Sarah Michelle Gellar shared an emotional birthday message to her late Buffy the Vampire Slayer sister, Michelle Trachtenberg.
“While you turned 16, it was laborious to not nonetheless see you because the little lady I met on All My Kids. While you turned 21, I needed to train myself to not see you because the little sister anymore,” Gellar, 48, wrote through Instagram on Saturday, October 11, alongside throwback Buffy footage of the 2 actresses. “I can’t think about what 40 would have been like.”
She continued, “This I do know… it might be crammed with love. Comfortable birthday @michelletrachtenberg.”
Gellar set her put up to Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa’s equally emotional duet, “See You Once more.”
Gellar and Trachtenberg first met after they each starred on All My Kids within the early Nineteen Nineties. Years later, they reunited on the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Gellar starred because the titular Buffy, whereas Trachtenberg portrayed Buffy’s youthful sister and a magical key, Daybreak.
Us Weekly confirmed in February that Trachtenberg died on the age of 39.
“It’s with nice unhappiness to verify that Michelle Trachtenberg has handed away,” a rep for the Gossip Woman alum instructed Us in an announcement on the time. “The household requests privateness for his or her loss. There are not any additional particulars presently.”
Trachtenberg is survived by her mother and father, her sister and her boyfriend, expertise agent Jay Cohen. Her explanation for demise was later dominated on account of issues of diabetes mellitus.

Sarah Michelle Gellar and Michelle Trachtenberg in ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ season 5. Richard Cartwright / twentieth Century Fox Movie Corp. All rights reserved. / Courtesy of Everett Assortment
Shortly after information broke of Trachtenberg’s demise, Gellar was among the many stars to share her condolences.
“’Michelle, take heed to me. Pay attention. I really like you. I’ll all the time love you,’” Gellar wrote through Instagram that month, quoting one in every of Buffy’s strains earlier than sharing what Trachtenberg had stated within the musical episode. “The toughest factor on this world is to stay in it. I might be courageous. I’ll stay… for you.’ 💔💔💔🗝️.”
Simply weeks earlier than Trachtenberg’s demise, Gellar had confirmed her involvement in a brand new Buffy reboot.
“It’s extremely emotionally overwhelming,” Gellar later instructed Us Weekly completely in August of returning to her teenage position. “It’s only a place I didn’t know that I’d discover myself. Whereas it was new, it was additionally extremely acquainted, and I really feel very fortunate.”
Whereas few particulars concerning the new Buffy have been revealed, a logline has described the venture because the “subsequent chapter within the Buffyverse” starring a brand new slayer performed by Ryan Kiera Armstrong. Gellar, for her half, is ready to function an government producer and may have a recurring onscreen position.
“All I can say is similar factor I preserve telling everybody: we’re doing it slowly and punctiliously as a result of there’s no level in doing it until we will do it proper,” she instructed Us. “So we’re going to make it possible for all the pieces is in place earlier than it’s one thing that we’re able to share.”
Gellar additional teased that the revival “gained’t change any of the DNA of the present.”
“I imply, for me, Buffy was about your discovered household,” Gellar added. “I believe now greater than ever, discovered household is extremely essential. All of us want a spot the place we really feel like we might be ourselves and be honored for being ourselves and liked for who we’re. And that to me is — that’s the purpose.”
It’s presently unknown whether or not the brand new sequence pays tribute to Trachtenberg’s Daybreak.