Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel: 15 Things We Learned from Amy Acker and Emma Caulfield at Wizard World Chicago

Long before there was anything called the Arrowverse, there was a little show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The popularity of this show was too big to be contained in a single script, therefore, giving birth to the spinoff, Angel. Together they rocked the small screen with butt-kicking females, side-swapping vampires, and just enough humor to keep everyone in check.

Like all good things, these two shows eventually came to an end, leaving a small void in the hearts of fans everywhere. Of course, that doesn’t mean the actors on these shows faded into obscurity.

Instead, the dedicated fans watched, followed, and even stalked the actors they had grown to love over the years. Fans helped their careers grow to new heights, making these new shows just as big of a deal as their old ones.

That is why stars like Emma Caulfield and Amy Acker come to conventions all over the world. They want to thank the fans for their loyal support on this madcap, roller-coaster ride of fame. And that is exactly what they did this year at Wizard World Chicago.

So without much further ado, here are 15 things we learned about Emma Caulfield and Amy Acker at Wizard World Chicago!

1. Fred’s Return

On Angel, when Fred was turned into Illyria, fans were equally excited and mortified. It was a very interesting story arc that could have gone nearly anywhere. When the show was canceled prematurely, things ended up a bit different than many people wanted it to, even Amy Acker herself.

“The plan was originally that I was going to be Illyria for three episodes, and then they were going to bring Fred back. After the first episode, we found out we were canceled, so there were only about five episodes left,” Acker said. 

It would have been nice to say goodbye to Fred along with the rest of the cast, but it didn’t appear to be in the cards. 

2. Anya’s Death

Anya’s death on Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a big shock to all the long-time viewers. Many things have been said about how Emma Caulfield felt about her character’s untimely death — and the real answer may surprise you.

“I asked Joss to kill Anya. It was a pretty sure thing that we weren’t going to go past Season 7, but there was an opportunity that we could. During that period I let them know I was ready to move on to something else, whatever that may be,” Caulfield explained.

“I was all for it. I thought that would be a poetic way to have her end — sacrificing herself for people she could never understand,” she concluded.

Well, there you have it. I guess it is time to stop throwing hexes at Joss Whedon.

3. Favorite Roles

Besides playing Fred on Angel, Amy Acker has been seen in several roles crossing multiple genres. She has ranged from a villain-to-good guy and mother-to-spy. Every time she shows up on the screen, you never know what her role will be — but you do know it will be well-performed.

Like me, the actress has a difficult time deciding which one of her roles has been her favorite. “I like the characters that have a switch. Where you think they are one way, and they become the other. I have a hard time choosing between Fred and Illyria,” Amy Acker informed the audience.

Alluding to Person of Interest, Acker added, “The same thing with Root. I feel like she is a hero, but a lot of people thought she was not-so-nice in the beginning. It’s always nice when you get to shoot people with two guns — it’s always a win.”

It is an impossible argument to make because you know once you decide on one role, she will pop up someplace new and blow you away. Yes, the pun is intended.

4. Once More, With Feeling

The musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is typically in most diehard fan’s top ten favorite episodes. The unexpected hilarity of the entire episode can win nearly anyone over.

It turns out the stars of the show enjoyed making it just as much as we enjoyed watching it. “It was fun — we were all nervous,” Caulfield said.

“I was in high school musicals, and I’d sing in the shower, but no one is the better for that. I was like, ‘I don’t think this is going to work out’, but it did,” Emma Caulfield related to the fans.

“We had weeks of choreography, voice, and all the different types of rehearsals. I felt like it rejuvenated all of us. We took this shot of adrenaline that everybody needed,” she continued.

“It was nice to see everybody come together, and see your co-workers in a new light that you haven’t seen them in before,” she recalled.

5. Sword Fighting 

Although Amy Acker didn’t have superpowers on The Gifted, that didn’t mean she wouldn’t go to great lengths to protect her children. Awhile before the show was canceled, Acker had to learn a new skill set that she never got to put into play.

“Between Seasons 1 and 2, I got a call telling me that they thought I should do some sword training. I googled where to go sword training and took the lessons. I just kept waiting for that to happen and it never did,” she said with a tone of disappointment. “I don’t know if it was some sort of joke or something.”

She did enough butt-kicking without the added swordplay to up the ante. I’m not saying it wouldn’t have been cool though.

6. Practical Jokes

It seems on every set of every show there is a hidden prankster behind the scenes.

This proved to be true on the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer with actress Alyson Hannigan. “Alyson liked to play practical jokes a lot. They were really funny when they didn’t happen to you,” Emma Caulfield reminisced. 

