Ah, "Buffy." Just saying the word conjures up all sorts of images for people: the glory days of the 1990s and the glory days of The WB, those lazy days being a kid sitting at home wishing you could be like those cool kids on television who save their school from monsters. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" -- the television adaptation of the ill-fated 1992 film -- premiered in 1997 and ran for seven seasons, and pop culture was never the same.
The show followed Buffy Summers, a normal teenager who learns
that she is her generation's "Slayer," a once-in-a-lifetime person who can beat the encroaching hordes of evil. Sunnydale, California, was located on top of a Hellmouth, meaning there were all sorts of supernatural bad guys for Buffy Summers to slay ... or to fall in love with. Add in witches, zombies, werewolves, and more, and you had the perfect recipe for a smash hit, and it was all acted out by a cast of talented, attractive youngsters at the beginning of their careers.
In the decades since "Buffy" went off the air, much of the cast has continued making a mark in entertainment. There have also been some unfortunate run-ins with the law, some career changes, and some health scares, and we even unfortunately lost "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" star Michelle Trachtenberg at 39. Read on for a peek at what the rest of the cast has been up to.
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Sarah Michelle Gellar
There would be no "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" without Sarah Michelle Gellar. She'd been a child actor, but the same year "Buffy" premiered, she was in "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and "Scream 2." "Cruel Intentions" and "Scooby-Doo" soon followed; a star had been born.
She's been a regular presence in culture ever since. Recent television roles include playing the headmaster in the campy Netflix teen thriller "Do Revenge," Kristin Ramsey on MTV's "Wolf Pack," and Tanya on the "Dexter" prequel series "Dexter: Original Sin." Gellar was particularly happy to sign on for the latter show, telling People, "I bet you at some point when someone asked me, 'Is there a show or a movie that you wish you'd been a part of?' I bet you that I have answered -- more than once -- 'I would've loved to have been a guest character on 'Dexter.'"
Gellar will also return to the role that made her a superstar in Chloé Zhao's upcoming reboot of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Gellar told People in a separate interview that the show is well underway but will take time. "To do it the way it needs to be done, everyone has to be patient with all of us," she cautioned.
Anthony Stewart Head
Every Slayer needs a Watcher, and on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Buffy's Watcher was Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head). He's the librarian at Sunnydale High School, offering a shoulder to cry on, some sage words of advice, or a harsh rebuke whenever Buffy and her friends need it.
Back in 2020, Head remarked to The New York Post that he'd love for Giles to be part of an eventual "Buffy" reboot, although he worried that he's aged too much to still be relevant to the story. "Maybe I'm the head of the Watcher's council now," he proposed. "But to be honest, of course I would [sign on]. It was so formative."
Head has continued acting since "Buffy" ended, racking up several other impressive credits. He played Uther Pendragon on "Merlin," played Richard Armitage's father on "The Stranger," and was even Rupert Mannion, one of the only genuinely bad people on "Ted Lasso." Head loved that arc, telling Vulture, "For me, it was about playing someone with a heart and soul who sometimes might get viewers to manifest into thinking he might work out. But then, no."
David Boreanaz
Buffy had several supernatural flings over the course of the series, but one of the first and most impactful was with Angel (David Boreanaz). The tortured hunk is actually a vampire, the very creature Buffy is supposed to slay, but there's a catch: he also still has a soul. Angel was so popular with viewers that he got his own spin-off series, but Boreanaz doesn't seem to be returning for the eventual "Buffy" reboot. When Sarah Michelle Gellar announced the news online, Boreanaz replied (via BleedingCool), "Excited for you and your journey. Enjoy the moments and continue to always give back to the fans. God Speed."
Maybe the man is tired; after all, he's been on television consistently since "Angel" ended in 2004. "Bones" launched in 2005, and he led that show for 245 episodes until 2017. "SEAL Team" came that very same year, and it wasn't until 2024 that Boreanaz decided to step away from television for a moment. "It was over for me. I knew that, and that's what I expressed to [the showrunners]," Boreanaz told Collider. "I was like, 'I'm done, both physically and mentally.'"
Alyson Hannigan
In the early years of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Willow (Alyson Hannigan) was Buffy's best friend, a normie who was there to support her whenever she'd gone through some supernatural shenanigans she needed to talk about. As the series went on, however, Willow got quite the arc of her own; not only did she fall in love with a woman named Tara (Amber Benson), she discovered that she's a witch.
We don't know yet whether Willow will return for the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" reboot, but fans suspect that something's in the works. In May 2025, Hannigan shared a photo on Instagram from a scene where Willow sacrifices a deer to bring Buffy back from the dead, which certainly could be a clue that she'll be involved in reviving "Buffy."
After "Buffy," Hannigan went on to be part of the main cast of "How I Met Your Mother." In addition to voicing Claire Clancy on Disney's "Fancy Nancy," she starred in Comedy Central's made-for-TV movie "Office Race" in 2023.
