Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon spoke for the first time about the departure of comic artist Jeph Loeb as boss of the proposed Buffy animated series, telling SCI FI Wire that Loeb left because of production delays. Whedon added that the series has finally been given a green light. "The process took so long to put the package together, it just came together on Friday [June 14], and he got an offer, a big deal over at Warner Brothers, and he had to move on," Whedon said in an interview. "He'd been shepherding it for over a year. We'd put together a bunch of great scripts. He's done an amazing job, but there was no light at the end of the tunnel. It was a really difficult process, and Chris Buchanan, the president of my company, finally got it through, but Jeph had to move on."

As for when the series might hit the airwaves, Whedon said, "I literally just heard on Friday it's a go. That's all the information I have right now, except we already have a bunch of scripts."

There are no hard feelings on Whedon's end, and he still hopes to include Loeb on some level, Whedon said. "We love Jeph, and he loves the project, and hopefully we'll be able to find some involvement. But the fact of the matter is, it just took so long."