Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon‘s cult classic, is returning! But this time the focus is on vampire Spike, not vampire slayer Buffy Summers . The cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS) will be reuniting for a sequel adventure set twenty years after BtVS ended. Buffy the Vampire Slayer lasted seven seasons on American TV, from March 10, 1997 to May 20, 2003, so it really has been twenty years.
Slayers: A Buffyverse Story will be set 20 years after the series finale with Saturn Award winning James Marsters reprising his role alongside Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia), Anthony Head (Giles), Juliet Landau (Drusilla), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Amber Benson (Tara), James Charles Leary (Clem) and Danny Strong (Jonathan), as well as Buffyverse newcomer Laya DeLeon Hayes (from CBS’ The Equalizer, where she plays Robyn McCall’s daughter Delilah).
The audio-only story premieres Oct. 12, 2023, on Audible and will consist of nine episodes. (Yes, that’s right, it will be audio only.)
Marsters predicted back in 2005 in an interview with TV Guide that he would only be interested in a Spike movie if “As long as I could do it within, say, the next four or five years; past that, I’m too old. Spike’s a vampire, man, and I’ve got high standards.” As a vampire, Spike is not quite 200, but human actor James Marsters turned 61 on his last birthday, and would require a great deal of make-up to look the same as he did two decades ago. The DC comic book I, Vampire predicted vampires could get around the whole being unable to be photographed business by using videotape instead of film. Videotape does not contain silver nitrate.
What May We Expect in “Slayers: A Buffyverse Story”?
In Slayers: A Buffyverse story, Spike is trying to regain the respect and trust of various supernatural beings by “convincing the forces of darkness that he’s back to his evil ways,” His loyalty to Buffy and her Scoobies gets in the way. “His cover is compromised by 16-year-old Indira Nunnally (Hayes), Spike finds himself on baby-slayer-sitting duty once more.
While he attempts to track down a watcher for his eager new protégé, their paths collide with the veteran Slayer of a parallel reality where Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) never existed and Cordelia Chase is the one-and-only Slayer. And Cordelia needs Spike’s help with a classic big bad terrorizing her world… his old flame, Drusilla.” Spike is from an era where when a man gave his word, he kept it. After Buffy’s death, Spike felt honor bound to protect Dawn and the potential slayers, as well as the Scoobies. Spike is hard and capable of cruelty, but he also has a deep capacity for loyalty and courage. Like an honest politician, he stays bought.
In other words, almost anything could happen.
The radio versions of Star Wars, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman proved that science fiction and fantasy can work in an audio-only version, even for audiences used to CGI special effects.
Slayers: A Buffyverse story debuts on Audible October 12, 2023. Will you be listening?
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Susan Macdonald is the author of the children’s book “R is for Renaissance Faire”, as well as 26 short stories, mostly fantasy in “Alternative Truths”, “Swords and Sorceress #30”, Swords &Sorceries Vols. 1, 2, & 5, “Cat Tails” “Under Western Stars”, and “Knee-High Drummond and the Durango Kid”. Her articles have appeared on SCIFI.radio’s web site, in The Inquisitr, and in The Millington Star. She enjoys Renaissance Faires (see book above), science fiction conventions, Highland Games, and Native American pow-wows.
