" When asked how he came up with the name of " Buffy ," Whedon states " It was the name that I could think of that I could take the least seriously.

* Quinn was asked if he knew Doyle was Irish before he auditioned, he responded " I went and I read it in American and Whedon said ' Hey, let's do it in Irish and see where it takes us .'..

When asked about Caleb's religious connections, Whedon said, " I'm not coming down against priests.

In the commentary, when Joss Whedon is asked about his decision to turn Angel evil, he said that he feels it was necessary to keep the story fresh as viewers would quickly become bored with Angel and Buffy's relationship.

Whedon asked him to audition again, and he received the part two weeks later.

When asked why he set up this misdirection, Joss Whedon says it was " to make people wonder.

When asked why they chose to have Riley leave Sunnydale, Joss Whedon says he tried to give Buffy a healthy relationship, but " people didn't want it.

She was developed by Joss Whedon and portrayed by Amber Benson from the fourth to the sixth season until the character's death.

Whedon upheld that it was the necessary course to take to propel Willow's story arc further ; both the show's producers and Amber Benson deny that any malicious intent was the cause.

When she did, Hannigan found her on set and upon learning she was up for the role, told Whedon to hire Benson at the same moment Benson got the call from her agent that she had won the part.

After some discussion Whedon informed Benson and Hannigan that the characters would become lovers.

During the fifth season, Whedon informed Benson that Tara would be killed off.

Amber Benson defended Whedon in 2007, saying he " is 100 percent behind the LGBT community.

Like Whedon, Benson was surprised at the strength of the reaction to Tara's death.

* Joss Whedon allowed Benson to shoot on the Buffy set, and all of the club scenes were filmed on the interior and exterior sets for The Bronze.

Benson and Hannigan's chemistry was impressive enough that two episodes into Tara and Willow's friendship Whedon took the actors aside and informed them the relationship would be turning romantic.

When Willow and Tara first met in the fourth season, the writers did not intend the relationship to be romantic but the actors had such chemistry that, two episodes later, Whedon and the writing team took Alyson Hannigan and Amber Benson aside to inform them where it would go.

* August 13 – 15: Wizard World Chicago ( Rosemont Convention Center, Rosemont, Illinois ) — guest of honor: Joss Whedon ; special guests: Kelly Hu and Amber Benson ; other guests: Brian Michael Bendis, Josh Blaylock, J. Scott Campbell, John Cassaday, Jim Cheung, Marie Croall, Tony Daniel, Lou Ferrigno, Gene Ha, Greg Horn, Geoff Johns, Dan Jolley, Jim Lee, Jeph Loeb, Sean McKeever, Angel Medina, Mark Millar, Mike Norton, Joe Quesada, Alex Ross, Alex Saviuk, Marc Silvestri, Kevin Smith, Michael Turner, Brian K. Vaughn, and Skottie Young

In the explicitly-canonical Whedon stories of 2007, Spike and Angel first appear in a joint cameo in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight ( Dark Horse ) as part of Buffy's sexual fantasies.

In IDW's Angel: After the Fall, Spike does not appear until the second issue, written by Brian Lynch with art by Franco Urru ( the creative team of Spike: Asylum and Spike: Shadow Puppets ) with plotting and " executive production " by Whedon himself.

Originally, Giles was to appear in " A Hole in the World " as the one whom Angel and Spike approached in an attempt to save Fred, because Whedon needed a character who would be instantly believed ( by the characters and by the audience ) when he said there was no way to save Fred.

Joss Whedon revealed in an interview that Wesley was originally intended to survive and appear in Angel season six, but was inspired to kill Wesley off after being pitched the idea of his death scene by one of the script writers.

Whedon intended to use the vamp face to be able to place vampires around Buffy in different locations — especially at school — to highlight the element of surprise by illustrating that the characters often face friends and peers who appear normal, but have dark sides.

While Pylean society has no concept of music some Pyleans appear to use ritual dance to express deep emotion, as when the character of Numfar ( played by series creator Joss Whedon ) is told by his mother to do " the dance of joy ", " the dance of shame " and " the dance of honor.

