“I think dead and possibly buried. Or even cremated.”

These were the words used by Joss Whedon in an interview with TV Guide’s Mike Ausiello regarding his many projects, including the animated show. Unfortunately, it seems that work involving the show has ended, possibly due to Joss’ growing film career and Jeph Loeb’s departure. It remains unlikely that the show’s premise will be resurrected, but this section of the Resource aims to highlight what could have been a follow-up to the hit live action show.

The original plan for Buffy: The Animated Series first came about during Buffy‘s fourth season, where Joss Whedon and current Smallville producer Jeph Loeb came up with a premise for an animated show. Set during the live action show’s first season, the series would tell the stories that live action could never tell, but with one twist: the show would also feature a ten-year old Dawn and would therefore be a showcase for the altered events that were hinted at when the character was initially introduced.
 
While the show was still on the drawing board, an initial presentation piece was produced, with cast members Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan and Anthony Stewart Head reprising their roles as Xander, Willow and Giles respectively. While Sarah Michelle Gellar opted out of voicing the animated Slayer, Giselle Loren, a veteran who had voiced the character in a video game, took the role. There was no other word on cast involvement, but David Boreanaz did express interest.
 
The show would have be written by various Mutant Enemy writers, including Doug Petrie and Jane Espenson, and would have featured several early characters, such as Cordelia Chase, Jonathan Levinson, Principal Snyder and Joyce Summers.

CHARACTER DESIGNS

While the series itself never even hit the drawing boards, and the artwork that was released was very dated and probably not likely to have been used, there was some preliminary artwork, courtesy of artist Eric Wright, who was heavily involved with the process of designing the show. All images come from his site, which you can visit here.