25 Behind-The-Scenes Details About The Cast Of Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Those adults who grew up in the '90s have a soft spot in their hearts for several TV shows, including Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Sarah Michelle Gellar totally rocked as the main character of this funny, fascinating series about a teen girl who literally fought vampires in her spare time. The show spanned seven seasons and was on the air from 1997 until 2003.

There's nothing like the entertainment that grown-ups enjoyed when they were growing up to make them feel nostalgic. Buffy totally does that for generations of adults and reminds them of a time when they were young and still finding themselves, much like, well, Buffy was.

Although there are awesome scenes featuring vampires and slayers and all kinds of crazy stuff happening at the high school, this show was also a coming-of-age tale. Fans could always relate to the personal stuff that the teenagers were going through.

Although fans have watched the show when it was first on the air and have seen it many times since, they might not know very much about the behind-the-scenes details or anything about the actors who brought the characters that they love to life. That totally changes now. Here are 20 little-known facts about the cast of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

25 Angel Got His Part In An Unconventional Way…

Buffy and Angel are an awesome TV love story. A vampire slayer totally falling for a vampire? It's almost too good. We've all enjoyed watching these two characters together and all of the drama.

We might not know how Angel was cast, and it's a really fun story. According to Buzzfeed, "David Boreanaz was discovered by the casting director's friend. They were struggling to cast the part of Angel until a friend spotted Boreanaz walking his dog and got him to audition because he fit the bill so much." We love this behind-the-scenes story so much, and we're glad that we know about it.

24 Another Willow: Alyson Hannigan Was Cast Later

When an actor or actress is right for a certain TV character, it seems so tough to think about anyone else embodying that role. That's why some actors get typecast. While we get that it's kind of annoying for them, we can't help but always see them as that one character (and we love that character so to us, it's a compliment and a good thing).

As E online reported, there was a pilot that didn't air where Willow was played by another actress, then later they cast Alyson Hannigan.

Another Willow?! What?! It's weird to think about so we're not going to. We love Alyson Hannigan as Buffy's nerdy witch BFF.

23 Switch-A-Roo: These Two Actresses Didn't Get The Roles They Auditioned For

Sometimes we hear that actresses auditioned for a role other than the one that they ended up playing. It's definitely fascinating and fun to hear about, and two actresses on Buffy the Vampire Slayer auditioned for different roles. We probably don't know about this because we think that the cast is perfection and ended up exactly where they needed to be.

As Mental Floss reported, Sarah Michelle Gellar auditioned to play Cordelia, and Charisma Carpetener auditioned to play Buffy. So crazy to hear about, right?! SMG is such a great Buffy and Charisma is such a great Cordelia. We think that they are so right for those parts.

22 Iconic Theme Song: She Picked It

Theme songs are a pretty big thing. When one works, it works so well that we can't imagine anything else, and we get used to it starting off each episode. It's comforting and beautiful, and it's so much better than a super short sequence that simply announces the name of the show.

It's cool to learn about how a TV show got its theme song. Sometimes, one of the cast members actually finds the perfect song, like when Ashley Benson picked out "Secret" by The Pierces for Pretty Little Liars.

According to People, there's a similar story with the Buffy theme song. It was Alyson Hannigan who picked out the song by Nerf Herder.

21 Love Story: This Actress And Her Hubby Met On Set

We know that Angel and Buffy are a great love story, but what about off camera? Did anyone meet on the show?

As E online reported, there was some love on set when Alyson Hannigan and an actor, Alexis Denisof (who we will remember as Wesley, the watcher in the third season), started dating.

Now they're married and it's too cute.

We always love hearing how celebrities fall in love… mostly because we love hearing how anyone (yup, even us regular people) falls in love. It seems so tough to meet your person and yet so many people do, so if we're single, it definitely leaves us hopeful that we'll have our own meet cute and love story.

20 What?! These Actors Almost Were Buffy And Xander

Buffy and Xander are perfectly cast, just like the rest of the characters. We wouldn't think that anyone other than the actors could have played those roles… and yet, as it turns out, other actors were in the running.

As Digital Spy writes, "An alternative first season could have featured Katie Holmes as Buffy and Ryan Reynolds as Xander. Both were offered the roles, with Reynolds apparently turning it down because he couldn't bear to relive his own high school experience." That last bit is so funny… and also so easy to relate to. We wish it wasn't so easy to relate to, but hey, we all have our own high school stories.

19 Buffy & Angel Didn't Like Kissing Each Other Because…

It must be kind of strange to have to kiss your co-star, don't we think? We can't really imagine having to kiss someone that we work with, even if it is pretend and doesn't mean anything romantic at all. It's just hard to wrap our heads around.

As People reported, when Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz had to kiss as Buffy and Angel, they would eat pickles and tuna (on purpose) before kissing. Well, that's one way to go… We can only imagine how gross this must have been for both of them, but it's kind of charming in its own weird way.

