Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Xander on Life After Buffy

by Daniel R. Coleridge

OK, so perhaps it’s a bit soon for a "Where Are They Now?" piece on Nicholas Brendon. The series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer aired only last May. Still, we miss our Scooby gang, especially the 32-year-old actor who played goofy good guy Xander Harris. So what’s he up to? He just wrapped filming ABC Family’s TV-movie, Celeste in the City, which debuts in March. Now, he’s poundin’ the pavement, seeking work like most thesps in Los Angeles. Here, TV Guide Online finds out his future plans - and takes a look back at Xander’s past antics.

TV Guide Online: Alyson Hannigan has a sitcom coming up. Why not you? Brendon: That’s what I really want to do. I want a sitcom! I’m tryin’! I’ve been taking meetings, just trying to figure out what to do. I did do a sitcom pilot for Fox with Ron Levin - the creator of Married with Children - called The Pool at Maddy Breakers. It didn’t get picked up. But good for Alyson. I should call her!

TVGO: How pissed were you that, in Buffy’s last season, you were turned into an under-five [minutes of screen time], while a bunch of Slayerettes we’d never seen before hogged all the air time? Brendon: I was kind of unappreciated, but my wife, Tressa, talked me through it. She said, "It’s not quantity, it’s quality." And I had a lot of great scenes. After seven years, I think [creator Joss Whedon] pretty much said my character was kinda played out a little bit. So they brought in a bunch of people.

TVGO: Played out? That’s whack. Xander always seemed to have interesting stuff to do. Brendon: He was a great character because he was the only one who didn’t have powers. Which is why I lost my eye. [He quotes Nathan Fillion, who played the evil priest, Caleb.] "Oh, you’re the one who sees everything. Let’s see what we can’t do about that."

TVGO: Ugh! That was a gory scene, when Caleb poked your eye out! Brendon: If we do the Buffy film, I’m gonna be wearing an eye patch. Let’s not have Willow just fix it [with magic]. Let’s do the patch.

TVGO: Did that hurt? Brendon: Nathan just had a prosthetic thumb, with a wire running up his arm [to make it retract]. But the fake blood got in my eye. It was a fructose-based liquid. It felt kind of like soap! I had to do an eyewash.

TVGO: You mentioned a movie. Will Buffy hit the big screen? Brendon: We’ve talked about it. I’m sure if it happens, it’d be in a couple of years.

TVGO: So nobody’s actually signed on the dotted line to do it yet? Brendon: No, no, no. Joss just always wanted to make the movie. We’ve only been off the air seven months, so we’re just trying to catch our breath.

TVGO: Do you think Buffy bungled the long-simmering Xander/Willow romance by pretending Willow didn’t really love him all those years? They had her in love with Oz, then made her Tara’s girlfriend. Brendon: That’s a question for the writers. I don’t want to p--- anybody off. [Laughs] Too bad they never brought it up again after Season 3. I would love to have made out with Tara and Willow.

TVGO: Wait a sec. You’re not disappointed you lost out on Willow. You just want the straight guy’s fantasy of romancing two lesbians?! Brendon: Yeah, gimme a shot! Let’s have a little threesome.

TVGO: Oh my! Anyway, has it been hard to move on since Buffy wrapped? Brendon: It was my first job, so it was very emotional for me. But you get over it, and I still see and talk to all my buds.