Stars of the iconic teen supernatural drama Buffy went on to varied destinies with some achieving immense fame, while others wrestled with personal demons including allegations of infidelity and abuse, addiction struggles, and tragically, one cast member’s death. Over two decades post its conclusion, there’s a stir of excitement as reports suggest that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is on the brink of a comeback.
Things could have been very different as Sarah Michelle Gellar originally auditioned to play Cordelia Chase. While Dawson’s Creek star Katie Holmes was offered the role of Buffy, she turned it down to finish high school and the rest is history.
Sarah Michelle Gellar – Buffy Summers
Sarah became the leading lady and did battle with occult foes. The series brought her to the attention of movie bosses and catapulted her career to the next level with parts in Cruel Intentions, Scream 2 and I Know What You Did Last Summer, where she met her future husband Freddie Prinze, Jr.
But according to her co-star and on-screen bestie Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg) Sarah struggled with fame and was ‘annoyed’ by the show from series three onwards. Sarah sensationally quit at the end of series seven amid clashes with creator Whedon, who is said to have thought she was ‘unappreciative’.
“I was 18 when I started the show; I’m 26. I’m married. I never see my husband. This has been the longest span of my life in one place,” she told Entertainment Weekly at the time. “There’ve been times where that’s been difficult – you want to pick up and go, try other things, live in different places. It feels right, and you have to listen to that. The show, as we know it, is over.”
Sarah has also spoken out against Whedon after Charisma Carpenter’s allegations of ‘bullying’ while on set. The 43-year-old actress took to social media to throw her support behind victims of abuse but added that she would not make any more comments.
She took to Instagram to state that, while she loves her connection to Buffy, she did not want her name forever associated with Whedon. “While I am proud to have my name associated with Buffy Summers, I don’t want to be forever associated with the name Joss Whedon,” Sarah wrote.
Charisma Carpenter – Cordelia Chase
Charisma played cheerleader Cordelia, who started off as vain and shallow but went on to redeem herself while battling evil. The actress played the role for the first three seasons, then left to take on a larger role in the first four series of spin-off Angel.
After leaving vampires behind, Charisma, now 53, starred in Charmed, Veronica Mars and The Lying Game. She played Lacy in the first two The Expendables films and had roles in Sons of Anarchy and Lucifer.
In 2021, the actress spoke out against Buffy creator Joss Whedon in a powerful Twitter statement. Admitting she felt ‘powerless and alone’, Charisma accused Whedon of ‘abusing his power on numerous occasions while working together’. In the statement, the actress alleged that Whedon threatened to fire her and called her “fat” when she was pregnant.
David Boreanaz – Angel
Angel was the smouldering vampire cursed with a soul and Buffy’s main love interest before he got his own spin-off show. The vampire was the leading star in Angel, turning into a private investigator.
Actor David Boreanaz starred in Dido’s video for White Flag before graduating to US crime drama Bones. But his personal life came under the microscope in 2010 when it emerged he’d had an affair with Tiger Wood’s alleged mistress Rachel Uchitel while his wife Jaime Bergman was pregnant.
However, he insisted the saga served as a ‘bonding experience’ between himself and his Playboy model missus, telling TV Week: “In a sacred ground like marriage, you find yourself out of it at certain times for reasons unknown that can be destructive. There could be a demon that kind of comes out and overtakes you.”
The 55-year-old has since played the role of US Navy SEAL Master Chief Special Warfare Operator Jason Hayes in the Paramount+ military drama series SEAL Team.
Michelle Trachtenberg – Dawn Summers
Michelle turned up as Buffy’s moaning sister Dawn in series five and was not a fan favourite. “I still get comments like, ‘Oh my God! I think Dawn is so annoying!’ I do get a lot of ‘Oh she was so whiny!’” she told Entertainment Weekly.
Defending her character, she continued: “Were you a teenager? Oh, you were docile, sitting in the corner, doe-eyed and happy to be there? No. There’s a reason why teenagers have a stigma and that is what Joss wrote.”
