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Charisma Carpenter is setting the record straight about her possible involvement in the upcoming Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot. The actress, who rose to fame as the sharp-tongued Cordelia Chase in the cult supernatural drama and later in its spinoff Angel, addressed long-circulating fan speculation in a TikTok video posted this week.
“Hey, I get asked this a lot: ‘Are you doing the reboot?’ And I thought I would address it,” Carpenter began, responding directly to a fan comment. “I am not in the reboot. I am not in the pilot. I don’t even know if the show has been picked up to go to series. I assume it will be.”
Her comments put an end to rumors that she would reprise her role as Cordelia in the forthcoming series. The reboot, which currently has a pilot order at Hulu, has generated enormous buzz since its announcement, with fans of the original eager to know which beloved characters might return.
Carpenter also clarified that the launch of her new Buffy rewatch podcast, pointedly titled The Bitch Is Back, was not meant to serve as a coded hint about her participation in the reboot.
“It was not intended to sound coded in any kind of way, alluding to the fact that I was admitting to being in the reboot,” she explained. “People were also then commenting, ‘Oh is this… Are you saying?’ like it was an Easter egg à la Taylor Swift. Not at all.”
She concluded firmly, “I have not had a conversation with any of the powers that be to include Cordelia at this point.”
Carpenter’s statement follows earlier remarks she made last month, where she expressed hope that her character would someday be included in the new iteration. She noted at the time that she considered Cordelia’s exit from the franchise “unjust,” given the arc the character had carried through Buffy and Angel.
Cordelia Chase was one of the original characters introduced in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, appearing throughout the first three seasons. Carpenter then reprised the role in Angel, where Cordelia became an even more central figure, starring in four additional seasons before being killed off in the show’s fifth and final run.
Despite Cordelia’s fate, Carpenter is well aware that in the Buffyverse, death is rarely permanent. As fans know, Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Buffy herself was resurrected more than once, opening the door for familiar faces to potentially return. Gellar, who is also serving as an executive producer on the reboot, has spoken about wanting to balance legacy characters with fresh stories to give the new series its own identity.
The reboot’s pilot will be directed by Academy Award winner and lifelong Buffy fan Chloé Zhao, working from a script by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman (Poker Face). The cast features new slayer Ryan Kiera Armstrong, alongside Faly Rakotohavana, Ava Jean, Sarah Bock, Daniel Di Tomasso, and Jack Cutmore-Scott. Guest and recurring roles include Merrin Dungey, Audrey Hsieh, Audrey Grace Marshall, and Kingston Vernes, with Chase Sui Wonders set to appear in a special guest role.
While Carpenter’s absence may disappoint longtime fans, her candid clarification leaves the door open for future possibilities. For now, she is focused on revisiting her character’s legacy through her podcast — while the new Buffy prepares to introduce a fresh generation to the world of slayers, vampires, and demons.
