Big Bad? Or Big Sap?

James is so awesome portraying all aspects of Spike, whether it is William the bloody, just William, or Spike crushing on Buffy, or even Spike the chip head. James has so many opinions! Here are some of them about Spike:

Disposable Villain:

Spike was never really interesting to Joss except as an antagonist in the second season, and he didn't really have a need for Spike beyond that. So when he wanted to have Dru and Spike back the next season as kind of a lark and Juliet wasn't available, he decided to do an episode with just Spike being brokenhearted and drunk. And that was the point where Joss tells me the wheels started turning, that he discovered there was something more interesting in the character he wanted to explore.

"I was supposed to die after three to five (episodes). I was reading scripts last-page-first to see if I died," he said. "But the fifth one came and I didn't die. Of course, I could have died. If the money hadn't worked out -- bye-bye Spike."

"When I got the part, Spike was supposed to die after three to five episodes. In fact, I think the original plan had me down as Angel's first victim. They told me, 'Look, we're going to bring you on for three to five episodes.' Then we hit number six and just kept going."

"Originally he was slated to die after three to five episodes," the actor recalls. "He was Drusilla's boy toy, who was going to be dumped and killed by Angel when he took over with Drusilla. They thankfully decided not to do that, but I don't think they had a lot for me in that season because my being alive wasn't part of the arc, so I was in the wheelchair."

Q: Were you surprised when Spike became a regular on the show?
James Spike was never really interesting to Joss except as an antagonist in the second season, and he didn't really have a need for Spike beyond that. So when he wanted to have Dru and Spike back the next season as kind of a lark and Juliet wasn't available, he decided to do an episode with just Spike being brokenhearted and drunk. And that was the point where Joss tells me the wheels started turning, that he discovered there was something more interesting in the character he wanted to explore.

Q: Did you have any clue when starting out that you'd make it big on Buffy?
James: Nope. When I got the part, Spike was supposed to die after three to five episodes. In fact, I think the original plan had me down as Angel's first victim. They told me, 'Look, we're going to bring you on for three to five episodes.' Then we hit number six and just kept going.

"I really didn't see it coming," Marsters said of Spike, the vampire whose goal from the beginning was to do in the star of the show. "I saw the character as a functioning villain and the thing about a villain is that he can't achieve his objective. He can't kill the slayer, because then we're all unemployed. But if he keeps failing to do so, he becomes stupid. He becomes foolish and bumbling and ineffectual. So he has to stop trying. And so I didn't know what the heck they were going to do because Spike's whole thing was all about killing slayers."

"I think there's a complexity to him. He was designed as a disposable villain, so they really let him rip a lot of heads off at the start, because they were going to kill me and there wasn't going to be any worry about making him accessible to people. Then they decided not to kill me, so they had to go far away to make him accessible."

"That meant we really had to delve into the character. So we've explored his past, his background and the reasons why he might be so complex. Spike's now a very well-fleshed-out and multidimensional character."

"Also, the coat works and the hair works. If the coat had been shorter or the hair had been black, I would have been dead.''

"He can't kill Buffy [Sarah Michelle Gellar], because we'd all be out of work. That would be bad. But he can't try too many times and fail or he becomes ineffectual and bumbling and stupid. So I think it's imperative that they find a way for him to stop trying." (...) "I'd like to find something that I could hit," he admits. "But if they return the character to what he was last year, they would have to kill him eventually."

"He use to be a badass and now he's a wimp. In a nutshell. Basically he was designed to be a villain that was going to be killed, so he was very broadly drawn, he was very dangerous, hopefully interesting but not sustainable. What has happened now, since they've decided to keep me around, is that they needed a way to make Spike a little more recognizable; to put him through experiences that people can identify with, and take him off that pedestal of supervillian. So there's more to work with. There are only so many things you could have done with him before. Of course, it's really important to get him to stop trying to kill Buffy, because if he keeps doing that he's either going to be killed himself or he's going to become pathetic because he's failed so many times."

"He was designed to be a villain that was going to be killed," agrees Marsters. "He was very broadly drawn, he was very dangerous and hopefully interesting, but probably not sustainable. But now, since they've decided to keep me around, they needed to find a way to make Spike a little more recognizable; to put him through experiences that people might actually identify with and kind of take him down off that pedestal of super villain. It's really important to stop trying to kill Buffy, because if he keeps doing that, he's going to either be killed himself or he's going to become pathetic in failing so many times. That was my worry. I didn't see how they were going to fit me in." Ah, but one should never doubt the power of series creator Joss Whedon, who essentially never delivers what anyone expects of him. "The whole situation is typical Joss," Marsters agrees. "He says he's going to do something and I say, 'Okay, Joss...', but in the back of my mind I'm like, 'That's impossible. There's no way a human being can pull that off'. But I bite my tongue because every time he manages to do it."

The Big Bad....

 Who do you like better: Spike the badass or Spike the sweetheart?
James: It's hard to say, man. Ask any actor what his ideal job would be, and hands down it's going to be the character who's all about kissing babes and killing guys. Ask the guys on Ally McBeal what they really want. They want to beat up some guy and take the girl. So that aspect of Spike is really fun. But what Joss [Whedon] is doing right now with the character is far more complex and interesting than that. So in the end, I'll have a whole lot more than just smashing heads into walls to be proud of.

"I'm going around going, 'I'm evil, damn it. Even though I can't bite you, I'm evil!' But that frustration is wonderful to play. Trying to figure out how to ask for things. How do you ask for help when, basically, as a vampire, you get immediate gratification? Whatever you want, you take it. I mean, vampires don't carry wallets. They don't have cash. I like that coat -- you're dead. So having to deal with all the things that human beings have to deal with is interesting."

"The villain cannot achieve his goal or else there would be an unhappy ending. If Buffy dies, we're all out of work. Yet he can't fail too many times because then he becomes ineffectual and boring. So Spike is going to remain alive and I am going to be employed [then he has to remain with the good guys] I don't know," he says with mock concern. "The moment I say anything, Joss is going to go the other way!"

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