Michelle went on to play Georgina Sparks in Gossip Girl and was also reportedly first choice for Bella Swan in the Twilight movies. However, she’s said to have turned it down due to scheduling conflicts and the role went to Kristen Stewart instead.
Michelle, now 38, replied to Sarah Michelle Gellar’s post in relation to the Whedon allegations, claiming she is now brave enough to speak out. “Thank you @sarahmgellar for saying this,” Michelle wrote in reply.
“I am brave enough now as a 35 year old woman….To repost this. Because. This must. Be known. As a teenager. With his not appropriate behavior….very. Not. Appropriate.” In a comment, she added: “What he did was very bad. But we win. By surviving!” Michelle also shared Sarah’s statement on her Instagram story, adding: “We know what he did. Behind. The. Scenes.”
Alyson Hannigan – Willow Rosenberg
Willow was the shy, nerdy girl who gained magical powers while studying as a witch. As well as kick-starting her career, Buffy also introduced Alyson to her husband, Alexis Denisof, who joined as pedantic watcher Wesley Wyndam-Pryce in season three.
How I Met Your Mother star Alyson did her best to slap on the moves, but for a while, Alexis remained impervious to her charms. “I was trying to pursue him, but he said he didn’t want to date somebody he was working with. But we developed a great friendship…” she told The Sun in 2012.
“When my new relationship ran its course, the whole thing suddenly changed and Alex and I started to really care about each other. So it was two years before we started seeing each other and that was back in 1999.” The couple went on to marry and have daughters Satyana and Keeva.
But before she started seeing Alexis, Alyson admitted to having a fling an off-camera fling with co-star Nicholas Brendon, who played Buffy’s BFF Xander. “I think Nick and I might have kissed once, like off camera,” she confessed on Watch What Happens Live years later. “He might have had a boob or something.”
The actress is best known for playing band camp geek Michelle in the iconic American Pie movies. She played Lily in How I Met Your Mother for nine seasons, for which she won a People’s Choice Award in 2009. Alyson has presented TV show Penn & Teller: Fool Us since 2009 and became the voice of Claire Clancy in the Disney Junior series Fancy Nancy.
Nicholas Brendon – Xander Harris
Xander was one of Buffy’s closest friends who started out very geeky but became a leader in the fight against evil. Once filming wrapped, Nicholas found himself trapped in a destructive spiral of alcoholism and entered rehab in 2004 and 2010.
He was arrested four times in 2015 for trashing hotel rooms, public intoxication and an alleged domestic altercation with a girlfriend, and checked back into rehab for substance abuse, depression and alcoholism before tragically attempting to take his own life.
Opening up about his torment on the Dr Phil show before returning to rehab, the actor said: “I think I wanted to be heard. I think I wanted to be helped, you know? Because I think there’s a lot of good life to live.”
The troubled star, now 53, also told how he had been molested by a music teacher when he was 10 and said the trauma left him deeply damaged. “I think about it every day of my life and I wonder how it affected me did I stop growing emotionally?” he added.
“When you’re molested for a couple years and you’re blamed for it by the people who are supposed to be your protectors, there’s going to be a lot of confusion and a lot of sadness.” Now a keen artist, Nicholas raised eyebrows when he seemingly skipped the Entertainment Weekly 20th anniversary cast sit-down and was later photoshopped into the picture.
However, he claimed co-star David Boreanaz hadn’t wanted him there, leaving him no choice but to be photographed separately.
Anthony Head – Rupert Giles
In a world of surging teenage hormones, mentor and father figure Giles was the calm among the storm. Tasked with watching over Buffy and her slaying for the Watcher’s Council, Giles knew everything there was to know about the supernatural.
British actor Anthony Head, now 70, went on to star in Little Britain, Silent Witness and Spooks and appeared in Netflix crime drama, The Stranger. His daughter Emily Head played Carli D’Amarto in The Inbetweeners before landing the role of Rebecca White in ITV soap Emmerdale.
More recently, he played the role of Rupert Mannion in Apple series Ted Lasso alongside Jason Sudeikis and Hannah Waddingham.