Why Eliza Dushku's Buffy The Vampire Slayer Spin-Off Didn't Happen

With a new "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" series drawing closer every day — led by original series lead Sarah Michelle Gellar and new slayer and star Ryan Kiera Armstrong ("The Lowdown") — new fans are once again flocking to the iconic '90s fantasy series. The original series ran for seven seasons from 1997 to 2003, with the five-season spin-off "Angel" beginning in '99 and running until 2004. However, there was a brief possibility that a third series might be produced in the aftermath of those first two — another spin-off this time centering on Eliza Dushku's renegade slayer Faith.

Introduced in "Buffy" Season 3 as a sort of antihero foil to Buffy, Faith appeared in 20 episodes of the show, including many in the final season, as well as a handful of guest appearances on "Angel." As reported by CinemaBlend, Dushku reached out to series creator Joss Whedon and writer Tim Minear in the early 2000s with the idea of returning to the "Buffy" universe. "After I finished the show, I'd withdrawn from school and followed up with a couple of films like 'Bring It On,' but I'd had such an awesome experience working with Joss I was ready to go down that road again," Dushku explained. However, scheduling issues on the production end made the proposed spin-off an impossibility at the time for Whedon and talks quickly fizzled.

Today, praise from Whedon's former stars isn't necessarily the norm. Beginning in 2020, a wave of criticism and allegations arose from a number of actors formerly associated with Whedon projects, ranging from Ray Fisher of "Justice League" to several members of the "Buffy" cast, including Charisma Carpenter, Amber Benson, and Michelle Trachtenberg. These included accusations of workplace harassment, emotional abuse, and all-around unprofessionalism.

Carpenter claimed that Whedon shamed her aggressively on set after discovering that she was pregnant. In a post on Instagram in 2021, Trachtenberg wrote that there was "a rule" on the "Buffy" set that Whedon was "not allowed in a room alone with Michelle again." Trachtenberg, who died from diabetes complications in February 2025, was a minor at the time. Whedon has denied the majority of the allegations.

Though the timing didn't work out for a proper "Buffy" creative reunion when Dushku first reached out to Whedon and Minear about the Faith spin-off, she tried again a few years later and "Dollhouse," a two-season Fox thriller series, was the result. In many ways, the show can be seen as the Faith spin-off that never was, as the timing finally lined up for the two to collaborate again. "I wanted to do something else and I wanted to get back into a television show," Dushku said in 2009. "I had [Whedon] on the brain for sure but I hadn't called him yet, but I sort of took a leap of faith and set things up with Fox and then called Joss."

In the wake of Carpenter's allegations against Whedon, Dushku wrote on Instagram, thanking her for bravely coming forward. "I hadn't known it and I won't forget it." Dushku had her own experiences with harassment on set, winning a $9.5 million settlement from CBS in 2018 after claiming she was fired from "Bull" following her own allegations of misconduct against lead actor Michael Weatherly.

For those who love Faith's story on "Buffy" and need more, she does feature prominently in the sequel comic book series. Those stories are of dubious canon now that a proper reboot is in the works. Not all fans love the direction they take the original show's characters, but there's definitely fun to be had, with Faith being a part of some interesting stories. As Dushku is now retired from acting, there is unfortunately little chance that the new "Buffy" reboot will bring Faith back to the screen.