From: daviderl31@yahoo.com   
      
   https://screenrant.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-casting-decisions-good-bad/   
      
      
      
       Without certain actors, Buffy The Vampire Slayer could’ve taken a much   
   different trajectory. While some stars added to the show, others didn't.   
      
        Buffy The Vampire Slayer ran for seven seasons from 1997 to 2003.   
   However, its significance as a landmark television series was well beyond   
   what anyone could have imagined.   
      
       Originally starting out as a vapid horror/comedy flick (which creator   
   Joss Whedon has since disavowed), the simple premise of the teenaged valley   
   girl gifted with the powers to fight the forces of darkness proved to be a   
   deep well of potent themes.   
      
       Buffy told stories – both standalone and serialized– about the burden   
   of   
   power, redemption, female empowerment, the transition from childhood to   
   adulthood, often with the winning combination of a sardonic wit and an open   
   heart.   
      
       The smart meld of comedy, tragedy, drama, romance, horror, and fantasy   
   ensured Buffy would stake out (no pun intended) a special place in   
   television history and fans’ hearts.   
       However, as with most television shows and movies, casting is key.   
   Without certain actors, Buffy could’ve taken a much different trajectory,   
   one far less rewarding for viewers and fans. However, it’s also true that   
   other certain actors, while rarely terrible, sometimes fail to realize the   
   potential of the material they’re given to work with.   
      
      
           24 SAVED: SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR AS BUFFY   
      It’s as simple as this: if Sarah Michelle Gellar was incapable of   
   carrying Buffy on her shoulders, the show would have failed.   
   As the leading woman of a series that often demanded a wild mix of tones and   
   emotions from episode to episode, Sarah Michelle Gellar didn’t only succeed,   
   but she made it look effortless.   
     Her Buffy was upbeat, honest, a natural leader – and was also isolated and   
   prone to martyrdom.   
     Within Buffy was a mess of contradictions that were never truly resolved.   
   In Gellar’s hands, these contradictions weren’t character inconsistencies   
   but compelling story morsels.   
      Gellar gave life to a hero who, despite being gifted with a sharp wit and   
   good looks and superhuman abilities, was consistently relatable and   
   realistic.   
      
      
           22 SAVED: JAMES MARSTERS AS SPIKE   
        Spike is arguably the most developed character in the Buffy cannon.   
   Originally meant to just be a Sid Vicious-esque vampire, Marsters proved so   
   adept and compelling that he played many roles as Spike throughout Buffy:   
   villain, trickster, romantic foil, and hero.   
     Because Marsters always managed to communicate the core of Spike – a being   
   who was ruled by his emotions to a self-destructive degree – his Spike was   
   never random or unknowable.   
      His working-class British accent is so convincing that hearing Marsters   
   talk with his native Californian accent never sounds quite right.   
     Through his sheer talent, Marsters elevated a one-note Big Bad to the most   
   complex character in Whedon’s oeuvre.   
      
      
           20 SAVED: ARMIN SHIMMERMAN AS PRINCIPAL SNYDER   
      Principal Snyder, though definitely a minor ancillary character in the   
   grand scheme of the show, was often a largely unsung delight as the   
   authoritarian principal who had it in for Buffy and the Scooby Gang.   
     Armin Shimmerman clearly revelled in Principal Snyder’s particular kind of   
   anti-charm, and that kind of fun is infectious.   
     In every logical way, Snyder should be a downer and a bore, but thanks to   
   Shimmerman’s gleeful performance, he was the uncomplicated love-to-hate   
   character that Buffy was missing.   
     His final stand against the disorderly, undisciplined Mayor of Sunnydale,   
   who ascended to the form of a pure demon on graduation day, was   
   characteristically hilariously out-of-touch with reality.   
      
           18 SAVED: ALEXIS DENISOF AS WESLEY   
      If we’re putting Angel and Buffy together, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, initially   
   a Watcher meant to oversee Faith, is, next to Spike, the most finely   
   developed character.   
     His transformation from insecure dweeb to ruthless fighter is remarkable.   
     However, in Buffy season 3, where he remains as an annoying foil for   
   Giles, Alexis Denisof is still a joy.   
     Like Spike, he was originally meant to be terminated after a few episodes,   
   but Denisof imbued Wesley with a curious sort of humor and sympathy.   
     There wasn’t much use for Wesley post Buffy season 3. However, Denisof was   
   deemed to be a natural fit for Angel, and once he joined Angel   
   Investigations, the show found its groove and Wesley got to spread his   
   wings.   
      
      
           16 SAVED: ELIZA DUSHKU AS FAITH   
      Eliza Dushku’s Faith was just what was needed to spice up the chemistry   
   of the cast in Buffy season 3.   
     As the bad girl Slayer and later Big Bad’s lackey, Faith was alternately   
   sympathetic and menacing. She was a lost soul with a tragically limited   
   means of expressing her inner turmoil and insecurities.   
      Naturally, this made her a great fit during her brief tenures on Angel as   
   well.   
     Dushku doesn’t have the most range in the world, at least judging by the   
   interesting failure that was Dollhouse, but she fit Faith like a well-worn   
   glove.   
      At one point a Faith spinoff was in the works, but it sadly never came to   
   be.   
      
      
           14 SAVED: AMBER BENSON AS TARA   
      Amber Benson as Tara was shy, awkward, and quietly supportive. Her meek   
   and earthy vibe was a stark contrast to Buffy and Xander and Willow's big   
   personalities.   
     However, as Willow’s girlfriend, Amber Benson shined in the role.  Her   
   transformation from the shy one of the group in season 5 to confident mother   
   figure in season 6 is one of the more underrated aspects of Buffy.   
     Although Tara wasn’t given much in the way of major story arcs, she was   
   one of the first steps of positive LGBQTQ representation in television.   
     Benson was so good in the role that her final utterance – “Your shirt”   
   –   
   remains the most devastating scene in a show with more than a few   
   heartbreaking scenes.   
      
      
           12 SAVED: EMMA CAULFIELD AS ANYA   
      Post season 3, Buffy had a few things to figure out. Among them was who   
   would the new Cordelia, aka the brutally honest figure with an acerbic wit   
   to match – someone to, in Anya’s words, “provide much needed sarcasm.”   
     As it turns out, Emma Caulfield was more than up the task as Anya, the   
   ex-Vengeance Demon who had to reintegrate into human society.   
      
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