Buffy the Vampire Slayer star James Marsters admits it was "hard" playing Spike
Buffy the Vampire Slayer star James Marsters has opened up about the most challenging part of playing vampire Spike in the supernatural teen drama.
As the popular series continues to air weekly on E4, the actor recalled how showrunner Joss Whedon would keep the cast on their toes with "terrifying" storyline surprises.
"What was hard is that Joss is not interested in keeping the audience safe," he explained. "He's not interested in characters that are always happy and so if you really give your heart over to the role, which I did, it can hurt you.
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"There were times I was afraid of reading the next script for what Joss was going to make me feel in the next week."
Despite regularly fearing finding out what was in store for Spike across the show's seven seasons, James said he "enjoyed every second" of working on Buffy and that it was a "very inspiring" time in his career.
"Every actor is wanting a role that is very challenging and asks a lot. One that takes them places that they normally wouldn't go – both physically and mentally," he noted, admiring the writing and "indescribable alchemy" that made it so good.
"You don't quite know why it's working so well... kind of like the Rolling Stones – they are just amazing, but their solo albums, they are not bad, but they are not the Rolling Stones," James laughed.
"I think that everyone that worked on Buffy really was at the top of their game, but there really was something about the mixture of everyone that really was more than the sum of their parts. I miss it very much."
Buffy the Vampire Slayer airs on weekday evenings at 11pm on E4, and the entire boxset is available on All 4.
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