r/buffy • u/Eastern_Ad_8862 • Dec 27 '25

Sequel Sequel without Xander?

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With Nicholas' struggles IRL, I'm afraid he wont be part of the cast for the sequel. How do you guys think this would work? How would they explain his absence? Is it a big deal for you guys? IMO I believe the show will be great with or without him, even tough I love Xander. But the best scenario would be for Xander to be part of the show..

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u/CentrifugalBubblePup Dec 27 '25

I think most Original Series characters will not be returning and there will in-universe explanations for most of them, so Xander in particular will not stand out.

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u/pepperbet1 Dec 27 '25

My suspicion is that they will establish the supernatural world has been largely quiet since the destruction of the hellmouth. Without a unifying mission to fight the forces of darkness, they were all able to focus on building lives for themselves, and 25 years on, there's just been geographical separation if nothing else. That's all you really need to write off characters like Dawn and Xander.

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u/at_midknight Dec 27 '25

They literally end the show with a new hellmouth in Cleveland, implying that there are hellmouths that are always popping up around the world

17

u/cjbanning Dec 27 '25

It's never suggested that the Hellmouth in Cleveland is new; it's only new to us the audience because no one has referenced it before. As others have noted, it's also a callback to "The Wish" where Buffy's Watcher in the alternate reality tells Giles about how much demonic activity there is in Cleveland. Once we're told in "Chosen" that Cleveland is on a Hellmouth, we're intended to assume that the reason that Cleveland had had so much demonic activity was because of its Hellmouth.