THE new Buffy The Vampire Slayer series could feature a new slayer, showrunner Monica Owusu-Breen has said.

News that a reboot of the hit series, which ran from 1997 to 2003, was in the works broke last week and it was reported that a black actress was likely to play the title role.

Joss Whedon, who created the original series, will return as executive producer but Owusu-Breen has said his show, which starred Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy, "can't be replicated".

Writing on Twitter, she said "For some genre writers, it's Star Wars. Buffy The Vampire Slayer is my Star Wars.

"Before I became a writer, I was a fan. For seven seasons, I watched Buffy Summers grow up, find love, kill that love. I watched her fight and struggle and slay.

"There is only one Buffy. One Xander, one Willow, Giles, Cordelia, Oz, Tara, Kendraq, Faith, Spike, Angel... They can't be replaced.

"Joss Whedon's brilliant and beautiful series can't be replicated. I wouldn't try to.

"But here we are, 20 years later... And the world seems a lot scarier. So maybe, it could be time to meet a new Slayer...

"And that's all I can say."

The Buffy reboot will "build on the mythology of the original", according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The show does not yet have a network on board to broadcast it.