“It was my birthday and I was turning 26, and she thought it would be so funny if everyone thought I was turning 30. She went and got big banners, and she had them planted all over. Even the cake said, ‘Happy 30th Birthday’, she laughed.

“She had baskets full of Depends and hemorrhoid creams. I’m like, ‘I’m not turning 30,’ and everyone is like, ‘okay’,” she divulged.

“I’m not even sure if they believed me months after. She had a really good laugh at that one. It is funny in retrospect.”

7. Getting in Trouble

It is clear to see that the cast of Angel was a tightly-knit group on and off stage. The problem with that is sometimes inside jokes come to the surface during a scene, causing everyone to break out into fits of laughter. As you can imagine, these things can negatively affect a tight schedule.

“We got in trouble a lot because of Andy being so funny. I remember one day that he had to say some words, something goldmine. The way he said goldmine got us giggling,” Acker said.

“They told us to stop laughing, and an hour later we were still laughing at one word. By the end of it — 3 hours later — we were all very tired. People were yelling at us, and it just kept getting funnier,” Amy Acker chuckled. 

8. Beverly Hills 90210

Emma Caulfield may be largely known for her role as Anya on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but that isn’t where she got her start.

You may also recognize her from the set of the original Beverly Hills 90210. “It was pretty much my first job. I was very green,” she said about the experience.

Shyly she admitted, “I was totally enamored with Jason Priestly — he is just an angel. It was awesome, the guys were really nice. I loved working with Jason.”

I’m sure she wasn’t the only girl in America who was crushing hard on Jason Priestly at that time.

9. Person of Interest

After parting ways with the cast of Angel, Amy Acker happened upon a very different kind of adventure. Person of Interest was nowhere near the same universe that Angel took place in, but Acker still fit the role perfectly.

“One of my favorite parts of Person of Interest was how scary it was in a sense. It felt like you got a present every time you got a script  —such great writers. The way they would tie things back in from different seasons — it was like they planned it,” Acker remembered.

Actors can only go so far with what they are given. Lucky for her, the writers gave her a lot to work with.

10. Tom Lenk

Although everyone seemed to be friends on the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, not everyone got as much screentime with their favorite castmates as they wanted too. This was the case with Emma Caulfield and Tom Lenk.

 “I always loved when I got to work with Tom. We never really got too many scenes to work together. We are friends, and he is just one of the funniest people alive,” she said of her castmate.

11. Makeup

Getting your makeup done can be tiresome in and of itself. Becoming half-demon on the set of Angel is a whole other story.

“It was about two and a half hours. Initially, we just spray painted my hair blue — but it never came out. We had a white couch at the time and it became a sky blue couch,” Acker said on becoming Illyria. 

“I thought I could dye my hair, but then I found out we were canceled the day before that,” Acker continued.

12. Getting the Creeps

Oftentimes while watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it was easy to get a little frightened. With vampires, werewolves, and demons roaming around, who wouldn’t be? Apparently, Emma Caulfield wasn’t.

“I never got creeped out because everything is kind of dispelled pretty quickly. You know the people, and you are cracking jokes. It’s not real in that way,” she told us. 

However, she did understand it from the viewer’s standpoint. “Not shooting it, but watching it was pretty intense,” she admitted.  

13. Smile Time

One of the wackiest episodes of Angel has got to be Season 5 Episode 14 “Smile Time.” Seeing the main star in full-on puppet mode was a trip. 

“Who wouldn’t want to be a puppet?” Amy Acker asked the crowd. “It was a really fun episode.”

“The guys from Jim Henson did all the voices. They would be under the table, and Angel would be doing his lines. When they would say cut, the puppets would talk really dirty,” she confessed. 

It sounds like a preview for The Happytime Murders!

14. Silence

Back in the day, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 4 Episode 10 “Hush,” caused quite a stir. The thought of complete silence freaks some people out, but not Emma Caulfield.

“I’m a big fan of just letting everything be very quiet. Just how uncomfortable you are, especially when you become aware of the fact,” she said. “When you breathe, and it’s super loud.”

15. Billy

Angel Season 3 Episode 6, “Billy,”  was a standout episode when it came to being spooky. Part of that may have had something to do with where they filmed it.

“We shot it in this old hotel that they were tearing down the next week. There were all these haunted stories about it. It kind of had the feeling of the episode already. We always shot at night so we were always there late in the morning,” Amy Acker said. 

Maybe they saved on some special effects by letting some real ghosts on set.

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