Dark Secrets The Cast Of Buffy The Vampire Slayer Tried To Hide
This article includes references to addiction, sexual harassment, sexual assault, child abuse, and domestic violence.
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is one of the most beloved TV shows of the '90s. There was something about Buffy (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar) and her friends, collectively known as the Scooby Gang, that fans immediately connected with. Alyson Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon, Anthony Stewart Head, Charisma Carpenter, Seth Green, and Kristine Sutherland rounded out the cast as Willow, Xander, Giles, Cordelia, Oz, and Joyce, and they were later joined by Amber Benson's Tara, Emma Caulfield's Anya, and Michelle Trachtenberg's Dawn. Meanwhile, David Boreanaz and James Marsters recurred as vamps Angel and Spike throughout the show's seven seasons.
The show's enduring legacy has continued to entice newer viewers thanks to its strong feminist themes and the fact it was constantly subverting TV tropes. This is something that Gellar has touched on a lot when reflecting on the series. "I think for me the greatest message of Buffy was all about female empowerment, and not just female, but empowerment in general," she said in a Reddit Q&A. Gellar added: "High school is the scariest part of people's lives, and I loved that we used the monsters of Buffy as a metaphor for the monsters of life. And to not judge a book by its cover."
However, along with gross but apparently funny anecdotes — like the fact that David Boreanaz frequently used to drop his pants or get naked to make his co-stars laugh and break character — plenty of dark secrets have come out about the series in the decades since it went off air. Keep reading to uncover them all.
Sarah Michelle Gellar announced the end of the show before her co-stars knew
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" had a good run. After premiering in 1997, it aired seven seasons, all of which had 22 1-hour-long episodes (bar Season 1, which was shorter at only 12 episodes), and they were packed with dark and emotional storylines. By the time Season 7 rolled around, Gellar was aware of the toll it was taking on her — not to mention the fact that she was trying to enjoy married life with Freddie Prinze Jr. off-screen — and was ready to move on. "Buffy, in this incarnation, is over," she confirmed to Entertainment Weekly in 2003. "You want to pick up and go, try other things, live in different places. It feels right, and you have to listen to that," she added (via Us Weekly).
Publicly, it was all smiles from the cast and crew at the time as they geared up for the show's epic finale, but there was actually drama behind the scenes. Around the time of Gellar's announcement, it's not clear if the ending had officially been confirmed behind closed doors or whether Gellar was merely announcing the end of her contract on the show. Nevertheless, her co-stars felt blindsided by the announcement.
However, showrunner Joss Whedon later backed her up and shut down rumors that the cast didn't know at first. "Some of the actors were upset, and I said, 'You guys I've talked to [you] specifically about this,'" Whedon said in an interview with Chud.com (via News.com.au).
Sarah Michelle Gellar was forced to do a traumatizing graveyard scene
In the first season of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Sarah Michelle Gellar's character faces the show's first big bad, the Master. In the 10th episode, aptly titled "Nightmares," he manifests Buffy and the Scooby Gang's fears into reality. As a result of his efforts, Buffy ends up in the ground — buried alive. While almost every episode uses the graveyard location, this scene was particularly scary and dramatic. In the episode, it looks like Gellar has really settled into playing the titular vampire hunter, as her character looked utterly terrified in the scene. However, there was apparently no acting required here, as Gellar's fear was all real.
When this graveyard scene aired in 1997, viewers were none the wiser about the trauma it caused behind the scenes. It wasn't until the following year that Gellar told Rolling Stone how it was one of the most horrifying moments in her career. She revealed that she even tried to get out of filming the scene. "I have an irrational fear of cemeteries and being buried alive," she admitted to the outlet. While she put aside her fears for much of the series, Gellar begged not to have to do this scene but, for whatever reason, her pleas were not heard. "They basically made me do it, and I was hysterical. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done for my job, ever," she explained. Afterward, Gellar was left traumatized: "I cried the whole way home. It was horrible," she said.
