Sarah Michelle Gellar Just Made Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s Shared Universe Theory More Complicated With New Horror Franchise Role

By Sean Morrison

Published Dec 31, 2024

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Years after Buffy the Vampire Slayer, one of Quentin Tarantino's shared universe to more explicit crossovers like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's incredibly common for new films and shows to be connected to a larger franchise. Back in 2003, when Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended, however, it wasn't nearly as commonplace. That's why one shared universe theory for the show was so surprising, and why it's a big deal that it's harder to justify now.

Recently, Sarah Michelle Gellar ed the cast of Dexter: Original Sin as Tanya Martin, a forensic analyst at Miami Metro and Dexter's boss and mentor. Original Sin puts Gellar in a very different role from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but both of her characters are "tiny but mighty," as Tanya put it. They don't just share some characteristics, though, as Dexter may take place in the same universe as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The fact that Gellar plays major characters in both, however, throws a wrench in the entire crossover theory.

Dexter & Buffy The Vampire Slayer's Shared Universe Theory Explained

Doublemeat Palace Exists In Both Buffy The Vampire Slayer & Dexter

Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy working at Doublemeat Palace in Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Thanks to a small detail present in both shows, it's possible that Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dexter exist in the same universe. Both franchises have a fast food chain called Doublemeat Palace - Buffy began working at a branch in Buffy season 6, and Angel Batista ate Doublemeat burgers in Dexter season 1. Since Doublemeat Palace doesn't exist in the real world or any other fictional franchises, it's a hint that the shows take place in the same universe. Writer Drew Z. Greenberg worked on both shows and likely intended it only as a reference, but it also opened the door to a horror-crossover that never happened.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer & Dexter Now Have 2 Major Actors Overlapping In Their Main Casts

Sarah Michelle Gellar & Julie Benz Are In Both Buffy The Vampire Slayer & Dexter

The connection between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dexter doesn't just extend to Doublemeat Palace. Two actors - Sarah Michelle Gellar and Julie Benz - had major roles in both franchises. Benz played Rita Bennett in Dexter and Darla in Buffy, while Gellar obviously played the eponymous Buffy Summers, and she now plays Tanya Martin in Dexter: Original Sin. None of Gellar's and Benz's characters were minor, either. Darla was a major antagonist in Buffy season 1 and a major recurring character in the spinoff show Angel, while Tanya is one of the most important new characters in Original Sin's cast.

Two other actors appeared in both Dexter and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff Angel: Sam Witwer and Aimee Garcia.

As interesting as the overlap in Buffy and Dexter's casts is, it also creates a major problem for their shared universe. Because Gellar and Benz play characters in both franchises, there seems to be a paradox that wouldn't allow Buffy and Dexter to exist at the same time. It shouldn't be possible for a vampire in Sunnydale and a single mother in Miami to look exactly alike. Gellar's characters cause an even bigger problem, as the Slayer would supposedly be a younger version of a forensic analyst. Dexter: Original Sin's timeline also means that Tanya was a middle-aged woman before Buffy even started high school.

How Buffy The Vampire Slayer & Dexter's Shared Universe Theory Can Still Work After Sarah Michelle Gellar's Casting

Dexter Could Take Place In An Alternate Buffy The Vampire Slayer Universe

Tanya Martin (Sarah Michelle Gellar) talking to Dexter Morgan (Patrick Gibson) in Dexter: Original Sin season 1, episode 2

Though Gellar and Benz's characters seemingly ruin any chance of Dexter taking place in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe, they actually don't. Buffy the Vampire Slayer technically has a multiverse, which the recent comic books have confirmed. Parallel universes even showed up in the Buffy show, notably in the season 3 episode "The Wish," which saw the Scoobies go to Wishland. Those same comics also take place about 20 years after the Buffy show did, yet Buffy the character is still a teenage girl. Because of those facts, Dexter may take place in one of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's alternate realities.

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Essentially, the alternate Buffy universe would have played out in much the same way the show did: Buffy ends up destroying the Hellmouth with all the other potential Slayers. The only difference is that it would have taken place about 40 years earlier, in 1963 instead of 2003. Then, thanks to the open-ended finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy would be free to live her life without being beholden to the Slayer's duties, and she could have started a new life under a new name in Miami. Ever the hero, she decides to help the police there as a forensic analyst named Tanya Martin.

An alternate universe is essentially the only way to explain why Sarah Michelle Gellar appears in both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dexter: Original Sin while keeping their shared universe intact.

That alternate universe could also easily explain Darla becoming Rita Bennett years later by simply establishing that Darla looked different in the parallel dimension, or by having Darla retain her human soul after giving birth to Connor. Though it may be a bit convoluted, an alternate reality would allow Buffy and Dexter to coexist, and it's not like Buffy ever had a problem with convoluted storylines. Plus, it's essentially the only way to explain why Sarah Michelle Gellar appears in both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dexter: Original Sin while keeping their shared universe intact.