18 Buffy Was Turned Into A Rat, So That SMG Could Do This…

We might remember when one character, Amy Madison, made Buffy a rat, and she was a rat herself for a lot of the series. We might have chalked this up to a strange storyline since, of course, it's a show about magic. There's more to this story, though, and it's a fun fact that is also pretty logical.

According to Buzzfeed, they made Buffy a rat so SMG could be on SNL.

Sarah Michelle Gellar hosted SNL three times: January 1997, May 1999, and October 2002. If we didn't see these episodes, we're definitely wishing that we had and wondering if we can track them down somewhere.

17 Spike Fooled Us All, With This Detail…

Do we think that James Marsters, aka Spike and one of Buffy's love interests, is from England? Probably since he has that accent.

Actually, he's not. As Fame10 says, "James Marsters - who plays Spike - doesn't have an English accent."

We love when an actor or actress is so talented that they can pull off a really amazing accent. We totally thought that the man playing Spike was from England, so we give him major props for doing such a great job. Even if we think that Buffy should have always be with Angel, we have to admit that Spike is a cool character.

16 Sabrina vs. Buffy: SMG Was Almost On Another Show

There honestly doesn't seem like there could have been Buffy without Sarah Michelle Gellar in the title role. We can probably all agree that she is so amazing in this role. She's sweet, funny, witty, clever, great at kicking vampire behinds, and just so charming.

It turns out that SMG could have been on another show. According to Buzzfeed, she was in the running to be Sabrina on Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

That's so wild to hear since we think that SMG is the best Buffy and Melissa Joan Hart is the best Sabrina. This is definitely a little-known fact that we're glad to know about.

15 Library Vibes: The Actors Didn't Like Filming Here Because…

The library is one of the sets on Buffy the Vampire Slayer that we associate with the show. Besides the graveyard that Buffy hung out in at night, the high school hallways and Buffy's house, we often saw the gang hanging out in the library with Giles.

Well, it turns out that the gang wasn't so big on being in the library and there's a specific reason. According to Buzzfeed, "The cast hated filming all of the scenes in the library because it would always mean a lengthy speech for [Giles]." That's so funny to hear. Hey, we always love the library scenes because they mean that the gang is studying and figuring things out.

14 Number One: This Is Who Was Cast First

It's cool to hear how actors are cast on TV shows. We might assume that when it comes to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy was the number one character to be cast, but that's not actually the case.

According to Mental Floss, Marsha Shulman, the casting director for the series, said that Giles (played by Anthony Stewart Head) was the number one character to be cast.

She said of the actor, "He was just it."

Giles is such a loveable and charming character, and the show wouldn't be what it is without him. We can't even imagine that at all.

13 Sarah Michelle Gellar Did NOT Want To Film This

Some of the greatest Buffy the Vampire Slayer scenes happened in a cemetery… and, apparently, Sarah Michelle Gellar didn't love it. Nope. She didn't love it at all.

According to E online, she said to Rolling Stone, "I have an irrational fear of cemeteries and being buried alive."

She continued, "It's really hard to be a vampire slayer if you're scared of cemeteries." So funny… and so true. The show actually had a fake cemetery that they built, probably for this reason, so that was definitely really nice of them. We can't imagine this show without those cemetery moments. They were so fun (well, maybe not for Buffy herself).

12 Buffy Didn't Actually Know What She Was Saying…

As Mental Floss reported, Sarah Michelle Gellar asked a lot of questions about the language used in the Buffy script when she auditioned.

She once said in 1998, “Joss has his own sort of language that's difficult for us mere mortals to understand. I grew up in New York. We didn't have Valley girls, and constantly, I'm asking him 'What does this mean? I'm not quite sure.'"

She continued that during her audition, she had to say, "What's the sitch?" She asked about the meaning and said, "No idea it meant situation. Talk about blowing a job instantly.” What a sweet, charming story.

11 Love Lost: These Two Actors Wanted Their Characters To Fall For Each Other

We remember that at the beginning of the show, Xander had a thing for Buffy, but it never really seemed like they would date or have some big grand romance. We knew that she and Angel were perfect together so we probably never even considered her and Xander as potential love interests.

According to Fame 10, Nicholas Brendon and Sarah Michelle Gellar wanted their characters to be together, and they told Joss Whedon their thoughts between the sixth and seventh seasons: "but Joss Whedon didn't think a romance between the characters was a good idea and instead felt that their relationship needed to remain unrequited."

10 Faith Nearly Had A Spin-Off, But…

When the character of Faith was introduced, she brought some inspiring feminist energy to the show. She was just plain cool and it was great to see another character kicking butt as much as Buffy.

Did we know that she might have been in a spin-off featuring her character?

Spin-offs are often announced and then they never come to fruition, so it does make sense.

As Digital Spy says, "Eliza Dushku was offered the chance to star in a Faith-centric spinoff series after season seven of Buffy ended, but turned it down in order to do Tru Calling." It's interesting to hear that for sure.

9 Xander Struggled Behind-The-Scenes

According to Buzzfeed, Nicholas Brendan (Xander) used to stutter. Of course, we can see that he overcame this since he was able to play this well-known role.