Nicholas Brendon
Nicholas Brendon played Xander on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," the third member of Buffy's little friend group that kicks off the show. Xander's kind of a goofball, but he's a fundamentally good guy, a reliable friend who's always there when Willow and Buffy need him to be. Brendon has a lot of fond memories from his days in Sunnydale, telling ScienceFiction.com, "When it aired on a Tuesday, I would always check out the ratings on that next Wednesday and you'd see them going up and up. It was just a very special time."
After "Buffy," Brendon continued acting. For example, he starred in "Coherence," which may be one of the best sci-fi thrillers you've never seen. He also worked as a writer on the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" comic book. "We would write at this little coffee shop in Santa Monica, and if anybody had been an avid 'Buffy' fan, they would have been like, wetting their pants, you know?" he recalled to ScienceFiction.com.
Unfortunately, Brendon's had numerous run-ins with the law in the decades since "Buffy" went off the air. He's been arrested for domestic violence, prescription drug fraud, and much more. In 2015, he checked himself into rehab, telling fans on Facebook, "I love you all so much and I truly do appreciate all of your love and support. We're going to beat this."
James Marsters
Whereas Angel was a tortured, fundamentally good vampire with a soul, Buffy's other blood-sucking love interest Spike (James Marsters) was quite the bad boy. His high cheekbones, bleach-blonde hair, and penchant for seduction made him irresistible to both Buffy and the show's fans, so it's natural that lots of them want to see Spike back for the reboot. However, Marsters refuses to confirm things either way. "I'm sorry if you were coming here hoping for some news, but in the interests of having the project be the best it can be, it's best that I keep my mouth shut right now," he said in a video posted to Instagram.
These days, Marsters does a lot of voice acting. He's worked on podcasts like "Dark Gallifrey," "Hollow's Bend," and he brought Spike back for "Slayers: A Buffyverse Story." He also voiced Zamasu in "Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero," though he did it under a pseudonym. He'd played Piccolo in the much-maligned live-action film "Dragonball Evolution," so he told "Inside of You" that he wanted to make it up to fans. "Just for you," he tells people at conventions, "it's an apology for that film."
Amber Benson
Amber Benson played Tara, Willow's witchy girlfriend, on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Devoted fans know that Tara ultimately meets a terrible fate, sending Willow spiraling; at one point, creator Joss Whedon thought about bringing Tara back, but Benson wasn't having it. Apparently, Tara would've been evil had she returned, and Benson felt that would've been a betrayal of the fans. "I just felt like people really loved that character and for her to be bad would just destroy people," she confessed to BBC News. "So that was one of the reasons I didn't go back."
Benson doesn't act too often these days, but in 2024, she appeared in "I Saw the TV Glow," a movie very much indebted to "Buffy." Director Jane Schoenbrun was a huge "Buffy" fan when they were younger, so they wanted Benson involved to make the connection stronger. "Just having any tiny sliver of anything in this movie would connect 'Buffy' in such a specific way," Benson told "Slayerfest98," explaining, "They can take the Buffyness and sort of mix it with the trans allegory ... I think it can change perspectives."
Seth Green
"Buffy" encountered vampires and demons and werewolves, oh my! The latter was Oz (Seth Green), a lovable goofball who starts the show as a normal guy and then learns he has quite the wolfy secret. Though Oz left "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" in season 4, Green told ComicBook.com that he's excited for the reboot because he knows Sarah Michelle Gellar will protect the show's legacy. He also said that if they want him to bring Oz back, he'd be happy to do so. "I love that character, and if there was more story to tell, I'd be there to tell it," he said.
Green is perhaps most recognizable now as a voice actor. He created Adult Swim's long-running animated show "Robot Chicken," and he's voiced Chris Griffin ever since "Family Guy" began decades ago. Marking the former series' 20th anniversary in 2025, Green told TheWrap that he's pleased with its legacy. "I'll have 20-year-old kids or a 25-year-old tell me that they grew up on the show, and I don't know how to even absorb that," he mused.
Kristine Sutherland
Kristine Sutherland played Buffy's mom, Joyce Summers, on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." "It was very moving for me to play a single mom. My own mother was a single mother, and I watched her struggle with that role at a time when it wasn't socially acceptable to be divorced," she later reflected to The Hollywood Reporter. "So to have had the opportunity to play a single mother struggling with raising her own daughter was something personally very close to my heart."
Sutherland hasn't acted since 2020, when she appeared in an indie called "Before/During/After." Instead, she's been focused on her other main art form: photography. She told The Steve Varley Show, "I really love photography. I love portraiture, and I love documenting things." She said she's been taking photos of the small village where she lives for decades, and her pictures have allowed her to witness the passage of time. "It's a window onto the past," she said.