James Marsters did not want to do that bathroom scene in Season 6
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is packed full of dark, dramatic, horrifying, and heart-wrenching scenes, from the moment Buffy kills Angel in Season 2, to the shocking deaths of characters like Joyce and Tara later in the series. And showrunner Joss Whedon continued to push his actors to the brink when some of these scenes were hard to film. One such scene came in Season 6, which is widely regarded as the show's worst season, even by Sarah Michelle Gellar herself. For Spike actor James Marsters, the worst day of his career came in that season.
In the episode "Seeing Red," Buffy ends her controversial relationship with Spike, who then tries to rape her in an effort to "prove" she actually loves him. Thankfully, Buffy eventually manages to kick him off her, but not before she's sustained physical and emotional injuries.
Marsters didn't want to film the dark scene. In fact, he revealed to AV Club that he won't go near a role with a sexual assault storyline in it. However, he was contractually obligated to film this scene, which was written after showrunner Joss Whedon asked his writing staff to come up with a scene based on their darkest moment. "It was the hardest day of my professional life. I was curled up in a fetal position in between takes," Marsters recalled.
Charisma Carpenter has since spoken out against Joss Whedon
Charisma Carpenter played Cordelia Chase for the first three seasons of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" before making the move to Los Angeles with Angel for his spin-off series "Angel," which she starred in until 2003 and briefly returned to in 2004. Almost two decades later, in 2021, Carpenter bravely spoke out against now-disgraced showrunner Joss Whedon who helmed both series and went on to executive produce Marvel's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." and write the screenplay for DC's "Justice League." After DC star Ray Fisher came forward with allegations of Whedon's abuse, Carpenter shared her story. She accused Whedon of verbally abusing her and creating a hostile work environment on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel."
"Joss has a history of being casually cruel. He has created hostile and toxic work environments since his early career. I know because I experienced it first-hand. Repeatedly," she said in a statement posted to her social media platforms. She detailed how the TV boss repeatedly made threats against her job, tore down her self-esteem, and pitted cast members against each other. She also alleged that he asked her intimate questions about the status of her pregnancy, such as whether she intended to keep the baby, and called her "fat" while pregnant. Carpenter said she was later fired from "Angel" for being pregnant and found out about it through the press. "The disturbing incidents triggered a chronic physical condition from which I still suffer," the "Charmed" alum wrote.
Joss Whedon's abusive behavior ran deep
After Charisma Carpenter spoke out against Joss Whedon, "Buffy" actors like Eliza Dushku and David Boreanaz shared support for their co-star. Additionally, Sarah Michelle Gellar made a statement denouncing the showrunner. "While I am proud to have my name associated with Buffy Summers, I don't want to be forever associated with the name Joss Whedon," she said in an Instagram post. It was these words that prompted her on-screen sister Michelle Trachtenberg to speak out about her experience with Whedon.
While she didn't go into detail, the "Gossip Girl" star, who was underage while working on the series, revealed in an Instagram post that there was an on-set rule dictating that she not be left alone with Whedon because of his inappropriate behavior.
Gellar later called the problems on set "extremely toxic" while speaking to The Wrap. Amber Benson posted similar sentiments on X, formerly Twitter. However, Giles actor Anthony Stewart Head told ITV's "This Morning" that he didn't know any of this was going on. "I would hope that someone would come to me and say, 'I'm struggling. I just had a horrible conversation,'" he shared, adding how sorry he was that his co-stars experienced abuse.
Meanwhile, Nicholas Brendon, who played Xander, the show's other male lead, has said he can't denounce Whedon like his co-stars. "I had my relationship with Joss as well. And I love him. You take, you know ... for me, I took the good, I took the bad ... but that's not everybody" he said in a Facebook livestream (via The Independent).
Xander and Angel's TV feud extended off the screen
During the early seasons of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," there is a long-running feud between Nicholas Brendon's character Xander Harris and David Boreanaz's Angel. Xander's dislike of Angel comes about not just because he's a vampire, but also out of jealousy as Angel and Buffy share a romantic connection that eventually leads to a relationship.
