Charisma Carpenter addressed fan speculation she would be returning to the queen bee character that first catapulted her to fame in the forthcoming reboot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
In a TikTok video posted today, the actress — who appeared as Cordelia Chase in both the mothership series and Angel spinoff — debunked any rumors she would be in the new show.
“Hey, I get asked this a lot: ‘Are you doing the reboot?’ And I thought I would address it,” she began in response to a 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.”
Carpenter then addressed the launch of her new Buffy rewatch podcast titled The Bitch Is Back, the name of which she dispelled was associated with any kind of return to the Buffyverse.
“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 said. “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, “I have not had a conversation with any of the powers that be to include Cordelia at this point.”
Carpenter’s statement comes after previous comments she made last month saying she was “so hopeful” to be included in the new iteration, given what she considered an “unjust” ending for the mainstay character.
Carpenter’s Cordelia was one of the original characters in the supernatural drama for the first three seasons. She continued playing the role in the 1999 Angel spinoff for an additional four seasons before being killed off in the fifth and final season.
As evidenced by star Sarah Michelle Gellar’s dual resurrections, deaths in Buffy aren’t as absolute. Previously, the actress, who is also executive producing the offshoot, expressed her desire to bring back characters on the show who had died while ensuring “space [is] made for new stories as well.”
The sequel series, which currently has a pilot order at Hulu, will feature Oscar winner and self-described Buffy fanatic Chloé Zhao directing from a script penned by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman (Poker Face). In addition to Gellar and new slayer Ryan Kiera Armstrong, cast members include Faly Rakotohavana, Ava Jean, Sarah Bock, Daniel Di Tomasso and Jack Cutmore-Scott, as well as guest star/recurring cast members Merrin Dungey, Audrey Hsieh, Audrey Grace Marshall and Kingston Vernes. Chase Sui Wonders will also have a one-off guest-starring role in the pilot.
