Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Being dead really has worked out well for James Marsters. The Modesto native and Davis High graduate has spent the past six seasons playing the vampire Spike on the cult TV hit "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." As the series battles its way to its final episode Tuesday, the actor reflects on its ending and the new beginning that awaits.

"’Buffy’ was a really great ride for me," said Marsters, without a trace of Spike’s English accent. "But on the other hand I’m used to things being really wonderful and then being over. In the theater, that happens all the time."

Marsters has gained critical acclaim and a feverish following as Spike, the once unabashedly evil and now soulfully reformed platinum blond vamp. Yet when show star Sarah Michelle Gellar announced this would be her last season as Buffy, he said her decision made sense.

"Frankly, if I was her agent, I would counsel her to go off and do movies now," he said in a phone interview from his home in Los Angeles. "There’s no hard feelings or surprise. We’ve all been really prepared for it and were able to wrap up stories and character arcs in a way that was responsible, exciting and satisfying. It was really a blessing that it wasn’t a surprise, because a lot of TV series don’t get a chance to really conclude."

Buffy herself has nothing but praise for her sometimes paramour Spike and the actor behind him. Gellar has said that Marsters is among the things she will miss most from her time as the slayer.

"We’re basically like brother and sister," Gellar said in the May issue of Seventeen.

But the end of "Buffy" is not the end of Spike. Marsters has signed on as a regular on its spinoff, series, "Angel." He will join the cast in the fall for the show’s fifth season.

But for now, the 40-year-old actor is all about "Buffy." While the specifics of the finale are under tight wraps, Marsters said the show will go out with a bang.

"Cool stuff happens in the last show," he said. "There is a major fight sequence at the end. It is going to be very big, very epic. On an emotional level, I think it’s going to be very romantic. It’s going to be very bloody, very exciting, heartbreaking and I think it’s going to piss people off. And I’m really excited about it."

Still, Marsters said his last day of shooting was just a normal day at the office. He said other cast members and series creator Joss Whedon were involved in a large "speechmaking scene" about the show. But his last shot was a fight sequence.

"It was a wonderful time for me, but it was just another day, and there is something really right about that," he said.

Spike came into the Buffy universe fighting. Introduced in season two as one-half of the vampire Sid and Nancy doppelgängers, he was a leather-clad foil for Buffy to vanquish. But the British baddie had staying power.

Thanks to some casting problems, Marsters’s future on "Buffy" expanded. After playing bad for the year, Spike and Dru were meant to return for one episode in season three. But the actress who played Drusilla, Juliet Landau, was busy filming a movie.

"So instead of having the two of us come back as the sexy couple, they had Spike come back as the forlorn lover who got ditched," he said. "Seeing Spike be pathetic and more human gave Joss the idea that there was more to him than he thought."

Spike was saved from the dust bin and began his odd journey from big bad to comedic relief and ultimate hero. The show, and Marsters, have been heaped with praise.

Marquette University Professor James B. South, who edited the new book "Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale," said something about Spike made him stand out from the start.

"He was so clearly evil that he could go the other way, too," said South, an associate philosophy professor. "So many other characters are just doing their evil vampire jobs. With him, the evil was so much more deeply textured. A straightforward vampire would never be able to go on this path of redemption."

Marsters said his character’s evolution has been interesting. But he does occasionally miss the Spike of old.

"I always like strutting and swinging and brawling," he said. "That is fabulous to play. That will never get old for the actor."

That dangerous edge has made Spike and Marsters undead heartthrobs. A Google search on Marsters’ name brings up more than 40,000 results. Fans drool over his razor-sharp cheekbones and the real-life scar over his left eyebrow. Marsters said the adulation is nice, but risky.

"(It’s) dangerous to pay too much attention to. It can make you believe your own press."

His acting career started out with much less fanfare. Marsters’s first role was as Eeyore in a fourth-grade production of "Winnie the Pooh." After graduating from Davis, he went to the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Santa Maria, then the prestigious Juilliard School in New York. He left before graduating to work on stage in New York, Chicago and Seattle.

Since "Buffy" came calling, Marsters has been able to explore his other interests. He has done spots on other TV shows, appeared in films and pampers his inner rock star.

For the past year, Marsters has been frontman in Ghost of the Robot. The five-man band has toured internationally, selling out L.A.’s Viper Room and clubs in Paris.

This summer, the band will hit the road again for a few dates in the States, starting with a show Thursday at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall. Then it’s off to Europe for shows in England, France, Germany and Scotland. The band’s first album, the independent release "Mad Brilliant," came out this year.

