There’s no denying thatJames Marsters’ blondie baddie vampire Spike was one of the most beloved characters onBuffy the Vampire Slayer. Heck, he was even brought back from the clutches of hell after he saved the world in the series finale to reappear for the final season ofAngel. Although two decades have passed since the curmudgeonly vamp appeared on television, he’s back in the new Audible series,Slayers: A Buffyverse Story. Catching up with Marsters during a panel at NYCC, Collider’sMaggie Lovittpicked the actor’s brain about who Spike is all these years later.
“The thing is, Spike, he seems like he’s gone to the dark side at the very beginning, and then we find out that he hasn’t,” Marsters explains of theopening episode ofSlayers. “He’s just as ornery and frustrating as he’s ever been, but he has a soul, and he’s been using it properly.” Taking on the forces of darkness with Clem (James Charles Leary) by his side, Spike appears to be somewhat of a double agent when listeners catch up with him inSlayers. It’s just Spike and Clem until they cross paths with a very newly appointed Slayer, Indira (Laya DeLeon Hayes), whom Spike begrudgingly takes under his wing.
“Now we see him trying to help out a newSlayer, and he knows she’s been coming for a long time, and she’s finally here, and he’s worried for her because he sawwhat happenedto Buffy and it’s really hard,” Marsters says of Spike and Indira’s relationship. “So there’s a real temptation to try to warn her without convincing her not to do it, but at the same time, knowing full well that it’s going to crush her. So there’s, like, mad respect, like ‘Whoa, you’re the new Slayer? Hello. Wow, there’s just this wonderful young human being that’s gonna have to go through this now and I feel sorry for you, but I’m also so happy to meet you… And by the way, watch the hell out for this and do not do that! Oh my god, stop doing that, or you’re gonna die! Oh my god!’ [Laughs] So, it’s all of that.”
A Dreamy Reunion
Along with Marsters and Leary, a handful of other familiar voices have made their way onto the soundwaves of the Audible series. Included in the lineup set to reprise their roles from the original show areAmber Benson,Emma Caulfield Ford,Charisma Carpenter,Juliet Landau,Danny Strong, andAnthony Head. While over half of the characters attached met their end on eitherBuffyorAngel, the new series sees a parallel universe that will not only give these characters another lease on life but also present Carpenter’s Cordelia Chase as the Slayer in place ofSarah Michelle Gellar’s Buffy Summers.
