In the season enders for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed, a main character died. Each are having a two hour premiere.
How do you think that they will be able to either bring back Buffy, and in the case of Charmed, introduce the new sister, without harming the continuity and integrity of the existing show?
I am curious to see what people think about this.
Wow. You said “Buffy” and “continuity” in the same sentence and didn’t bust out laughing…
Well, let’s see. Quite a few beings of Great Extra-dimensional Power (such as, just off the top of my head, the other two gods from Glory’s home dimension) owe her big-time. Better that they pay off their debts with one lousy little resurrection. I mean, she’s died before, right?
What if Dawn is still the Portal/Gateway/Big Green Glowy Thing? She might be able to pull a newborn Buffy fully-grown from her forehead, just like Zeus, but probably without the nudity.
Due to the change in production companies, we’re not likely to see it happen as a result of a Buffy/Angel crossover.
My main guess is that there’s a paperwork screwup in the creation of the next Slayer. I mean, it’s happened before when Buffy’s replacement got activated, then that wacky CPR brought her back to life. I figure they’ll just recreate her out of some sort of phlogiston and reinfect her with the Slayer virus.
I don’t watch Charmed, but as for Buffy I suspect (and have also heard) that Willow and Tara will whip up some magic to bring her back.
Which opens up story possibilities re: Dawn, because she’ll want to know why the two witches are willing to break their vow against resurrection for Buffy when they wouldn’t for Joyce.
Buffy will be back - Joss’s said as much.
He’s also said that there’ll be a damn good reason why the same method wasn’t used for Joyce, though it could have. (Not that Dawn (Or Buffy) will neccessary accept it.)
I’m not sure how it happens… I’ve also heard rumours that Willow has a hand in “bringing her back”.
I also heard that it will happen in the first episode. But towards the end, I believe. Initially, Buffy-Bot is on patrol so as to not let the demons+ know that Buffy is dead. We’ll see in October how true these rumours are.
My WAG: Joyce died of natural causes, so using magic to bring her back didn’t work very well. Buffy died by supernatural causes, so magic should be able to restore her.
I bet Buffy is going to come back EVIL, ala Angel. That would be cool, cause then maybe Riley would come back and get his butt kicked.
As for Charmed, there are some spoiler episode info here. Click on “episode guide” to the left, then Season 4.
Which is too bad, because the most elegant solution was set up in the middle of Angel last season: Angel runs a gauntlet to win a magical second life for Darla, only to find out that she’s been resurrected once, and therefore is ineligible for future magical resurrections. But Angel’s still owed a resurrection . . .
I think Joss has said that the line of Slayer succession runs through Faith now – Buffy died and called Kendra, who died and called Faith; Buffy’s second death didn’t call a replacement because she’d already called someone once. There won’t be a new Slayer until Faith buys it.
I already know pretty much exactly how Buffy returns, but I’m not tellin; one, for the obvious reason that I hate to spoil it for anyone and, two, find your own damn sources of spoiler information! 
I don’t know how anyone on Charmed may or may not be coming back to life, but that’s mainly because the show lost me about twenty minutes into the pilot episode and has very little chance of getting me back.
On Buffy: As has been mentioned, the Slayer line moves through Faith now. According to an interview with Joss, it is closer to a new Buffy, I think he referred to it as Buffy 2.0 than an actual resurrection.
On Charmed: Spoiler Space
If you are talking about Doherty’s character (Prue), she’s not coming back. There’s going to be a new (fourth) sister played by Rose McGowan (who dated/s Marilyn Manson).
Spoiler space
So she has first hand expierience with the freakish and unnatural. This’ll be like method acting for her.
I found a “supposed” script for the season opener of Buffy at Eliza Dushkus site. I don’t think it’s real, since it features Faith, an Angel crossover, and several mispellings on the first page. Ain’t It Cool News also has numerous spoilers, but since JW admits to deliberately planting false information, that’s suspect as well.
My take?
I do think that Willow will bring her back, and the rumour that it will take some very un-Willow like behaviour is probably true. I don’t think that Buffy will be the same as she was before. I think the thing that Dracula said to her at the beginning of season 5 about her power being rooted in darkness will come into play. There’s also the whole “You think you know who you are - you’ve only just begun”, and I think that hinted at a personality change as well. JW has been planning this death and resurrection since season 3, so I think that hints have been planted throughout seasons 4 and 5.
I also think that Willow or, interestingly enough, Buffy, will be the big bad next season. Willow is becoming very powerful, and that may easily lead to corruption, and Buffy for the aforementioned “rooted in darkness” reasons.
I hope I’m right. I did accurately predict the Buffy death way back at the beginning of season 5.
So, tell me I’m naive, but didn’t the appearance of Willow on Angel after Buffy’s death kind of demand a crossover in the next season? It seems like the writers’ MO.
In each of the prior Buffy seasons, the new season timeline adheres to real life - that is, several months will have passed since Willow went to L.A. to tell Angel that Buffy is dead. Accordingly, no crossover is mandated.
Sua
Well, Entertainment Weekly just did major articles on Buffy and Charmed.
SPOILER SPACE
They told a bit about the first episodes of both.
Charmed will feature Leo saving Cole and Phoebe, culminating the episode with Prue’s funeral and meeting their new sister Paige. Piper will not want to accept Paige. Piper will now be the most powerful sister.
All I remember about Buffy’s article, besides them discussing the problems when they were on the WB is that the Buffy Bot will be in the early part of the episode, and that when Buffy returns, she’s going to be quite different.