Angel: James Marsters (Spike) talks about the end of the series

On April 15 and 16, 2023, the fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel were able to meet James Marsters and Charisma Carpenter, two stars of these series, during the second edition of the Paris Fan Festival. The occasion to ask them about the end of the series Angel.

An unexpected cancellation

Launched in 1999 on The WB, Angel, a spin-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, followed the eponymous character, played by David Boreanaz, as he moved to Los Angeles to help people in need. To help him in this task, he could count on Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter) and Wesley Wyndam-Price (Alexis Denisof), two characters also from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

A mission that lasted 5 seasons on The WB, and could have lasted longer had it not been for the show’s surprise cancellation, as James Marsters, who had just joined the cast, recalls: “It was very abrupt. We found out that we were canceled right at the end.” In fact, despite still solid ratings, the American network had decided, against all odds, to cancel one of its historic series. A decision that, according to David Fury, producer of the series, was made because the network would not have appreciated a request from Joss Whedon: “Because our ratings were up, because of our critical attention, Joss specifically asked Jordan Levin, who was the head of The WB at the time, to give us an early pick-up because every year they [would] wait so long to give Angel a pick-up [and] a lot of us [would] turn down jobs hoping that Angel will continue – he didn’t want that to happen. So, he was feeling very confidant and he just asked Jordan, ‘Like, make your decision now whether you’re going to pick us up or not,’ and Jordan, sort of with his hands tied, with his back up against the wall, called him the next day and said, ‘Okay, we’re cancelling you’“.

No big finish for Angel

The surprise cancellation of Angel took everyone by surprise, especially the writers, who had to rethink their plans for the end of the series. “We found out that we were canceled right at the end, so they couldn’t save up enough money. They had no extra money to make a big finale for the series.” says James Marsters. He adds, “A lot of shows that get canceled late in the season, have no ending at all. But they tried to make an ending of some kind that was satisfying, but it was almost impossible.”

To recap, at the end of Season 5, Angel (David Boreanaz), Spike (James Marsters), Gunn (J. August Richards) and Illyria (Amy Acker) face off against an army of demons invading Earth. While the fate of the team is still up in the air, James Marsters said at the Paris Fan Festival 2023 that he imagines Cordelia coming to their rescue and saving them all in order to get a Season 6. A scenario that will not see the light of day, especially since the actress confided: “My ending was rather abrupt as well. But I’m ready to put it to bed and move on to do other things. […] I’d love to work with James obviously and many of my co-stars are fabulous people and that is true, but I’m ready to move on.”