Eliza Dushku
Though each generation is only supposed to have one Slayer, Buffy dies a couple of times over the course of the show. That causes other Slayers to emerge, including Kendra (Bianca Lawson). Kendra also meets a terrible fate, leading to the activation of Faith (Eliza Dushku), a Slayer with an attitude. Dushku remarked to MarcAndrew.ca that fans were initially shaken by her arrival in Sunnydale, remembering, "When I started being really naughty, some people were upset by my antics, and some fans started freaking me out. It was very real for them." Ultimately, the character was so popular that Duskhu turned down her own "Buffy" spinoff.
Dushku hasn't acted since a made-for-TV movie called "The Saint" in 2017. Instead, she's gone through quite the career change. She's now a therapist, having graduated from Lesley University with a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Celebrating her achievement on Instagram in 2025, she wrote, "After nearly a decade of inner work and building a new life, I'm so grateful for this moment in time. To my highest self -- for taking this wild leap away from everything I knew and making it happen."
Charisma Carpenter
Charisma Carpenter's character Cordelia Chase started "Buffy" as a mean girl, but she quickly became an integral part of the so-called Scooby Gang. When Angel spun off into his own show, Cordelia followed. Though she met what Carpenter called an "unjust" fate on "Angel," she nevertheless hopes there might be space for her on the "Buffy" reboot. "To see this actually happen for the fans makes me thrilled. I am so hopeful to be included," she confessed to IGN.
Carpenter's most recent acting role was on the podcast drama "Slayers: A Buffyverse Story." She also hosts "The B**** Is Back," a "Buffy" and "Angel" rewatch podcast. "I'm all about the Buffyverse and want to support all of it. I devoted so much time and energy to both shows, it's such a giant part of my life, my formative time as a woman, it makes sense to keep the shows alive," she told IGN.
Marc Blucas
Eventually, as we all do, Buffy grew up. She went to college at UC Sunnydale, a new adventure that brought with it a whole host of new regulars. That included Riley Finn (Marc Blucas), a friendly guy that Buffy falls in love with in part because he's just so different than the moody Angel and Spike. At a convention (via TikTok), Blucas told a fan that he thinks Riley now would still be working in the military even though he wasn't superpowered like his friends. "He had his invincibility in another way, out of kindness or being good at what he did, and he would kinda come back and be a family guy," Blucas guessed.
Blucas now stars on "My Life with the Walter Boys," a Netflix hit. He plays the titular Walter Boys' father, George, and he told AMP Radio (via TikTok) that it's been interesting to be on a teen drama as an adult. "I used to be cast as the athlete and the player, and now I'm the coach," he joked. "We've come around, you know?"
Emma Caulfield Ford
Emma Caulfield Ford played Anya, starting in the third season of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Anya starts as a demon, but she becomes trapped as a human, and over the course of her time on the series, she re-learns what it means to be a person with a soul and feelings. Unlike many of her co-stars, many of whom are all too happy to make their time on "Buffy" the central feature of the rest of their careers, Ford was blunt when she spoke about "Buffy" with Vanity Fair in the context of allegations about Joss Whedon's on-set behavior. "I don't have a feeling about it," she said. "I mean, it was a job."
Ford appeared on "Agatha All Along," the Disney+ spinoff of "WandaVision," but these days she's also been dealing with multiple sclerosis. She told Vanity Fair that she had no interest in being a role model, explaining, "My experience is simply my own ... I am just me. This is how it feels for me."
Danny Strong
Danny Strong played Jonathan on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," one of the students at Sunnydale High. Whenever the show needed a victim to give a good reaction shot, they called Strong; eventually, he got more of an arc and a bigger role. "He started out as a shy, lonely nebbish who desperately wanted to be accepted and have friends," Strong told SciFiAndTVTalk. "Throughout the course of his villainy last season, I think he realized that there are no quick answers."
Strong still acts, showing up in projects like "Billions" and "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel." For the most part, though, he's stepped behind the camera; in addition to writing both "Hunger Games: Mockingjay" films, Strong is now best known as the creator of "Empire" and "Dopesick." He told W Magazine that he found success after he stopped chasing profitability, reflecting, "You make a decision for the right reasons as opposed to wanting to sell, and the universe pays you back."
Juliet Landau
In the second season of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Juliet Landau joined the cast as a deviously insane vampire named Drusilla. She was a main character that season, and she returned intermittently throughout the rest of the show's run in addition to being a recurring villain on "Angel." These days, Landau would be more than happy to bring her back once again in the reboot. "My gosh, yes. It would be so much fun to play, absolutely," she told RadioTimes. Still, she acknowledged that the show will probably work best if it focuses on new stories instead of just leaning into nostalgia.
Landau has other projects going on anyway. She played Rita Tedesco on the fifth season of the Amazon hit "Bosch," and she brought Rita back for the 2025 spin-off "Bosch: Legacy." She also starred in and directed "A Place Among the Dead," a vampire-themed movie about abuse. She told TellTaleTV that she'd gotten great reactions from fans who were touched by its story, reflecting, "I have never experienced anything like the outpouring of intensely personal stories shared at a movie before."
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Read the original article on SlashFilm.