When he was interviewed by Following the Nerd, he said, "I went to speech therapy and did tongue twisters like 'A big black bug bit a big black bear'. Then I started acting - I thought it would be a really big challenge… and it was. It was nerve-wracking, but it also helped me focus more and I learned discipline." He continued that speech therapists are great in this situation and said these inspiring words: "Believe in yourself and you'll get there."

8 The Show Almost Lost Buffy In Season 3

It's easy to assume that when an actress is the star of her own TV show, she would want it to go on forever and would never want to do anything else.

But that's not always the case, and sometimes actresses really want to move on.

According to Fame 10, Sarah Michelle Gellar was ready to move on from the show around season three:  "While Sarah Michelle Gellar was a consummate professional on the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, according to Alyson Hannigan, she was tired of being on the show by season three. She was making the transition from television to movies at the time, so the long hours, which were mostly filmed at night, really began to wear on the young actress."

7 We Agree: SMG Thought Buffy Ended Up With The WRONG Guy

As E online reported, Sarah Michelle Gellar thought that Buffy should date Angel, not Spike.

This is a huge relief since many of us big fans think the exact same thing. There is just something so special about this relationship, don't we think? Sure, there's a lot of drama between them since, you know, he's a vampire and she's a vampire slayer. Talk about star-crossed lovers who have a lot of problems. And yet… they are so sweet together. They just work. It's always heartbreaking to watch the episodes where they aren't a couple and to see the pain that they each feel.

6 Witchy Roles: This Actress Was A Witch In Another TV Part

Buffy fans are big fans of Willow, too. What did she do before taking on this role?

Thought Catalog says that Alyson Hannigan was a witch before she started her turn as Willow: "Before appearing in Buffy, Alyson Hannigan got her start on television in the show Free Spirit - in which she also played a witch."

It's really cool to witness Willow's transformation.

When the series begins, she's a really shy and quiet girl who loves school and reading and learning, and any bookworms among us can relate to that. But then she becomes a witch and definitely becomes more confident and sure of herself, and that's awesome to see.

5 Dawn REALLY Wanted The Role, So She Did This…

Dawn is kind of a tricky character on this show because not everyone loves her, but we still can probably agree that she's an integral part of the storyline. As Buffy's younger sister, she's the "key" and, therefore, an important aspect of this magical world.

How did Michelle Trachtenberg get cast as Dawn? It's a cool story and it's one that we haven't heard before. According to Buzzfeed, "And Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Dawn, wanted to be part of the show so badly she wrote a pitch to Joss Whedon explaining how exactly she'd fit in." That's so awesome. Maybe this will inspire us to go after our own goals?!

4 Buffy And Her Creator Didn't See Eye To Eye

When you're the star of your own TV show, we can imagine that you would feel a sense of ownership. And when you're the creator and showrunner of said TV show, well, we can imagine that you would feel the same way. If we're wondering how Joss Whedon and SMG got along, the story is that it wasn't always that great between them.

As People reported, Joss Whedon and Sarah Michelle Gellar didn't get along super well, at least some of the time.

The Buffy showrunner once said in 2003, “There've been times that we didn't get along. There have been times when we've palled around. But no matter what, she was the other half of Buffy. In seven years, she never let me down.”

3 We Wish: Spike Almost Got A Spin Off Movie

Fans never want to let a beloved TV show go and that's why there is often so much talk about spin-offs and possible movies after the series finale has aired.

Some fans know that it will never be the same again and don't want more, and others never want to say goodbye so they would be happy with seeing the characters again.

We might know that before Buffy was a TV show, it was a 1992 movie with Kristy Swanson in the main role (and it was penned by Joss Whedon). But we might not know that another character might have gotten a spin-off movie after the TV show. Fame 10 reported that Spike almost got his own film.

2 It's Complicated: This Is How Sarah Michelle Gellar Felt About Buffy

Do we think that an actress is thrilled to be typecast as the TV character that they played for years… or do we think that they wish that people would see them as their own person? It's definitely tricky, but we can see how it could get frustrating to always be called that character name.

As Thought Catalog says, SMG wasn't the biggest fan of being called her character's name: "Gellar hated when fans referred to her as “Buffy,” afraid she would be pigeonholed as Buffy Summers forever (which pretty much happened). Despite that, Gellar says that she was always respectful of the show's fanbase and hoped she would be a role model to young women."

1 Series Finale: This Actress Was Told Before Everyone Else

If it's sad for fans when a TV show ends, we know that it's tough for the cast members as well. According to Mental Floss, Sarah Michelle Gellar discovered the show was going to be over before the others. She told Entertainment Weekly for a March 2003 cover story, "I love this job, I love the fans. I love telling the stories we tell. This isn't about leaving for… movies, or…   theater-it's more of a personal decision. I need a rest. Teachers get sabbaticals. Actors don't."

When the magazine was published, everyone else learned that the show was ending.

The website also quoted Alyson Hannigan, who was seriously disappointed the show was ending. We get super sad when we think about the fact that there are no more Buffy episodes… So maybe we should just keep watching the great seven seasons that we do have.