A whopping 18 years have now passed since Joss Whedon's iconic TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer came to its thrilling climax. In the show's 144th and final episode -- Season 7's "Chosen" -- Sarah Michelle Gellar's titular monster killer shared her power with every girl in the world who was potentially in line to succeed her, allowing her to attack the First Evil with a small army of slayers. To this day, loyal and ardent fans of the popular series still miss it dearly, and debate rages regarding whether or not it should have ended when it did. Some believe it should have ended after Season 5, some believe it should have continued past Season 7 and others have different opinions entirely. However, there is a specific reason the cast and creatives behind the series made the decision to end the show with Season 7.
While there were undoubtedly a number of factors involved, the main one is simple: The show's predominantly young cast were ready to move on and take their careers in different directions and Whedon was happy to oblige them. The show's main trio of Gellar, Alyson Hannigan (who played Willow Rosenberg), and Nicholas Brendon (who played Xander Harris) were still in the early stages of their acting careers when Buffy first aired (Brendon was the oldest at 26), so it was a lot to ask of them to stay committed to the project after they had starred in the show for the entirety of its seven-season run.
In a 2003 interview with Entertainment Weekly, the show's leading lady summed it up succinctly, stating, "Buffy, in this incarnation, is over." When Buffy herself is done with her show, there really isn't any chance of it continuing.
Of course, the very nature of the final episode meant there could have been a variety of spin-offs. The reformed "bad" slayer, Faith, was still active and several of the newly anointed slayers from the finale survived, plus countless other slayers had been activated around the world. However, it wouldn't have felt right to have a Buffy spinoff happen if Buffy herself was never going to show up. Moreover, it's always good to go out on a high, and Buffy never truly felt like it outstayed its welcome at any point during its run.
There may well have been other factors that contributed to the show coming to an end when it did. For example, Whedon may have been eying his subsequent blockbuster movie career, and following the First Evil as a big-bad without underwhelming audiences could have been tricky. However, the reason that had the most weight was that its stars wanted to move on.
Buffy and her friends' adventures have continued in the canon spin-off comics. This has provided an outlet for the franchise's staunchest fans but, for many of the show's loyal viewers, the comics just aren't the same as watching the story play out in live action.
Yet, while talk of a TV reboot never goes away, the reception to the idea has been mixed. While it might draw a new generation of viewers to the franchise, many fans of the original series believe the show should be left where it is, and it still remains to be seen if a reboot will ever happen.