Buffy The Vampire Slayer Star James Marsters Recalls Joss Whedon’s Reaction To Spike’s Popularity

Another Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum has come forward with yet another unflattering story of showrunner Joss Whedon.

Early this week, fo rmer stunt crew members Jeff Pruitt and Sophia Crawford opened up about their unpleasant experiences working with Whedon, whom they called an “egomaniac”. And now, it’s James Marsters’ turn to share a disturbing encounter with Whedon.

Speaking to Michael Rosenbaum (aka Smallville’s Lex Luthor) in his Inside of You podcast, Marsters, who played Spike, a villain character introduced in Season 2 who would later become a fan-favourite.

But Whedon, according to Marsters, 57, didn't respond well to Spike’s newfound popularity because he was intended to be a minor character. This led to an awkward exchange between the two of them.

“I came along, and I wasn’t designed to be a romantic character,” said Marsters. “But then the audience reacted that way to it. And I remember he backed me up against a wall one day, and he was just like, ‘I don’t care how popular you are, kid, you’re dead. You hear me? Dead. Dead!’ And I was just like, ‘Uh, you know, it’s your football, man. Okay.’”

Marsters added that Whedon was dead serious and didn’t apologise for taking it out on him. Whedon’s outburst wasn’t personal, said Marsters.

"He resented a situation where he had to deal with another romantic vampire,” Marsters explained. “When his theme was that vampires are the problems you have to get over in high school. Evil is not cool. I respect that he's not interested in portraying that.”

"He resented a situation where he had to deal with another romantic vampire,” said Marsters. “When his theme was that vampires are the problems you have to get over in high school. Evil is not cool. I respect that he's not interested in portraying that.”

That said, Marsters said he bears no grudges against Whedon and is game to work with him again.

Whedon’s on-set behaviour has been the topic of discussion lately following allegations made by Ray Fisher during the Justice League reshoots.

Long before the revelations made by Marsters, Pruitt and Crawford, Whedon’s ex-wife, Kai Cole, exposed his infidelities on the Buffy set in an explosive letter to TheWrap. She called Whedon a “hypocrite preaching feminist ideals.”

Elsewhere, Charisma Carpenter was allegedly fired the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off Angel because Whedon wasn’t happy that Carpenter got pregnant during the filming of the fourth season.

Watch Marsters’ interview with Rosenbaum here: