‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’: Spike Was Only Meant to Last 5 Episodes, But James Marsters Had Plans to Stay Longer
During its seven years on TV, Buffy the Vampire Slayer changed the face of television. One of the most unforgettable characters in the popular series was Spike, who James Marsters played. But although fans can’t imagine the show without Spike, he wasn’t originally supposed to stick around for very long. Yet Marsters knew Buffy needed Spike–even when the show’s creator disagreed.
‘You are dead, you hear me?’
Marsters worked hard to portray Spike during his years on the show. For example, he avoided eating very much so he could stay lean to best represent the character. He also had to bleach his hair every eight days to prevent any roots from showing. But these sacrifices weren’t much compared to how much work Marsters’ efforts to stay on the show.
According to BuzzFeed, Spike wasn’t supposed to be a long-term character. He was only expected to stick around for about five episodes, and then he would be Angel’s first victim.
However, Marsters had other plans, and he fought hard to earn a place among the permanent cast. He had an uphill battle, however. The showrunner, Joss Whedon, told him he had no chance to survive past the original plan, no matter what the fans’ response to him might be.
“I don’t care how popular you are, kid,” Whedon reportedly told him. “You are dead. You are dead, you hear me?”
He had to win over the audience
Despite Whedon’s lack of encouragement, Marsters was determined to become indispensable. Slash Film reports that he made it his mission. “I was pulling out all the stops in order to not get killed off,” Marsters explained.
“Joss said, ‘You are a soulless vampire. Vampires on this show are a metaphor for all the trials of being a teenager. I’m not interested in vampires that we feel for. That’s why you guys are ugly and horrific when you bite someone and I don’t want that to be a sensual moment. So you have no soul, that’s your character.'”
What saved Spike was Marsters’ approach to the character. He didn’t want to portray him as being only evil; he did his best to inject a note of humanity. Marsters poured a lot of emotion into Spike’s romance with Drusilla showing how dedicated Spike can be when he loved someone deeply. This gave Spike some depth Whedon had never planned for.
One of the things that set Buffy the Vampire Slayer apart was its complexity. It wasn’t just about good guys fighting bad guys, but it also explored the moral gray areas in between. As a vampire with just a touch of humanity, Spike meshed perfectly with the show, and Whedon eventually had to reconsider. Spike became a principal character, and he went on to appear in 97 episodes of the series.
Fans loved him
Spike’s story arc on Buffy turned him from a fascinating, complex bad boy into one of the series’ beloved characters. According to Collider, viewers responded to him because of his ability to make a villain into someone they could understand, someone who contained both dark and light.
It’s this combination of evil and love that made viewers so drawn to him, and Marsters knew all along that that was the key. “I always say when you are doing anything in art, you got to find the love,” he explained.
“It could be love denied, love twisted, it doesn’t have to be sweet, but you have to find the love. Then you find the gold in the mountain, and then you have the rocket fuel and you can go anywhere.”
Fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer couldn’t imagine the series without Spike. Fortunately for them, Marsters couldn’t either.
