One Buffy Season Felt Like a Betrayal to Sarah Michelle Gellar
Buffy the Vampire Slayer star hated Season 6 of the supernatural series. And she had a very good reason for that.
While being a fan of her own show, Sarah Michelle Gellar had a hard time starring in one of its seasons.
The actress told EW she had always disliked Season 6 because it felt like a betrayal of Buffy and her very nature.
It was the season when the show transitioned from The WB to UPN, showrunner Joss Whedon stepped away, and executive producer Marti Noxon took his place. The tone of the show became much darker. Tara was killed, and Buffy, having recently returned to life herself, struggled with depression.
However, the depressing tone of the season is not the only reason Sarah Michelle Gellar felt it was out of character for Buffy.
In the season, the vampire slayer got into a toxic relationship with Spike, the fan-favorite blonde vampire. Their affair was far from healthy. For Buffy, it was a way to connect with life again, for Spike it was an obsession.
Even their first sexual encounter was literally destructive. After a brawl, the couple had passionate sex, and then a house they were in crashed in on them as an obvious metaphor for their relationship. And the affair lasting for six episodes turned out to be exactly that, destructive and toxic.
Buffy repeatedly beat the crap out of her vampire lover, and Spike almost raped the protagonist. Being in a relationship like that is a very self-destructing thing. No wonder the season didn't sit well with the actress who associated herself with her character.
Gellar described at the Buffy Reunion how she was thinking that Buffy would have never done some of the things she was supposed to do in Season 6. The actress added that, similar to her character, she was struggling with the pressure from the enormous Buffyverse fandom that was divided about the Season 6 grittier tone and adult storylines.
Both showrunners, however, think the season turned out to be exactly what they intended it to be. Noxon said they had always wanted it to show how a person can lose oneself after graduating from high school. Whedon confirmed his words by revealing he loved the season for showing Buffy's dark side.
"The consequences of power" is what the season and probably the whole show was about, the showrunner thought.
Even Gellar agreed the season has become a new beginning for the vampire slayer and helped her find her voice again.