CLAIMING THAT SHE USED SOME “very dark and forbidden magic!” when pitching one-shot Lost Summer to her editor Elizabeth Brei, writer Casey Gilly is sending Buffy and gang on holiday to New Orleans – although typically for the vampire slayer, it isn’t long before she encounters some bloodsuckers.
“It came from my love of the vacation episodes of sitcoms, like when the Brady Bunch went to Hawaii, or when Parks And Recreation went to London,” Gilly tells Red Alert. “I love the idea of taking very familiar characters out of their normal setting and putting them through the gauntlet of a vacation. Even though these are supposed to be fun trips, no one is having a good time all the time. While Buffy can rally her friends to decide how to attack a demon, I wondered how hard of a time she’d have getting everyone to agree on where to eat dinner. It presented such a fun, ridiculous, low-stakes story to play with and I just couldn’t resist.”