Whilst a final decision is some way off, the first real meeting to discuss Buffy's future took place recently.

Interested parties, such as Mutant Enemy, Fox and the UPN met a few weeks ago, revealed TV news site Zapt2it.com.

We started talking about all different possibilities," said Dawn Ostroff, UPN's entertainment president. "[Sarah Micheller Gellar] coming back - which we'd obviously be thrilled if she wanted to come back - we talked about spinoff opportunities, we've talked about a lot of different configurations."

Buffy may not be pulling in as many viewers as last season, but it's still one of the jewels in UPN's crown and is hugely popular with the 18-34 year old demographic that advertisers seem to love.

Ostroff stresses that the discussions are still in their early stages. "Obviously a decision doesn't have to be made until May," she says. "We still have a way to go."