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Sarah Michelle Gellar has been cast in an upcoming Amazon pilot titled Hot Pink. Gellar redefined the "strong female lead" trope with her nuanced performance in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She's also known for playing compelling women across the good and evil spectrum in Cruel Intentions, Scooby-Doo, I Know What You Did Last Summer.

Per Variety, Gellar will star in a loose adaptation of Elana K. Arnold's recently published young adult novel What Girls Are Made Of. The comedy was created by Elisabeth Holm (Obvious Child) and will be directed by Desiree Akhavan (The Miseducation of Cameron Post). Holm and Akhavan will double as executive producers, in addition to Rebecca Green, Sue Naegle, and Ali Krug with Annapurna, and Amazon Studios.

Although Gellar garnered a specific fanbase early in her career with a hit show, the versatile actress has continued to show her comedic and dramatic chops over the years in an interesting mix of projects. Holm and Akhavan both have bodies of work that include complex stories about women: Akahavan's debut film, Appropriate Behavior, tells a tenderly funny tale of a young bisexual woman from an immigrant family, whom Akhavan herself portrays with mischievous, deadpan amusement. As Holm's pilot is only partially based on Arnold's story, it's unclear exactly what Gellar's role has in store, but her addition to this creative team is an exciting development.

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Amazon is currently seeking to produce more YA shows like Hot Pink. Here's the synopsis for Arnold's novel:

When Nina Faye was fourteen, her mother told her there was no such thing as unconditional love. Nina believed her. Now Nina is sixteen. And she'll do anything for the boy she loves, just to prove she's worthy of him. But when he breaks up with her, Nina is lost. What is she if not a girlfriend? What is she made of?

Broken-hearted, Nina tries to figure out what the conditions of love are. She's been volunteering at a high-kill animal shelter where she realizes that for dogs waiting to be adopted, love comes only to those with youth, symmetry, and quietness. She also ruminates on the strange, dark time her mother took her to Italy to see statues of saints who endured unspeakable torture because of their unquestioning devotion to the divine. Is this what love is?