

It will soon be eight years since Sarah Michelle Gellar picked up a wooden stake for the last time and said good-bye to television.

That regular television series streak will end this fall when “Ringer,” starring Gellar in two roles, premieres. And it took a part (or should we say “parts”) like this to attract Gellar back to the small screen, all because of her old show.

Gellar was made famous for her role as Buffy Summers in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” which aired on The CW’s predecessors The WB and UPN between 1996 and 2003. However, when that show left the air, Gellar departed from television, popping back occasionally in shows like “Robot Chicken” and “The Simpsons.”

Not because she didn’t want to do television, but mostly because Buffy Summers was just a hard act to follow.

“With ‘Buffy,’ I got to do so much,” Gellar told Entertainment Weekly Wednesday during The CW’s upfront presentations to advertisers. “So what do you do next? What do you do that an audience hasn’t seen yo do? But bringing to life two characters and making them different, but at the same time interesting.

Showing the similarities, Gellar said, “is definitely a challenge I’ve never done.”

And for Buffy fans, the show will be worth the wait, the actress said.

Gellar plays a set of identical twins — one successful, one not so successful — who find themselves suddenly pretending to be the other in a complicated conspiracy involving the mob.

The show also stars “Lost” alum Nestor Carbonell, “Fantastic Four” star Ioan Gruffudd and Mike Colter.

Get your first look at “Ringer” on our sister site, Inside Blip.