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SYFY WIRE Buffy the Vampire Slayer

He's married to Sarah Michelle Gellar... but Freddie Prinze Jr. still hasn't watched ‘Buffy’

On top of that, he’s never even called Gellar by her famous small-screen name.

By Benjamin Bullard
Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Fangs for nothing, vampires. Even while merging into a real-life couple back when Buffy the Vampire Slayer was on the air, Freddie Prinze Jr. and eventual spouse Sarah Michelle Gellar still have one lingering wedge — some might even say a stake — that divides them: Nearly 20 years after the show closed the coffin lid for good, Prinze claims, and with nary a hint of detectable shame, that he’s never seen a single Buffy episode.

In fairness, Prinze’s recent confession came amid a bigger chat about how he and Gellar have succeeded for the long haul as a married team, having formally tied the knot in 2004 after already becoming an item after the two first met (and shared screen time) on the set of 1997’s I Know What You Did Last Summer. And speaking of, well, "Summers," standing outside the series’ fan base isn’t Prinze's only Buffy snub. In more than 20 years together, he’s never even called Gellar by her famous supernatural stage name.

“Not only do I not call her [Buffy]; I have never even seen the show,” Prinze admitted in a chat over marital diplomacy with Australian morning radio staple The Kyle and Jackie O Show. “I wasn't exactly the demographic, in my defense! She was my girlfriend, then my wife! I've never called her that, ever. We've been together longer…but we’ve been married 20 years.”

It may seem kinda strange that Prinze and Gellar could be so in sync as 1990s genre stars without letting their fictional lives occasionally spill over into their real-life relationship. Then again, whatever marital wavelength they’re on must be working: Prinze joked that he’s still never collected on his famous, million-dollar bygone bet with Howard Stern that he and Gellar wouldn’t last.

“He has not coughed up! And I’m an old school guy, so the gig has been running at 20 years for like a deuce a week,” Prinze joked. “I’m sure the check will be here tomorrow.”

In addition to I Know What You Did Last Summer, the couple would eventually go on to star together in the James Gunn-scripted live action movies Scooby-Doo (2002) and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004). While Prinze more recently has found galactic success as the voice of Kanan Jarrus in Star Wars Rebels (and again last year voicing Caleb Dume in Star Wars: The Bad Batch), Gellar is prepping for a small-screen return in the upcoming Paramount+ supernatural series Wolf Pack.

Looking for more vampires? Vampire Academy is streaming now on Peacock and Reginald the Vampire is on SYFY.