Encore Episode: Interview with James Marsters | A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Podcast
July 30, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readJames Marsters walked into his final callback for Buffy the Vampire Slayer three days before filming, fresh off a successful run as Macbeth in Seattle. He was broke, a new father, and had told his agent he didn't care about awards—he needed diaper money. When he first saw the show, he was hooked by its method: the writers could "get the knife right in between the ribs because you were laughing at the point where they get you." That combination of humor and subversive truth became the foundation of his approach to Spike, a character originally written to die after five to ten episodes.
The Actor's Rebellion: Playing a Vampire with a Soul
Marsters made a deliberate, selfish choice early on. Joss Whedon told him Spike was a soulless vampire incapable of love. Marsters decided to ignore that direction. "If I play it like that, they are gonna kill me off quickly," he recalls thinking. Instead, he played Spike as if he had a soul, centering the performance on love—corrupted, stepped on, or confused, but love nonetheless. He undercut the scripts mercilessly, turning snarky lines into moments of tenderness with Drusilla. When the script had Spike say "Also honey those are the stars" as a put-down, Marsters delivered it as adoration: "This is one of the reasons I love you. Because you can see the stars in the ceiling, babe." He admits this was "absolutely corrupting the theme" W
Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.
Read Full Summary →Free • No credit card required
Never miss an episode of Buffering the Vampire Slayer | A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Podcast
Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
What you'll learn
- 1 (00:53) **Introduction and Context** - Hosts Jenny and Kristin introduce this encore interview with James Marsters, explaining how they met him at the Vampire Ball in London and were invited to his home for this conversation.
- 2 (03:49) **James’s Origin Story and Motivation for the Role** - James explains he was a poor theater actor and new father who needed “diaper money,” leading him to audition for a TV show he initially dismissed.
- 3 (11:40) **The Original Plan for Spike and the Role of Juliet Landau** - James reveals Spike was only meant to be Angel’s first kill in a 5-10 episode arc, and his survival was due to Juliet Landau’s positive response to him.
- 4 (13:09) **Finding the Character: Fun, Love, and Undercutting the Script** - James describes his core acting philosophy: find the love in every character, even a soulless vampire, to keep the role compelling and avoid being killed off.
- 5 (20:50) **How Spike Survived Season After Season** - James explains there was no long-term plan; he was let go after season two, brought back for one episode in season three, and then reinstated when the show needed a “new Cordelia.”
- 6 (24:07) **The Uncomfortable Appeal of the “Bad Boy”** - James discusses his discomfort with fans finding Spike sexy, and the hosts explore the deeper psychology of why the character was so attractive.
- 7 (28:38) **The “Ladder of Cool” and William the Poser** - James explains how Joss Whedon systematically humbled Spike (e.g., the Hawaiian shirt, revealing his pre-vampire self as a nerd) to make him relatable.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
It was an honor and privilege to sit and chat with James Marsters! We talked about his early theatre days, what he learned about his craft from Anthony Stewart Head, the finer details of maintaining various pieces of Spike’s iconic wardrobe, and so much more. We’re thrilled to be re-airing this interview (perhaps our favorite cast conversation of all time) which originally aired on March 26, 2019.
CELEBRATE 10 YEARS OF BUFFERING
Join us at Brooklyn's Littlefield for our first-ever Homecoming Weekend on October 16th & 17th.
Tickets are on sale now — all information: bufferingcast.com/live
READ (OR LISTEN TO!) SLAYERS, EVERY ONE OF US
bufferingcast.com/book
LOCATE YOUR HOSTS UPON THE INTERNET
Jenny Owen Youngs | @jennyowenyoungs; jennyowenyoungs.com
Kristin Russo | @kristinnoeline; kristinnoeline.com
Buffering: A Rewatch Adventure | @bufferingcast on socials
MUSIC | Theme song and jingles composed and performed by Jenny Owen Youngs | bufferingcast.com/music
PATREON | patreon.com/bufferingcast
MERCH | bufferingcast.com/shop
PODCAST SCHEDULE & EVENTS | More from this podcast