Posted in: CW, TV | Tagged: angel, buffy

Angel: Boreanaz, Carpenter React to "Buffy" Spinoff's 25th Anniversary

Angel stars David Boreanaz and Charisma Carpenter took to social media with heartfelt posts honoring the "Buffy" spinoff's 25th anniversary.

It was 25 years ago today when the universe of Sarah Michelle Gellar-starring "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" changed in a very big way. The episode "City Of" (directed by Joss Whedon and written by Whedon and David Greenwalt) hit The WB screens on October 5, 1999, introducing us to a different take on the "Buffyverse" with Angel (David Boreanaz) and Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) taking the lead. The series would on to run for five seasons and 100 episodes – and still has one of the best (if not one of the more hotly-debated) series finale endings. Despite her experiences with Whedon during her time on both "Buffy" and Angel, Carpenter has always been proud of her work on both series, expressing her love and appreciation for her castmates and production team members who stood by her side. It's a sentiment that Carpenter expressed in a post honoring the show's anniversary from earlier today – with Boreanaz also marking the occasion.

"This show represents so much about life to me," Carpenter began the caption in her Instagram post honoring the anniversary of the show's debut (along with advertising key art for the first season). "It was the role of a lifetime (!) and, at the same time, an experience I survived. Through it all, though, I became better, stronger, and wiser. 'Angel,' 25 years later, is still relevant and firmly takes its rightful place in pop culture history. It also takes me around the world w cast mates where I/we have the privelege to meet fans and share my / our appreciation to the best fandom in the world. No matter what, I will always be thankful for that. Cordelia forever! Angel the series, forever 💕" Boreanaz wrote in his post, "25 years ago today, we premiered and was given an opportunity that I am so grateful for. Those moments live in my heart, and to this day, the fans support, love, and carry this show on! Always with me #Quinny❤️ #AH" (referencing the passing of Glenn Quinn, who portrayed Doyle). Here's a look at Boreanaz's post:

Buffy: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Charisma Carpenter on Early "Angel" Talk

As fans are more than aware, the end of the show's third season brought a wave of change to BtVS, with perhaps the biggest change being the departure of Angel and Cordelia. Gellar shared how she felt about the show moving forward without Angel (a question that Gellar says she was never asked before), and Carpenter shared her initial concerns about joining the spinoff in Evan Ross Katz's book, Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born: How Buffy Staked Our Hearts.

"Joss told me [early] on, and coming from soap operas, you know that there's nothing worse than a happy couple. And at a certain point, it gets very hard to maintain that," Gellar explained, seeing the move as a way of keeping the couple's bond fresh, even if it would be from a distance. And as Gellar saw it, it was a no-lose situation since Boreanaz always had BtVS to return to. "I was just really happy for David and excited to see what the next chapter was. And as David and Joss and I tried to joke, if 'Angel' doesn't work, he'll just come back. It was never such a closed-door," she explained. As for Carpenter, she admits that Cordelia's popularity among the fans wasn't something she was really aware of at first. "I didn't know what was going on, on the message boards. I didn't really know until one time I was protesting a Cordelia moment and the producers said something like, 'Calm down, this is why America loves you,' and you're going, 'Oh, America loves me?' It was like new information for me."

But playing a popular character is one thing. It's quite another to take that character from being part of an ensemble to being a lead in a new series. "To hear that I was being invited to go onto the spinoff show and have the opportunity to just be on a cast of three people instead of five-plus, I was very terrified by that responsibility," Carpenter reveals. "I was kind of insecure and not sure that I would live up to the task. I had a lot of anxiety. I still am a pretty anxious person. And I was simultaneously in a lot of fear because I didn't know what kind of economic responsibility or insecurity that it could bring on [if it wasn't a hit]. My first response was, 'Thank you so much. If it fails, can I come back?' [Joss] said yes, and I said, 'Great, let's go.'"

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