Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a phenomenon back in the 90’s, and launched the careers of many actors, including Sarah Michelle Gellar who played the lead role. On the surface, Buffy Summers is like any other normal teenage girl in high school, but she harbours a very dark secret.
Her prophecy is that of the Slayer, the one who fights the vampires and demons of this world. She turns up in Sunnydale to make a fresh start, but turns out the sleepy town holds the key to the Hellmouth, a hot area for supernatural activity.
The show ran for 7 seasons between 1997-2003, and fans have been clamouring for a reboot of the classic show for many years but nothing has materialized. However, exciting news has just been announced for fans of Buffy.
Slayers: A Buffyverse Story is a new audio series that follows Spike as he goes undercover to convince his enemies that he’s returned to his evil ways. The most exciting part of this announcement is that some of the original cast will return to lend their voices to the series. James Marsters, Anthony Head and Charisma Carpenter are just some of the cast who will reprise their roles from the original series. It premieres on Audible on October 12th. Here are some shows to watch if you miss seeing Buffy kick ass on television.
Angel
At the end of season 3 of Buffy, the tortured slayer’s vampire love interest, Angel, left the show. It was a turning point in the franchise, as it saw David Boreanaz reprise the role in a spin off series.
Angel was a massive hit and ran for 5 seasons until it was cancelled way ahead of its time. The show took place in Los Angeles and saw Angel set up a demon hunting business with Cordelia Chase and Wesley Wyndam Pryce from the original series. Others would join the group including karaoke singing green demon, Lorne, and fan favourite Spike. It added to the mythology of the parent series and contributed to the success of the Buffy-verse.
The Vampire Diaries
Kevin Williamson was known for writing the classic slasher film, Scream back in the 90’s, as well as creating the hit teen drama, Dawson’s Creek. He continued his descent into television in the 2000’s and created a number of successful shows including The Vampire Diaries, which premiered in 2009, and ran for 8 seasons.
The show was about the love triangle between vampire brothers, Stefan and Damon and Elena, a girl who had recently lost both of her parents in a car crash. Similar to the Buffy-verse, it became a phenomenon, and spawned a successful spin off series, comic books and novels.
True Blood
Probably the darkest vampire series of all is True Blood. HBO launched the show in 2008 and it became an instant success with fans and critics alike. Based on a series of books, it follows the life of Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress at a bar in a small Louisiana town called Bon Temps.
Sookie must fight against the many vampires who frequent the town, and navigate a love affair with the morally complicated vampire, Bill. The show was created by American Beauty and Six Feet Under writer, Alan Ball and ran for 7 seasons.
Smallville
Tom Welling played the role of Clark Kent before he adopted his Superman mantra, in Smallville for 10 successful seasons. The show featured some epic season long storylines whilst also excelling in some of the best monster of the week episodes to grace our television screens.
The show suffered after the departure of Michael Rosenbaum who played classic villain, Lex Luthor in the show for 7 seasons. But the first few seasons are a must watch for fans of the supernatural genre.
Teen Wolf
Michael J Fox originally played the 17 year old high school student who discovers he is a werewolf in the classic 1985 movie, Teen Wolf. Many years later, MTV created a re-imagining of the original movie, and turned it into a 6 season hit television show.
Television adaptations of classic genre movies are often hit and miss but this one delivers the goods, and is definitely one to watch for fans of Buffy.
The X Files
The X Files is one of those shows that just keeps coming back onto our screens. It originally ran for 9 seasons between 1993-2002, with a movie adaptation being released in 1998 during the height of its success. In 2008, it returned to the big screen with a sequel titled The X Files: I Want to Believe, and fans thought that was the end of the story.
However, Mulder and Scully returned to the small screen in 2016 with a brand new 10th season, followed by an 11th and final run in 2018. It always featured great storylines and investigations into the paranormal that make it a must watch.
Supernatural
If you thought The X Files ran for a long time, this next show really puts it to shame. Supernatural ran for 15 seasons between 2005-2020, featuring a whopping 327 episodes.
Sam and Dean are demon hunting brothers, who encounter a wide range of creatures that make Buffy Summers antics look like a stroll in the park. The show wouldn’t exist without the success of Buffy, and it knows it. It ran for too long and became a shadow of its former self by the end. Having said that, the first 4 seasons are up there with the best of television in this genre.
The Walking Dead
Buffy the Vampire Slayer featured its fair share of zombie creatures during its run, but The Walking Dead took zombie folklore to the next level and ran with it, quite literally. The show became the biggest show on television when it was released back in 2010 and kept going for 11 seasons.
Just when fans thought they had reached the end of the road with the walkers, AMC announced that it would produce a number of spin off’s to the hit show, each of them following popular characters from the original series. Don’t expect to see the end of this universe anytime soon.
Wednesday
As soon as Jenna Ortega stepped foot onto the stage at the school disco and performed that dance in Season One of Wednesday, an icon was born. Netflix took the success of The Addams Family and created a show based around Gomez and Morticia’s outcast daughter, Wednesday, and it became the breakout hit of 2022.
The first season has 8 episodes of binge worthy drama to get through, with a 2nd season on the way. Tim Burton directed 4 episodes and manages to inflict his unique style on the production, giving a very cinematic feel to it.
Stranger Things
Without a doubt, the biggest hit in the sci fi genre of the last decade has been Stranger Things. Netflix caught onto audiences craving for nostalgia, and greenlit the Duffer Brother’s love letter to 1980’s science fiction and popular culture back in 2016.
Every season of the show has raised the stakes and built towards an epic finale which will be realised in the 5th and final series, likely to be released next year. Catch up on the first 4 seasons now if you haven’t already.
So there we have it, our 10 TV show alternatives to watch when you’re finished watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
What do you think of our picks? Do you agree? Are there any notable omissions? Let us know in the comments below!