What happens after all of Sunnydale is sucked into the Hellmouth in the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer? (Uh, sorry, spoiler alert, I guess, for that very special venn diagram of people who read this column and haven’t seen the whole series multiple times). This question was answered in the Dark Horse comic series before being rebooted in yet another comic series, but said question is about to get a new answer, in the form of an upcoming YA book trilogy, “In Every Generation” which will follow Willow’s daughter, who is both a witch and a vampire slayer.
If you’ve consumed other Disney next gen content (yes, Buffy is now a Disney princess, except for the part about being a princess), you might expect the worst. 1990’s straight-to-video sequels of classic Disney animated films tended to assume the next generation must be a carbon copy of the former, and must go through pretty much the same story beats. The exception is the critically tolerated “The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride” which felt more like a continuation of the story; it was a real sequel, as opposed to a re-boot pretending to be a sequel. If your only takeaway from this article is that “The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride” was an adequate film, then so be it. Hakuna matata, as they say.
An even better example is Degrassi: The Next Generation which begins by following Emma, the daughter of Spike from the previous generation (different Spike, you Buffy-obsessed nerd), and then expands to an enormous ensemble. Emma is far from a carbon copy of Spike, nor is she lazily the exact opposite. The question of what Spike’s daughter would be like is taken seriously. Emma’s character is informed by Spike’s, as we are all informed by the people who raised us, but through the show we watch a myriad of influences help Emma grow into her own person.
An excellent story about Willow’s daughter would ask these questions. How would Willow raise her daughter? Does she have a co-parent, and if so, what are they like, and how would they influence the new protagonist? What parts of Willow will be absolutely ingrained in her daughter, and what will her daughter react strongly against? Having struggled with magic addiction, will Willow be particularly wary of her daughter’s relationship to magic, and will that make her daughter more or less cautious? Willow’s own mother seemed largely disinterested in her life until that one time she tried to burn her alive, will Willow end up overcompensating? What influences will Aunt Buffy and Uncle Xander have? What kind of friends will she have, and how will they help to shape her? A really good next gen story is connected to the previous generation without copying it. It is a continuation. It uses the former generation as a platform from which to leap somewhere different, and wherever it goes, it teaches us something new about the old generation. What mistakes from her own life has Willow learned from, and what fresh new mistakes will she make?
Not every story needs a next generation, but Buffy the Vampire Slayer is particularly well-suited for one, and not just because it will make Disney a butt-load of money, though that doesn’t hurt. BtVS often explored themes connected to parenthood and generations. Buffy, Willow, and Xander all have absent-ish parents to greater and lesser degrees, otherwise how could they get away with battling vampires on school nights? Of course Buffy’s mother, Joyce, was the most present, and dealing with her death was one of Buffy’s greatest struggles. Buffy also became something of a mother-figure to her sister, Dawn. The same season we meet Dawn, the big bad Glory is something of a parent to Ben. Sharing a body, she is constantly distressed at the ways Ben holds her back. Buffy has similar frustrations with Dawn, but is ultimately willing to sacrifice herself to save her.
The title of the upcoming trilogy, “In Every Generation” comes from the opening narration of the show. The Slayer is a generational legacy. Buffy shares a spiritual connection to The First Slayer, and struggles between wanting to honor that legacy and wanting to shun it. Wisely, she wants to learn from it. Buffy’s break with the Watcher’s Council represents a strong disdain for following traditions from former generations that no longer serve the present. The previous generation values individuality and creativity, the next generation should too.
