Buffy The Vampire Slayer

’Because we already were a movie that wasn’t successful, I think it makes it that much tougher for us to go out there,’ Sarah Michelle Gellar says of original ’Buffy’ flick.

If the "Buffy" boys have their say, any future big-screen adaptation of the movie-turned-TV show-turned comic book would have to feature the recent events of the "Season Eight" comic books — in which the vampire slayer gets some girl-on-girl action — as a jumping-off point.

"I don’t know if Sarah [Michelle Gellar] wants to be kissing girls, so for Sarah’s sake, we’d say, start from the TV show," said Nicholas Brendon, who played Xander. "But I think for everyone else, start from the comic book. I want to see Sarah kissing girls."

As the original "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" cast and creators gathered for a reunion Thursday for the first time in four years, talk of a possible movie was in the air — even if no script or studio was in place "as far as we know," said Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia. "No one’s been formally asked to do it, but I’m sure it would be very popular."

After all, no one was expecting a show that was intended as "a midseason replacement on a network no one had heard of, based on a movie that wasn’t ... all that," as Gellar put it, to take off like it did. But being a success despite everything could actually count against them in the end, she pointed out. "We have two strikes against us," she told MTV News. "Because we already were a movie that wasn’t successful, I think it makes it that much tougher for us to go out there. One of the reasons that the show succeeded [where the original movie did not] was that it wasn’t a two-hour story, but a story you have to develop over time."

Still, the cast has faith in show creator Joss Whedon to come up with a script that delivers. "I’d sign up for him reading the phone book, he’s that good," said Emma Caufield, who played Anya.

So what loose ends would the cast like to see developed should there be a two-hour version? Most of the actors wanted to see their characters resurrected — literally.

"I’d like to come back from heaven, obviously, so I can have a part," laughed Carpenter, whose character had moved on to a higher plane on the spinoff "Angel." "Otherwise, I’d want Angel and Buffy to be together and Buffy and Cordelia to finally be friends."

"I’d like to see Joyce [played by Kristine Sutherland] come back," said Amber Benson, who played Tara. "Have the mom return. And I’d like to see the Tara/Willow stuff regenerate."

"I think most of the characters on the show have died and come back," said Caufield, "so I would think Joss would come up with a creative way to resurrect them, to incorporate that aspect. I mean, Anya just died — an ax, and you’re cut in half, and there it is, no period for mourning. I’d like her to be singing somewhere, since Joss is very talented at writing musicals. Maybe they can all burst into song, in a war-torn country or something."

Besides having more songs, there were also votes for more action. "I would like to fight a little more," said Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Dawn. "I say that only because bikini season is coming up, and I got to train. I don’t like to work out, but if I have to do it for work, I can."

"There should be bigger snakes," Brendon said. "Next time, if [Buffy] could fight a snake the size of Nevada, that would be great. More guns, less sex. Isn’t that what America’s about?"

Wait — wasn’t he the guy cheering Buffy’s lesbian romance? Perhaps that should be "more guns, more sex." And if Buffy’s allowed a "little lady-loving action," as Tom Lenk, who played Andrew, put it, couldn’t Andrew finally be allowed some action as well? "It became a running joke, the question of his sexual preference," Lenk said. "Sort of how you never saw the guy’s face on ’Home Improvement’ or never saw Karen Walker’s husband on ’Will & Grace.’ And it might be nice to see him hook up one way or the other, to make some decisions for Andrew in that department. To just say [whether he’s straight or gay]."

That all depends on whether the movie would pick up after the TV show ended or after the events of the comic book. "It would be cool to see what happens directly when the TV show ends, when they drive off on the bus," Lenk said, "because the comic book picks up after awhile. I’d like to see how they start building that network of slayers."

A lot of fans would too, and that fan pressure would be key to making it happen, predicted Seth Green, who played Oz. "You saw ’Serenity’ get made" as a movie, after initially airing as Whedon’s TV show "Firefly," said Green. "If the fans were excited enough, it’s possible."

As Whedon said on the panel, "many stars" would have to align — not the least of which would be a certain lead actress wanting to participate. "But if I had to shoot down everything that we’re doing in the comics because we’re doing a film," Whedon said, "I wouldn’t lose a lot of sleep over it."