While Angel doesn't like anyone much at the beginning, he never expresses direct hatred of Xander, and he even bonds with other members of the Scooby Gang like Willow. But there's no hope of Angel and Xander forming a friendship, especially after Angel loses his soul and kills Jenny Calendar (Robia La Morte). At the end of Season 3, Boreanaz departed to lead his own spin-off series, but Brendon slated the move. Brendon spoke to author Evan Ross Katz about Boreanaz's loveable vampire character, and as shared by Screen Rant, he said Angel is "the most boring character in TV history ... it's just a brooding little guy." Because of that opinion, Brendon added that it was downright "weird" that he got a spin-off. "Angel, in my opinion, is worse than those 'Twilight' f***ers. I'm not sure if I'm talking about David or Angel at this point now."
The feeling was apparently mutual though, as Boreanaz is said to be the reason Brendon didn't sit down with the cast for Entertainment Weekly's 20th anniversary party for "Buffy." He was reportedly photoshopped into the pictures later because Boreanaz didn't want him around.
Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alyson Hannigan were also feuding
Given the state of Xander and Angel's on-screen rivalry, it might not be too much of a stretch to assume that they weren't friends off-screen either. However, for "Buffy" fans, it's devastating to hear that our favorite on-screen besties, Buffy and Willow, were not close in real life either. The tensions between the pair were made public when Alyson Hannigan said Sarah Michelle Gellar was often annoyed on set during an interview with Andy Cohen on "Watch What Happens Live" in 2003. She added that her co-star had become tired of the show by Season 3 because of how much work it entailed. This was further compounded by the fact that the on-screen besties didn't attend each other's real-life weddings — Gellar's to Freddie Prinze Jr. in 2002 and Hannigan's to their "Buffy" co-star Alexis Denisof in 2003 — and a comment from Hannigan noting they only kept in touch via email.
Reflecting on their relationship in an interview for "Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born: How Buffy Staked Our Hearts," Gellar said: "Nobody gets along all the time. And Alyson and I had moments. There's no question. But you're young." (via People) She explained that while filming the show she was discouraged from having friendships with the show's other female cast members and that they were often pitted against each other rather than taught to support each other.
However, the pair have managed to forge a friendship now that they're adults with kids, and it's adorable to see them hanging out.
Sarah Michelle Gellar and Joss Whedon constantly clashed
It's been widely documented that Joss Whedon created a toxic working environment. While Sarah Michelle Gellar told The Hollywood Reporter that she'll never reveal the full extent of what she had to endure working with Whedon, her husband Freddie Prinze Jr. told the outlet that her working longer days than the rest of the cast with little praise or an appropriate salary was frustrating, to say the least.
The lack of credit and praise from Whedon is something executive producer David Fury previously commented on, too. "Joss doesn't feel like Sarah's ever shown the proper amount of gratitude for what he's done for her and her career, and I think she feels the same way. That she feels she was never afforded the credit for Buffy's success and the gratitude from Joss," he told Meanwhile ... in 2004.
They reportedly clashed a lot, especially over the controversial sixth season. In the end, Gellar gained a reputation for being "difficult," but in actuality, she said she was just calling out bad behavior and unsafe practices — like the constant 15-hour workdays. Trying to do some good with her experience, Gellar hopes that she's made a difference for younger actors on sets today, and she'll always be proud of "Buffy." "I will always be proud of what my cast mates did, what I did. Was it an ideal working situation? Absolutely not. But it's OK to love 'Buffy' for what we created because I think it's pretty spectacular," she told THR.
Stunt duo Jeff Pruitt and Sophia Crawford left the show after feuding with Joss Whedon
After several allegations of abuse came out against Joss Whedon, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" stunt coordinator Jeff Pruitt and Sophia Crawford, who was Sarah Michelle Gellar's stunt double, have claimed they were also victimized by Whedon. Pruitt told Metro: "Sophia and I kept going for as long as we could, but tensions grew and certain members of the crew began to plot against each other — including shady things directed at me behind my back."
