. Whedon stated that "There isn’t anything new. It might become too problematic. The rights issue with 'Ripper' becomes complicated. There are other characters in the woods. We may have to do some fancy footwork. Obviously I’m committed to Dollhouse but that does not mean I’m not doing 'Ripper'". [1] In an interview from "The Write Environnement", Whedon reiterated: "Well, Ripper fell victim to a lot of things, most of them contractual... at this point, all I know is I’m gonna do something with Tony for the BBC - and I don’t know what it is... Actually, I kinda do know what it is, but I haven’t figured it out enough to tell anybody... but I think it probably won’t be Ripper."
With the cancellation of Dollhouse Whedon has been locked in talks over the rights issues of the character of Rupert Giles. This is the only hurdle with the BBC having funding, location and local production team in place, with Whedon delivering the initial script. It still remains unclear whether it would go beyond a 90 minute TV special or become a stand-alone miniseries.[11][12]
Jane Espenson has said that back when the series Buffy was nearing its end, "I think Marti talked with Joss about Slayer School, I assume there was some back-and-forth pitching."[13]
Espenson revealed more information when she gave a talk at Ball State University in March 2003. The show might have used some of the Potentials (who became slayers after "Chosen"), and other characters from Buffy, which might have included Willow Rosenberg. Espenson also revealed that Whedon did not think that such a spinoff felt right.[14] It seems that the concept for "Slayer School" was never developed beyond a 'pitch' for a potential spin-off to replace Buffy.
| Spike | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Tim Minear |
| Written by | Tim Minear Joss Whedon |
| Starring | James Marsters Amy Acker |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Language | English |
Spike was a proposed movie based upon the character of Spike from Buffy and Angel. The existence of such a project is currently in question.
Originally, the show was hoped to be made as a TV movie. However it is possible that if the project is greenlit, it may be a DVD-movie.
After Angel was cancelled in 2004, WB claimed an interest in Angel TV movies. However, it was soon revealed that summer that David Boreanaz, who had already played the character for eight years on television, would only return to his character for a theatrical release.[15]
In May 2004, James Marsters, the actor who had portrayed the character Spike, revealed that there might be a possibility of a Spike movie.[16] The same year he said that he would be willing to return to the Buffyverse if it were within five years. Beyond that five years he feared that it would no longer be believable that Marsters was portraying an immortal character.[17]
Since 2004 Whedon has been working on other projects, such as Serenity, Wonder Woman and Astonishing X-Men. However he has approached people and asked if they would be interested in participating in the Spike movie. He has said that Amy Acker would be a part of the movie, and if Alyson Hannigan was available she might appear.[18] Whedon has even mentioned he might interlink the Spike story with that yet to be told in Buffy comics he will be writing for Dark Horse in 2007.[19]
Tim Minear revealed in late 2005 that “I had lunch with Joss and he asked me if I wanted to write and direct some blond vampire movie thing”.[20]
David Janollari, president of entertainment at The WB said in January 2006 that "We'd love to do a Spike movie with Joss Whedon." However he added that "Joss Whedon is busy, fast becoming a kind of a big feature filmmaker. He's simply not available to us. But he knows, and you guys all know, the door is open any time that he wants to do that, for us to do that movie."[21]
Since then Whedon has continued to pursue the Spike movie, and find interested parties that would air and/or produce the film led by Minear, and starring Marsters and Acker. During March 2006, Whedon appeared on the UK TV Channel, MTV Screenplay, he announced he was still trying to get the Spike movie made.[22] In May 2006, outside the Saturn Awards, Whedon announced that he had pitched the concept to various bodies (which must include 20th Century Fox, since they own the rights to the fictional Buffyverse), but had yet to receive any feedback from those bodies.[23] Amy Acker said at a convention in May 2006 that the Spike movie would not be happening: “I think its safe to say that’s not happening anymore, cause if they were, they’d be getting done right now. There was supposed to be three of them –- one for Spike, a Faith one and also one for Willow. I think it's safe to say that now because it's not going to happen”.[24] In June 2006, Joss Whedon also said that funding was a problem: "There are certain characters I’ve been saving because I thought I might make movies about them, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. I think money is standing in the way".[25]
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