Brendon’s death at the age of 54 last week came just a year after Gellar’s screen sister, Michelle Trachtenberg, died at 39.

Sarah Michelle Gellar mourns Nicholas Brendon, says *Buffy *hit by ‘more tragedy than other shows’

Brendon's death at the age of 54 last week came just a year after Gellar's screen sister, Michelle Trachtenberg, died at 39.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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March 23, 2026 5:11 p.m. ET

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Sarah Michelle Gellar and Nicholas Brendon for 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. Credit:

- Sarah Michelle Gellar is opening up about the death of *Buffy *costar Nicholas Brendon, coming just a year after the death of series alum Michelle Trachtenberg.

- "It's a tragedy when you lose anyone at any point. It's a bigger tragedy when you lose someone way sooner than needs to be," Gellar shared, adding that it seems *Buffy *has "had more tragedy than other shows."

- Gellar remembered Brendon as "an integral part of *Buffy*, and that never goes away."

Sarah Michelle Gellar is looking back with a heavy heart on a rough year for the *Buffy the Vampire Slayer* cast.

Nicholas Brendon, who played the wise-cracking heart of the show's Scooby Gang died on March 20 at 54. His death came just over a year after Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Gellar's little sister, died at 39.

"It's a tragedy. It's a tragedy when you lose anyone at any point. It's a bigger tragedy when you lose someone way sooner than needs to be," Gellar shared with the audience at the Italian premiere of *Ready or Not 2: Here I Come *in Rome on Monday, following a question about Brendon's death from natural causes.

"This business is very tough, and we've had — it feels like we've had more tragedy than other shows," she reflected.

Though Gellar qualified it's "probably not the case" that *Buffy *has been beset by more cast deaths and tragedies since it went off the air in 2003, she also explained that, nevertheless, it feels that way, "because it's personal, and it's in our faces."

Thinking back on her time with Brendon, who, along with Gellar and Alyson Hannigan, was one of only three main cast members to star on the series from the pilot to the finale, Gellar called the actor she knew best as Xander Harris "an integral part of *Buffy*, and that never goes away."

"I think as actors we talk a lot or think a lot about legacy," she continued. "He brought so much joy to so many people on that show, and that lives on. That's the truth."

What 'Buffy' star Nicholas Brendon said about congenital heart defect, cauda equina syndrome before his death

Sarah Michelle Gellar honors 'Buffy' costar Michelle Trachtenberg on first anniversary of her death

After Brendon's family confirmed his death on March 20, Gellar returned to Instagram, where just a year ago she paid tribute to Trachtenberg with a mournful *Buffy *reference, to do the same for Brendon.

"They’ll never know how tough it is to be the one who isn't chosen. To live so near to the spotlight, and never step in it. But I know. I see more than anybody realizes, because nobody's watching me," she wrote in the post, quoting the speech Xander delivers to Dawn, Trachtenberg's character, when she finds out she won't become the next slayer in the show's final season.

Finishing out her caption over a *Buffy*-era photo of herself with Brendon, Gellar wrote, "I know you are at peace, in that big rocking chair in the sky."

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The 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' cast, including Gellar, Brendon, and Michelle Trachtenberg.

It has been an especially tough year for the *Buffy *cast. But more than just Brendon's and Trachtenberg's deaths have rocked the alumni of the WB horror comedy in the past several years.

Conchata Ferrell, who starred on season 2 of *Buffy*, died in 2020 at 77. Brian Turk, who appeared on the same season as the belligerent vampire Mort, died in 2019 at 49. Season 5's Bob Morrisey died in 2017 at the age of 71, after playing memorable characters on both *Buffy *and its spinoff, *Angel*.

The 1992 film of the same name that inspired the series has been impacted by even more cast deaths than the series, from Donald Sutherland and Luke Perry to Paul Reubens and Rutger Hauer.

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