Revisit the Buffyverse With the Cast of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ & Where They Are Now
The late 1990s was a great time to be on The CW (then called The WB). Hit teenage shows like Dawson’s Creek, 7th Heaven, and Roswell made careers, and streaming didn’t exist yet (nor did the many channels that would later dilute viewership) so that was what most teenagers watched when they got home from school. You know, if they were bookish loners who were allergic to sports and had nothing better to do. (Okay, maybe that was just me.)
Anyway, this may be a biased opinion here, but nothing was bigger or better back in the heyday of The WB than the 1997-2003 supernatural drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer. So good was this show that books were written about it and many attempts at rebooting it have been made. Luckily, none of them have succeeded, which I am perfectly okay with — don’t ruin a good thing that belongs where it is: in the 1990s, and in the hearts and minds of millennials.
Stephen Donelian/20th Century Fox Film Corp./Courtesy Everett Collection
In case you lived under a rock, or were born after 1994, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a seven-season drama series following the adventures of The Chosen One, a blonde cheerleader named Buffy who must defeat the vampires of Sunnydale as well as the various demons that pop up out of the Hellmouth, where Sunnydale resides. But really, the show is about defeating your inner demons and the various problems that teenagers face as they are coming-of-age (that’s not just my take: James Marsters, who played villain-turned-love-interest Spike shared this insight as well at a recent ’90s Con Buffy panel). The show was a real feast for metaphor lovers, and Buffy’s relationship troubles, mostly due to her ill-fated romantic interest in the vampires she is supposed to slay, are relatable to anyone who may not have the best taste in men.
So where is Buffy and the Scooby Gang these days? Let’s find out!
Sarah Michelle Gellar (46)
Buffy Summers
Andrew MacPherson/20th Century Fox Film Corp./Everett Collection
Gellar, who played the titular role of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and also made waves in hit ’90s flicks Scream 2, I Know What You Did Last Summer (where she met her husband, Freddie Prinze Jr.) and Cruel Intentions, got her start on All My Children prior to becoming the Chosen One. Since the series finale in 2003, she has been involved in many other projects, most notably the short-lived 2011 series Ringer and the 2013-14 David E. Kelley sitcom The Crazy Ones, alongside the late Robin Williams. Recently, she returned to the teenage supernatural drama world as an arson investigator in the 2023 Paramount series Wolf Pack. She and Freddie Prinze Jr. are still married, and have two children, Charlotte and Rocky.
David Boreanaz (54)
Angel
20th Century Fox Film Corp./Everett Collection; Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Buffy’s on-again, off-again relationship with her star-crossed lover, a vampire with a soul named Angel, was a tragic love story for the ages. Buffy never really got over the guy, unfortunately for her, but Angel did get his own spinoff, called Angel, which lasted from 1999-2004, and the two shows even had a few epic crossover episodes, before crossover episodes were the norm. (My favorite was the one where Angel gets turned into a human for a day when Buffy is visiting him in Los Angeles, until he tragically returns to vampire form and must, even more tragically, erase the day from her memory. So sad.)
2014 Fox Broadcasting Co/Brian Bowen Smith/FOX
Boreanaz had such success after these teen dramas with the very long-running series Bones that some people don’t even know that he was once a vampire with a troubled past (and obvious depression issues) who often saved the world. On Bones, he narrowed down his focus, and just saved people in and around the city of Washington, D.C. as Special Agent Seeley Booth, who works alongside main protagonist Dr. Brennan (Emily Deschanel), with whom he also ends up having a romantic relationship.
Following that, Boreanaz took on another heroic role as Navy Seal Jason Hayes on Seal Team, which premiered in 2017 and will air its final season this year. Time will tell who he will be in charge of saving next!
Alyson Hannigan (49)
Willow
20th Century Fox Film Corp./Courtesy: Everett Collection.
Awkward bookworm turned powerful witch Willow Rosenberg was Buffy’s best friend, as well as a powerful ally as the seasons progressed. Hannigan, like Boreanaz, also surpassed her Buffy and American Pie fame with a later role when she was cast as Lily Aldrin on How I Met Your Mother (2005-2014). Since then, she’s been on Dancing With the Stars and voiced characters on several animated shows, such as Fancy Nancy, Robot Chicken and American Dad! She and her husband Alexis Denisof, who she met on the set of Buffy when he played a British watcher named Wesley Wyndham-Price (and later played the same character on Angel) have two kids together, Marie and Keeva Jane. Denisof was also in the fun 2014 teen drama Finding Carter with future Nancy Drew star Alex Saxon.
Nicholas Brendon (52)
Xander
Jeffrey Thurnher/20th Century Fox Film Corp. /Courtesy Everett Collection; Gilbert Carrasquillo/Getty Images
Poor Xander. Unlike the rest of his pals, he had no supernatural talent and was always getting himself into trouble. Brendon, too, has gotten himself into some trouble since his Buffy days, with multiple arrests and convictions under his belt. After the series ended, in 2004, he checked himself into rehab, and it’s been a bumpy road ever since. In 2010, he was back in rehab, after being tased by police during a vandalism incident and resisting arrest. He’s been in and out of jail for various offenses since then, though he still acts; he was a series regular on Kitchen Confidential and Criminal Minds, among other things. Brendon has also been struggling with health issues as he had two spinal surgeries and a heart attack in the past few years. Where’s Buffy when you need her?
Anthony Stewart Head (70)
Rupert Giles
20th Century Fox Film Corp. /Courtesy: Everett Collection.; Jesse Grant/Getty Images for WIRED
Buffy’s watcher, who was in charge of Buffy’s early training as well as the high school librarian before the high school got destroyed during graduation, was played by British actor Anthony Stewart Head, who has quite the long, varied resume. He was most recently on the hit Apple TV+ comedy series Ted Lasso playing another character named Rupert, this time the ex-husband of the soccer team’s owner Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham).
Michelle Trachtenberg (38)
Dawn Summers
20th Century Fox Film Corp./Courtesy: Everett Collection.; Gilbert Flores/WWD via Getty Images
The addition of Michelle Trachtenberg as Buffy’s younger sister in 2000 remains a questionable one in my book, as angsty teens who need a lot of attention are not my favorite characters to watch. However, since Buffy and the gang had aged out of their high school years, the writers of the show likely needed to add someone younger to keep the teens watching, so they got Trachtenberg (of Harriet the Spy fame) on board for Season 5. After Buffy, Trachtenberg went on to play spoiled New York teen Georgina on Gossip Girl for several seasons, and she most recently returned to that role in the Max reboot of the show.
Remind 
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October 2020
Drac is Back! Delve into some of the best vampire fare in TV, movies, radio and books.
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