By Season 4 they'd had enough and both told Whedon they were quitting the show. Pruitt alleged that the disgraced showrunner told Crawford that if she broke up with her now-husband (Pruitt) she could continue working on the show. Of course, she didn't, and as a result, Whedon reportedly threatened to blacklist the couple. But with credits on DC's "Black Lightning" and "The Vampire Diaries" spin-off "The Originals," it doesn't seem like their careers have suffered too much.
According to reports, the stunt duo was at the center of even more drama and in-fighting on set. Pruitt even dragged Gellar for taking over control of a martial arts stunt scene that he choreographed, and he later dissed her in interviews for upsetting his girlfriend. But it seems to all be water under the bridge, as Crawford has since gushed about her bond with Gellar.
James Marsters wrote a creepy song about Michelle Trachtenberg when she was underage
Outside of acting, James Marsters is also a musician. He started his professional music career as the lead singer of the rock band Ghost of a Robot before going solo in 2005. His time in the band crossed over with his final days on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and one of their songs, titled "Dangerous," is about his co-star Michelle Trachtenberg. The song has since been called out for its "creepy" lyrics, which sexualize Trachtenberg, who was underage when they worked together. The lyrics refer to her growing up and her body changing shape and say that she is "dangerous."
Marsters has since addressed the controversial song in a Cameo video (via LiveJournal). Explaining the context he said: "It was about an underage girl who was really making it apparent that she wanted romance with me and I was trying to find a kind, funny, interesting way to tell her, you know, 'thanks, but no thanks. It's not going to happen.'" He noted that he doesn't perform that song anymore as it's caused too much controversy and drama. "I was kind of trying to say 'hey man, you're pretty, you're hot and everything, but you're just underage' ... I had my heart in the right place, it was all about 'no thank you,'" Marsters added. The "Gossip Girl" star has not publicly responded to the controversy, so it's not clear if there's more to the story.
Nicholas Brendon's drug addiction and subsequent depression
Nicholas Brendon's drug use began early in his life, and by 2004, one year after "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" ended, he checked himself into rehab. "After realizing that I had a disease that was taking control of my life, I decided that the best way for me to regain my health was to enter a treatment facility," he said in a statement on his website at the time (via Entertainment Weekly). Unfortunately, this didn't help Brendon much, and in 2010 the "Criminal Minds" alum was arrested for felony vandalism and other misdemeanor charges after attacking cops in L.A. while drunk.
In 2015, he revealed that he was suffering from depression and that a combination of his not taking his medication and taking some sleeping pills resulted in an incident where he blacked out and trashed a hotel in Florida. After racking up $1,000 worth of damages, Brendon expressed his remorse to the Tallahassee Democrat. "I hate how I've come off. This isn't who I am," he said.
Brendon opened up about how his addiction and mental health issues stem from being molested by a teacher for two years when he was a child. "From that moment my life changed immensely and I haven't talked about it because I didn't want to use it as a crutch, but I'm seeing as I get older that it did have a huge effect on me," he said. After the arrest, Brendon checked himself into a treatment center to deal with his depression and addiction.
Nicholas Brendon was arrested for domestic abuse
In 2015, Nicholas Brendon was arrested for a domestic disturbance in New York. A spokesperson for the Saratoga Springs police department confirmed to People that they were called by a 33-year-old woman who reported Brendon had choked her after a fight.
Brendon's ex-girlfriend Lauren Grasso alleged that he had a long history of abusive behavior. "I just want people to know that this behavior is not new ... He is very dangerous when he's been drinking or intoxicated," Grasso told Radar, alleging that Brendon caused permanent damage to her skull after throwing her against a marble shower at a hotel in 2008.
In 2017, Brendon was arrested for domestic abuse after attacking his then-girlfriend (whose identity remained confidential) while drunk at a hotel in Palm Springs. Brendon agreed to a plea deal in 2020, which ordered him to complete a 52-week domestic violence course, 20 hours of community service, and put him on probation for three years. However, he violated the terms of his probation in 2021 when he was caught illegally obtaining drugs with a fake ID in Indiana. He now faces felony drug charges.
If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, or has been a victim of sexual assault, child abuse, or domestic abuse, help is available.
- Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
- Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
- Contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.
- Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.