Whatever Happened to the Buffy Actors? MORE

Anthony Stewart Head

Best known before Buffy in his native UK as the romantic lead in a series of hugely popular Nescafe coffee ads, the role of Giles enabled Head to have an extended sojourn in the USA. Returning to the USA he has had a variety of roles which have enabled him to somewhat shed the mild-mannered librarian image. Just a little.



His best known role since leaving Buffy has been as the role of the Prime Minister in the hugely popular – and often grotesque - comedy series Little Britain. He also had enormous fun playing the twisted alien scientist, Doctor Frank N Furter in a stage revival of the Rocky Horror Show.



Throw in a guest appearance in the massively popular new series of Doctor Who where he played Headmaster Mister Finch in the episode School Reunion. This ‘Head’ is one with a deadly secret. Altogether, you have an actor who has kept himself in public view with a number of roles.


His most recent role has been that of King Uther in the (again, hugely popular) Saturday evening prime time fantasy series Merlin. It is hardly a demanding role for this popular actor – he spends most of his time shouting in a kingly manner – but one which keeps his resume nicely up to date!

Alyson Hannigan


As Willow she was the thoughtful one, the considerate one – the quiet one. For an actor it was certainly one of the roles which had true character progression and as such it might be assumed that an actor who has proved her versatility so thoroughly in one role might go on to much greater things.


Her first major film role was in My Stepmother is an Alien, opposite Seth Green (who played Oz in Buffy) but when a certain vamipre series beckoned, Hannigan leapt at the chance to play Willow. Since then, she has done surprisingly (or perhaps disappointingly) little to convince audiences that she was, after all, the one Buffy Teen who showed real crossover promise. She went on stage in 2004 with Luke Perry in the stage adaptation of When Harry Met Sally (above) but did little to garner a reputation as a serious actor when she appeared in the American Pie series of films (below).


She has made occasional appearances in the Veronica Mars ‘noir’ TV series but perhaps is best known today for her role of Lily in the popular sitcom How I Met Your Mother, (below) now in to its fourth season. Lily is probably the most morally inclined of the main characters and intensely dislikes people not being true to themselves (even though she has been know to fall in to that trap!). She finds it easy to make and sustain platonic friendships with both sexes. Sound familiar anyone?


Nicholas Brendon


With a less than impressive pre-Buffy resume (bit parts in Married with Children and Children of the Corn ‘Trois’) it is easy to imagine that Brendon would disappear after his stint on the best TV horror show for kids but also excellent for adults that was The Slayer. His character, Xander, was included for all the hapless geek boy Buffy worshipers out there but in later seasons the character matured and almost became an action hero himself!


Brendon got off to a promising post-Buffy start, landing one of the leads in Fox’s sitcom Kitchen Confidential. Although thirteen episodes were made it was pulled after only four because of low ratings. He spent some time on stage in LA in 2006 with Noah Wyle and made a TV movie (Relative Chaos - below) in the same year with his Buffy co-star Charisma Carpenter.


Brendon has had various spells in rehab due to alcoholism. However, this year he has had a small part in the vampire feature Blood on the Highway and has recently finished filming The Portal – a supernatural horror film in which the protagonists discover (you’ve guessed it) a portal to another dimension.

Charisma Carpenter


With parents who chose one of the most ridiculous names of the planet for their offspring, was it any wonder that a screen career beckoned for the young Charisma? Playing Cordelia must have been a relief because at least she had a name that was approaching normal – and some of the best, bitchy lines in the show! After leaving Buffy she did a sting with Angel but was written out in the fifth season. So, what happened to our Charisma next?


Like Seth Green, Carpenter has bounced from one guest role to another. She appeared in the Josh Kirby…. Time Warrior (last picture in this section) series of straight to DVD movies. Then, she went on to do four episodes of Miss Matched, three of Charmed (below), eleven of Veronica Mars and two of Big Shots respectively.


She has appeared in three episodes of Greek, playing Tegan Walker (below).


A lifetime of day time soaps beckons, we reckons!


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