Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Author’s Note: This article was written nearly a year ago, therefore some of the information concerning the actor’s activities may be out of date, however the message behind the article is still very relevant, especially with the still real possibility that Angel will not be picked up...

The Future of The Buffyverse

By The Bard

April 9, 2003

Buffy and Angel - BtVS - ep 2.12 - Bad Eggs
Angel: So you don’t think about the future?
Buffy: No.
Angel: Never?
Buffy: No.
Angel: (swallows) You really don’t care what happens a year from now? Five years from now?

The end is nigh. At least for the Buffyverse it is. 5 years after that season, I wonder if Joss had some sort of foresight. But I digress. As this end fast approaches we begin to wonder what the future holds for our favourite characters and our favourite actors.

Well, we all know James Masters has said that Joss has asked him to go across to Angel, which makes his future easier to see than the other actors and actresses. Sarah Michelle Gellar we know will continue doing movies, with Scooby Doo 2 starting filming on the 14th of April according to cinescape.com and I heard that Scooby Doo 3 has already been planned.

Emma Caulfield I suspect will probably continue to do TV programs and gradually move into movies. Alyson Hannigan will most probably go into movies full time, I mean with the third instalment of the American Pie series already planned she’ll probably be noticed a lot more. The same with Michelle Trachtenberg, her roots are in film, and that is where she is returning to beginning with the comedy tentatively titled Ugly Americans.

Anthony Stewart Head will want to spend more time with his family in England, so will most probably continue to do UK television, like Manchild, which I believe has been renewed for another season. And that just leaves Nicholas Brendon, Buffy was his first regular acting job and having been in only 3 movies, I would assume he may take some time off to be with his wife, or move into movies full time.

So, with the relative positions of the players laid out, and no spin-off for the 2003 fall season, how will the Buffyverse continue? Well, believe it or not, it’s pretty much reliant on what happens in the Buffy finale. Will there even be a Buffyverse to continue on with? Well, that’s all up to Joss now.

But as I have said many times, as long as but one person remembers the Buffyverse it will continue to exist. The immediate future of the Buffyverse is in FanFiction. Which is by far and away a good thing, for in fanfic one can live out the dreams that you get by watching, to read something is to become a part of it, unlike simply watching it on a screen, when you read something you need to use your imagination and you picture how the characters interact. Yes, the author does indeed lead you there, but the reader’s imagination is still needed to make the story work.

I know myself as a fanfic author that sometimes it can be very discouraging when a fanfic author writes a fic and posts it to a site or to a group and gets little to no feedback. Readers should remember that without the fanfic writers, the Buffyverse wouldn’t be able to live on. However, as a writer I must also take into account the fact that I write fanfic more for myself than for the enjoyment of others. Of course some feedback never hurts, and it does make writers write more.

But I digress, fanfiction, I know of one fanfiction site that will continue the exploits of the Sunnydale gang, "Undaunted Virtual Series" the fantastic site which can be found at http://undaunted.deadtime.net the site itself proclaims "Undaunted is a new series featuring the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Created by Blitzgal." The series appears to be set in the future with the colonization of other worlds. Of course just because humans are expanding doesn’t mean vampires can’t too. Fortunately there are still slayers.

I myself am looking into the possibilities of doing my own virtual series, a spin off from Buffy the Vampire Slayer based around the idea of the fanfiction series by Misty and myself, Timeless, which can be read at http://star-net-nexus.com/Forever/Timeless But in order to make it work I’ll probably have to wait until I find out the fate of Spike in the Buffy final ep.

Other sites that host fanfiction are no doubt going to keep on going, for there is never any end to the human imagination. For instance there will always be questions about Dawn’s memories prior to her introduction in the season 5 episode "Buffy Vs Dracula" a sites like "Child’s Play" [Sadly this site closed down after the writing of this article] The same can be said for Angel, Spike, Darla and Dru people will always wonder about their pasts, and their futures.