"I wouldn’t have started with the band if I wasn’t excited about what would happen in front of an audience," he said. "People are responding really well to it on its own merit."

Marsters’ interest in music is as old as his love of acting. He picked up his first guitar at age 9 and was playing clubs around Modesto by 13. While in high school, he would make guest appearances in a local band called The Vandals. He played solo in L.A. for years before joining the band. But music still is just a hobby.

"I’m not going to quit my day job, don’t worry," he said.

While he will have steady work on "Angel" next season, Marsters said he also is looking down other acting avenues. He is now fending offers for stage and screen. One is a film in Italy, and he would love to go to Broadway.

"I’m kind of discovering that people really want to work with me," he said. "People told me that, but I had never been out in the world hearing that since I was working on ’Buffy.’ It feels really good."

Looking back on his time with "Buffy," Marsters is proud to be a part of a show hailed as a pop-culture touchstone. Buffy is considered one of the founding females in a class of empowered butt-kicking heroines including "Tomb Raider" Lara Croft, "Alias" spy Sydney Bristow and the new "Charlie’s Angels."

And for all the fanciful plots, the show has been a critical darling because of its essential truth. Marsters said its themes about outsiders connect deeply with people.

"The vampires are really just a sideshow," Marsters said. "All along, it’s been about someone who is trying to become their best self and falling down and scraping their knee and hurting people they love and trying even still."

With "Buffy" over, many encouraged Marsters to take some mementos from the set. Production wrapped in April. Cast and crew alike hinted that he should keep Spike’s trademark leather duster. But Marsters took nothing.

"I have produced theater a lot and have had people rip off my costumes and props, and I never wanted to be that actor," he said. He later was told that the coat "was going for like $450,000 on eBay. I just couldn’t do it, I couldn’t rip my boss off of half a million dollars as a thank you."

But Marsters did take one last trip to the "Buffy" set after all the filming was done to look at the soundstages.

"There was that haunting, noble emptiness," he said. "It was beautiful."

Spike Points

Marsters’ character, Spike, started as pure evil but has become a hero. A look at the vampire’s history on "Buffy":

Sept. 1997 — Enters in episode "School Hard" of season two with vampire girlfriend Drusilla to create problems for Buffy.

Nov. 1998 — Returns to Sunnydale after Drusilla dumps him in "Lovers Walk" of season three.

Oct. 1999 — Returns seeking a mythical ring that will make him invincible in "The Harsh Day of Light" of season four.

Nov. 1999 — Becomes a regular cast member in "The Initiative." Can no longer harm humans after a chip is implanted in his brain.

Jan. 2000 — In "Doomed," starts fighting demons and helping Buffy.

Oct. 2000 — Realizes his feelings for Buffy in "Out of My Mind" of season five.

Nov. 2000 — Reveals his sad pre-vampire past in "Fool for Love."

Feb. 2001 — Confesses his love to Buffy, who rejects him, in "Crush."

Nov. 2001 — Shares first kiss with Buffy in season six musical episode, "Once More With Feeling."

Nov. 2001 — Starts clandestine affair with Buffy in "Smashed."

Feb. 2002 — Buffy ends their relationship in "As You Were."

May 2002 — Endures grueling physical tests to get his soul back in the season six finale, "Grave."

Feb. 2003 — The chip misfires and is removed in "The Killer in Me" from season seven.

May 2003 — Fights with Buffy to defeat the ultimate evil, The First, in the series finale, "Chosen."

2003-2004 — Set to join cast of Buffy spinoff, "Angel," for its fifth season.

Best Bites

James Marsters’ thoughts on a few of his favorite things:

On the best "Buffy" episodes:

"Once More With Feeling" — critically acclaimed musical episode. "We were just terrified. We weren’t hired to be singers. We weren’t hired to be dancers. We went from doubting ourselves and doubting (series creator Joss Whedon) to really realizing we were doing something memorable."

"The Body" — episode that deals with the death of Buffy’s mother, in which Marsters never appears. "That was truly powerful and very sophisticated in the use of film language."

"Fool for Love" — episode reveals Spike’s past and that his nickname William the Bloody came from his penchant for writing "bloody awful" poetry before he was a vampire. "It terrified me to play Spike as a wimp. It was such an interesting choice and I love things that terrify me."

On playing a vampire:

"Vampires don’t need wallets, they just take whatever they want. There is something very freeing about being unapologetically on the top of the food chain like that."

On the last episode:

"Of course (I’m going to watch). Oh, yeah. I’m a fan of the show, too."