Was Spike Right For Buffy? James Marsters Doesn’t Think So

Buffy and Spike? What about Buffy and Angel? Or Buffy and Riley (no)? James Marsters has one take, and we have some strong feelings about it.

Perhaps you, like me, are currently in a state of passionate mourning for the fact that Buffy the Vampire Slayer (along with its spin-off, Angel) is no longer on Netflix. Then weep again if you’re on #TeamSpike, because James Marsters, the actor behind the savvy vampire in the shiny coat, isn’t on your team either. A recent story from Entertainment Weekly reveals that Marsters doesn’t think that Spike was right for Buffy, though he’s not exactly 100% #TeamAngel either.

If you’ve forgotten since you last saw, here’s a reminder that Spike spent the majority of the show, and the majority of his relationship with Buffy, being actually evil. Like, vampire, demon soul inside him calling the shots kind of evil. At the end, it was clear that he had feelings for Buffy. By then their relationship was so convoluted after their violent sexual partnership (that, lest we forget, included a near-rape by Spike) and their conflicting roles as vampire and Slayer, that they couldn’t even begin to salvage it. Even the last lines the two had together (“I love you.” “No, you don’t, but thanks for saying it.”) make it quite clear that what they had wasn’t the head-over-heels kind of romance fans love to read into them.

It didn’t fool James Marsters, either, as he states in the interview:

"I think that many people, myself being one of them, have often chosen the wrong sexual partner. You see Buffy make that mistake. I think [the writers] were trying to remind the audience, ‘Guys, Spike is evil! He’s got a nice swagger, but he’s evil!’ And it was frustrating, I know to the writing staff, that it was hard to make that point, or the audience didn’t seem to care."

So, no, not strictly #TeamAngel, either. That reminds me of another rather frustrating situation from the end of the series where Angel showed back up briefly and shared a kiss with Buffy (with Spike watching), even though I’m pretty sure he’s still got some kind of feeling for Cordelia Chase back in LA, too. Basically, it’s all the kind of big messy love quadrilateral that we love to see in shows like this.

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I know there’s a comic about this out there somewhere, but I haven’t read it. I like to imagine that Buffy traveled somewhere far from Sunnydale, met a nice, non-vampire badass who could match wits and kicks with her, and lived out her days happy with a teammate she could trust and rely on. That may be a happier ending than a Slayer could ever get. However, as the end of the series proves, Buffy was all about changing the status quo. Leaving the series without a canon “partnership” was just another one of those changes.