AceShowbiz - Sarah Michelle Gellar has expressed her support for Kevin Smith's idea to make a sequel to his 1995 film "Mallrats" as a tribute to her late friend, Shannen Doherty. Smith recently revealed in an interview that he had considered bringing back the project as a tribute to Doherty, who died in July after a long battle with breast cancer.

He had an idea to cast Gellar in a role that Doherty originally played, saying, "I think that'd be personally meaningful for her on some level because of her relationship with Shannen." Within hours, Gellar commented on THR's social media post about the story, "Here for this idea!!"

Gellar and Doherty had been close friends for decades, with Gellar writing, "How do you possibly find the right words to sum up 30 years of friendship?" following Doherty's passing.

Smith also revealed that he had learned Gellar had auditioned for a role in "Mallrats" nearly 30 years ago. He believes that having her play Doherty's role would bring a touch of Doherty's warmth to the sequel.

Doherty played Rene Mosier in the original "Mallrats", a comedy about two friends who spend a day at the mall after getting dumped by their girlfriends. The film also stars Jason Lee, Jeremy London, Ben Affleck and Claire Forlani.

Smith had previously expressed uncertainty about making a sequel without Doherty, but recent conversations have renewed his hope. He said, "The only thing that would be better is if Shannen was still here with us and we did it like we planned."

"Of course, I’d like to make the movie for me and many other reasons, but now there’s a special impetus. And we know who that movie is going to be dedicated to; that’s for damn sure,” he added.