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BTVS Anniversary: James Marsters on Controversial Buffy/Spike Scene

Buffy the Vampire Slayer star James Marsters discusses filming S06E19 "Seeing Red" & that controversial scene between Spike & Buffy Summers.

It was 20 years ago today that the Joss Whedon written & directed "Chosen" marked the end of an era, as the Sarah Michelle Gellar-starring Buffy the Vampire Slayer wrapped up its influential-to-this-day seven-season run. To honor the occasion, James Marsters (Spike) has been kind enough to discuss the ground-breaking series in honor of the series finale's anniversary. For this go-around, Marters shares his thoughts on what might be the most controversial moment in the series.

From this point forward, the article will cover issues of rape and sexual assault, so we wanted to offer an important heads-up before moving forward.

In S06E19 "Seeing Red," A wounded Buffy returns home to heal only to be interrupted by an uninvited Spike, who attempts to convince Buffy that she loves him and that she just needed to admit it to herself. When Buffy protests, Spike's reactions turn violent, and Buffy is barely able to defend herself from his rape attempt. Horrified by his actions, Spike attempts an apology – while Buffy responds by telling him that the only reason he stopped was because she was able to force him to stop. It's an episode that's been discussed & debated since it first aired back in 2002, and it's a scene that Marsters opened up about with RadioTimes.com, discussing the creative thought process that went into the decision, how it was a "horrible day" to film" and more.

"That was the crushing experience that she wanted to write about. I think that, because Buffy is a superhero and was fully capable of throwing Spike through a wall, they could flip the sexes. The point I was trying to make when I read that script was everyone who watches 'Buffy' is Buffy, that's the trick of storytelling…when I watch 'Buffy,' I'm Buffy. And the people out there watching 'Buffy' aren't superheroes. So I'm gonna be doing this to them. You can't flip the sexes on these characters and not have blowback, it's going to have unintended consequences," Marters shared about the scene, noting that the female writer who penned the scene shared her own experience of "throwing herself" at an ex-boyfriend and wanted "flip the sexes" to portray that mindset.

As Marsters sees it, the audience's growing love for Spike and their wanting to see him with Buffy fueled the creative team's need to show Spike in a bad light. "The other thing is that they were very frustrated because they couldn't convince the audience to stop rooting for Spike; they did not want the audience to say, 'Spike and Buffy forever,' that's just not what they were going for. They kept having me do worse and worse things, trying to get people to realise. Even Spike at one point goes, 'Hey guys, I'm evil.' Because the audience refused to do that, they finally landed on that scene. They kept having me do worse and worse things, and finally, they're like, 'OK, we're just gonna have him do that to Buffy like there's nothing else that we have that's going to make this point.' That was another reason for that scene."

In retrospect, Marsters still isn't sure if the scene was the right direction to go but he makes it clear that that a lot of thought & discussion was given to the scene and that it wasn't a "cavalier decision" by the writers. "When you know those things, maybe it will inform how you react to that scene. I don't know if it means it was the right thing to do. I know it doesn't seem to age well, but what I want people to know is it wasn't a cavalier decision. It wasn't just like, 'Oh well, these things are OK, and it might be sexy and spicy if we do this.' That wasn't what the writers were thinking at all. It was very well considered, and it was coming from a good place," Marsters explained. But Marsters also does hold back on how it felt filming the scene, adding, "It was the hardest day of my professional career, it sent me into therapy. I collapsed on set, I couldn't even speak; I was shaking. That was a horrible day…when that script came, I was contracted to do anything that they said to anybody that they said to do it. I was legally compelled to do that scene. It wasn't fun to watch, probably, but it wasn't fun to film either."

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