Joss Whedon quashed the rumors that Sarah Michelle Gellar would appear as Buffy in an interview with TV Guide, saying he didn't want the finale to " revolve around a guest star.

The scene was, upon completion, noticeably sensual to Whedon, the producers, and network executives, who encouraged Whedon to develop a romantic storyline between Willow and Tara, but at the same time placed barriers on how far it could go and what could be shown.

Following protests angry about the death of Tara, Whedon and the writing team made a decision to keep Willow gay.

When viewers realized that Willow was falling in love with Tara, Whedon remembered that some threatened to boycott the show, complaining " You made Willow a fag ", to which he responded, " Bye.

Although the show's writers and producers received a minimal negative reaction from Willow choosing Tara over Oz, the response from viewers and critics alike was overwhelming towards Whedon for killing Tara, accusing him of homophobia.

Tara had become popular among fans, and Whedon and series writer David Fury decided that her death would elicit a strong response, something that Whedon felt sure was the correct course to take.

Because the death came at the end of an episode where Willow and Tara were portrayed in bed between sexual encounters, critics accused Whedon of intoning that lesbian sex should be punishable by death.

Whedon also considered bringing Tara back in a storyline where Buffy would be given one wish to be granted, but the possibility did not come to fruition.

They were unaware at the time that the relationship between Willow and Tara would become romantic, but Benson's performance and demeanor " made up our minds for us ", according to Whedon.

Whedon intended The Gentlemen to be Brothers Grimm-like monsters, with Giles playing the role of the wise man, Buffy the princess, and Tara the " little girl wandering through the woods ".

Whedon commented on her appearances in Buffy's dream: " The idea that Tara would be her spirit guide made sense because she didn't have that particular relationship with Tara, and Tara has a kind of good Wiccan mystical energy.

Whedon stated that the maze of red curtains on the stage in Willow's dream are not a direct homage to Twin Peaks, as some have posited, but rather represent the safety and comfort of being with her girlfriend Tara, and are a sexual metaphor as well.

It was written and directed by series creator Joss Whedon and is the first and only episode of the series to feature the character of Tara Maclay as the central figure of the narrative.

Whedon informed them that the kiss between Willow and Tara was " not negotiable ".

Whedon created a group of friends for the main character, including Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris.

" Whedon intended Willow to be realistically introverted, saying " I wanted Willow to have that kind of insanely colorful interior life that truly shy people have.

However, to resolve the relationship between Oz and Willow Whedon says, " we had to scramble.

Whedon and the writing staff had been considering developing a story arc in which a character explores his or her sexuality as the Scoobies left high school, but no particular effort was made to assign this arc to Willow.

Whedon made a conscious effort to focus on Willow and Tara's relationship instead of either's identity as a lesbian or the coming out process.

Whedon replied sardonically, " we're going to shift away from this whole lifestyle choice that Willow has made.

Writer Peg Aloi calls the backlash at Whedon " staggering ", and summarizes Tara's effect with Willow, stating that they were a single unit the moment they met: " Willow's need for approval and Tara's need for unconditional love allowed their supernova trajectory its singular, incendiary thrust toward its triumphant but tragic end ; like all witches who burn, martyred by flames, they move on to a place where their gods are the right ones.

* Willow Rosenberg, a character created by Joss Whedon for the television program, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Series creator Joss Whedon liked the character of " Vamp Willow ", who was first introduced in " The Wish ", so much that he wrote an episode specifically for her.

Series creator Joss Whedon has placed " Doppelgangland " fifth in his list of favorite episodes from the show, stating " one Willow is certainly not enough.

Whedon finds ways to get around that, with several cast members — particularly Anthony Head as the scholarly Giles and Alyson Hannigan as nervous witch Willow — proving to be wonderfully expressive silent comedians.

The most difficult scene for Whedon to film was Willow panicking in her dormitory room.

Joss Whedon had originally envisioned the love triangle between Oz, Veruca, and Willow to continue for most of season four.