It’s hard to believe, but it’s been 20 long years since Buffy the Vampire Slayer (aka one of the best shows ever made) hit our television screens for the first time.
And, ever since the Scooby Gang destroyed the Hellmouth and disappeared from our lives, we’ve been left feeling… well, left feeling utterly, utterly bereft.
But, as Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) always told us, she’d be back when we needed her: “If the apocalypse comes, beep me.”
EW decided to take the Buffster up on her offer and beep her – and, just like she always promised, she responded, armed with (almost all) the Scooby gang.
The cast, plus show creator Joss Whedon, have taken part in a new joint photo shoot and interview (their first in over a decade), and as well as providing fans with several behind-the-scenes- glimpses on social media, discussed their time on the ever-popular series and answered one of the most pressing questions of all: Angel or Spike?
While Gellar, 39, did not appear to have her trusty bag stuffed with stakes, vials of holy water, crucifixes, and miscellaneous weapons, the shoot stuck to the Buffy theme with gothic fashion and a cemetery set.
Gellar was joined by David Boreanaz (Angel), Alyson Hannigan (Willow), James Marsters (Spike), Nicholas Brendon (Xander), Michelle Tratchenberg (Dawn), Amber Benson (Tara), Kristine Sutherland (Joyce), Seth Green (Oz), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) and Emma Caulfield (Anya).
Anthony Stewart Head – who played Buffy’s father figure and faithful watcher, Giles – was unable to attend, as he was filming a play in London.
And the cast discussed why they think the show inspires such fandom and still resonates so much with audiences.
“I think it was the ultimate metaphor, it was utilising the horrors of adolescence manifested through these actual monsters,” explained Gellar, when asked why she thought the show still resonated with so many people.
“And I think that everyone going through that [thinks] that's the hardest time of life and to understand you're not alone through that.”
She added: “You ultimately hope to do something that resonates, you know? What’s your legacy?
“And I think for all of us here, we have been a part of something that’s bigger than us, that still holds up and it’s all you can ever really hope for.”
It was a thought that Whedon echoed.
“This is surreal,” he said of reuniting. “This is like a high school reunion but much worse because they all still look really great. I was hoping some of them would puff out a bit. But that did not take place.”
All joking aside, he added: “The most important thing to me is that I have had people come up to me and say the show made me feel different about what they could be, about what they could do, about how they respond to problems, about being a female leader.
“People getting strength from my own little terrors is… There is no better legacy than that.”
Hannigan meanwhile became emotional as she enthused about her time on Buffy.
“It was the role of a lifetime,” she said. “I met the love of my life [Alexis Denisof, Wesley in the show]. And just to get to go to work every day and have Joss sort of train me – I'll never have a better experience than that.”
But, of course, the interview eventually turned to one very important question: Angel or Spike?
Gellar, when pressed for an answer, seemed pretty clear.
“People ask who I thought was Buffy’s ultimate and I get a lot of hate and a lot of death threats — seriously,” she said.
“There was something so beautiful to me about the Buffy and Angel story. I think that Spike understood a different part of who Buffy was and I think she needed to understand that and discover. But for me as Buffy, I think Angel.”
Quell your anger, Spuffy fans.
Whedon, however, found it more difficult to pick out a definitive winner.
“I’m split right down the middle because in terms of a long-term relationship, Spike’s kinda your guy because he actually went and got a soul because of her,” he pointed out.
“But [Angel and Buffy]’s the grandest love story I will ever tell. You can’t argue with that.”
Head over to EW now to see more from the Scooby Gang reunion. A full interview will appear in this week’s edition of the magazine.
Images: EW
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