Buffy the Vampire Slayermay be giving its title character a second chance at life, as reports are swirling abouta potential revival serieson Hulu. This time,Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Buffy Summers would act as the mentor to a younger vampire slayer — a fitting premise, since the original series ended with Buffy empowering a vast number of Slayers.Gellar herself opened upabout the potential sequel series, saying it was born out of talks withChloé Zhao, who’s set to direct the pilot. Details remain scarce, but ifBuffyis getting a sequel series, it only stands to reason that members of the original cast will return. There’s one character, though, who would be better off left in the past for multiple reasons —Nicholas Brendon’s Xander Harris,who is possibly the worst character in the series.
Xander Never Really Evolved During ’Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Original Run
When Buffy wasn’t busy fighting the forces of evil,Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s early seasons focused on her high school life, particularly her friendship with Xander and Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan). In fact, part of what makesBuffya cult classic is how it uses monsters as a metaphor for adolescence; series creatorJoss Whedoneven said his original pitch forBuffywas “high school as a horror movie.” Following that train of thought, Xander would be the guy who peaked in high school, mostly becausehe didn’t experience any significant character growth. Buffy graduated, struggled to raise her sister Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg) after losing her mother, then died and came back to life — and faced a new struggle as her friends unknowingly yanked her out of heaven! Meanwhile, Willow became a master witch and eventually came to the realization that she was gay. Even Buffy’s old flame Angel (David Boreanaz) went through a period of losing his own soul and gaining it back —and got his own spin-off! Xander, on the other hand, was forever the guy who either offered a snarky wisecrack or found himself in the clutches of evil.
Perhaps the best episode that both shows Xander’s potential and his frustrating lack of growth is Season 3’s “The Zeppo.” While Xander had some key moments in previous seasons ofBuffy, “The Zeppo” isthe first episode to largely be told from his point of view. After feeling frustrated that he’s the most useless member of Buffy’s friend group, Xander sees a chance to become popular when he gets on the good side of popular kid Jack O’Toole (Channon Roe). But things go south when Jack tries to “initiate” Xander into his circle of friends — and said initiation involves killing Xander, as Jack and his friends are all zombies! Part of the fun of watching “The Zeppo” is seeing how Xander, despite not having a Slayer’s abilities, Willow’s mastery of magic, or a level of knowledge like librarian Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), outwits the undead; the other half comes from the background events as Buffy attempts to prevent the end of the world, something that would be the main focus of an episode or an entire season. It showcases that Xander brings the perspective of the “everyman” to Buffy’s world — and the fact thatBuffy the Vampire Slayernever touched upon that further is a lost opportunity.
The 10 Most Important Episodes of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’
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None of Xander’s Romantic Relationships in ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Were Remotely Healthy
If Xander’s lack of character growth isn’t enough reason to keep him out of theBuffysequel series,his string of unhealthy relationships definitely is. Xander openly lusts after Buffy inBuffy the Vampire Slayer’searly seasons, to the point where he sabotages her chance at a happy reunion with Angel by withholding the fact that Willow is working to restore Angel’s soul; needless to say, this leads to a heartbreaking moment whereBuffy winds up killing Angel to save the world, when it could have been averted. In Season 3, Xander has a secret fling with Willow despite the fact that they’re both in relationships — Willow is seeing werewolf and guitar player Oz (Seth Green) at the time, while Xander has managedto finally romance former “mean girl” Cordelia Chase(Charisma Carpenter). It finally seemed like Xander found “the one” when he began a relationship with former vengeance demon Anya Jenkins (Emma Caufield Ford), even proposing to her. However, he calls off the wedding in the Season 6 episode “Hell’s Bells,” as he fears that their relationship will go down the same road as his parents. This major decision — which ultimately leads to Anya and Xander breaking up — would have had a bigger impact if previous episodes had bothered to develop Xander or illustrate his home life (beyond shots of him living in his unseen parents' basement, that is).
But Xander’s worst relationship by far is with Dawn. In the television series, he serves as a big brother of sorts to her, but the situation changes in theBuffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eightcomics from Dark Horse. The Season Eight comics, which acted as an official continuation of the show, reveal thatXander and Dawn are in a romantic relationship. What makes this disturbing is that it felt like it came out of nowhere — or worse, like Xander was settling for not having a relationship with Buffyby going after her sister. Furthering the icky undertones was the fact thatBuffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 12ends with Xander and Dawn getting married, naming their daughter Joyce, after Dawn’s mother. Again, this would have been more heartwarming and less icky if the Season 4 episode “Restless” hadn’t given Xander a highly erotic fantasy involving Buffy and Dawn’s mother.
If the ‘Buffy’ Sequel Series Wants To Be Successful, It Needs To Lose Xander
It’s clear that whilesome aspects ofBuffyhaven’t aged well, Xander’s the one that sticks out the most. But perhaps that’s fitting, as Whedon freely admitted thathe based Xander on himselfin a 2002 interview. Considering Whedon’s severe misconduct on the sets ofBuffyandJustice League, this ends up retroactively painting some of Xander’s actions in an entirely different light. It even makes Xander and Dawn’s relationship in theBuffycomics that much more disturbing, since Michelle Trachtenberg later revealed that Whedon wasnot allowed to be alone with heron theBuffyset.
Much has been made about “separating art from the artist” in recent years, but since Xander is literally inspired by Whedon, it’s quite impossible in this case. Xander is one of the biggest cases of “Nice Guy Syndrome” on television, which involves a male character who is friends with a female character while secretly (or not so secretly) hoping she’ll return his affections. TV revivals tend tobe hitor miss, but if theBuffy the Vampire Slayersequel series wants to be a hit, it’s better if it leaves Xander — and his connections to Whedon’s toxicity — behind.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
