The interpreter of Willow in “Buffy against the vampires” (Alyson Hannigan) learned of the cancellation of the series through the press. A way of doing things from which she never really recovered.
It’s March 7, 2003, Alyson Hannigan, who plays Willow Rosenberg in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is shocked when she sees her “costar” Sarah Michelle Gellar on the cover of a magazine:
The day the cover of Entertainment Weekly came out [titrée “Buffy démissionne”, le 7 mars 2003, Ndlr], it’s the day we all learned that Buffy was over. I was devastated. I was just very shocked.
A little cavalier way to learn the end of his series after seven years of hard work. Sarah Michelle Gellar had already declared as early as 2000 (season 3) that she was exhausted from filming the show created by Joss Whedon.
Three years later, she finally signed in Entertainment Weekly her farewell to the series which had popularized her … but had not spoken to any member of the cast.
Entertainment Weekly
Whedon then said: “It would be hard to overstate Sarah’s value to the show. There were times we didn’t get along, and there were times we were buddies. But regardless, she was the second half from Buffy. In seven years, she has never left me.”
At the time, Whedon was talking about a new spin-off allowing some regular Buffy actors to continue their work, in which Gellar had promised to appear… except that it never happened.
For nostalgics, the series is available in full on Disney+.