Amber Benson

[charmedones193]

Ive looked and I didnt see a thread about this,

Did you know that Amber Benson (Tara) was to return in Season 7 Twice.

Amber was to return to "Buffy" in the 7th season, (following Tara's death) playing a being posing as Tara Maclay. However, negotiations with the show fell through. Her decision not to return was at least in part because creator Joss Whedon wanted her to play a villain masquerading as her slain character, Tara. Knowing how Tara's death had upset so many of her fans, Amber did not want to further traumatize them by having the character seemingly return from the grave, but being evil. The character was retooled and the role went to Azura Skye reprising her role of Cassie Newton instead.

And Second

Joss Whedon originally wanted to resurrect Amber's character, Tara, in the series finale of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997). Buffy was to be given one wish, which she would agonize over for the entire episode. Finally, she would step aside to reveal Tara for the final shot.


1. How do you think Willow would have reacted
2. and Kennedy?

 

[The Chosen]

See, I get where Amber was coming from, about the Tara as the First thing, but I can't help but think that Tara/First would have made the First seem MUCH scarier/less of a "ooh, I'll taunt you with apparitions of dead mayors and girls who died of heart problems," and more haunt-you-to-the-core.

Dunno if that made sense...

 

[LizzieRainbow]

I have heard about the second time and i thought that that one would have been a good idea.
I remeber back when season seven was first aired and i was watching conversations with dead people, shempy told me that cassie was only brought back to see willow because there were contract problems for Amber Benson.

I can understand why she did not want to come back due upsetting the fans, i think it would have upset me to see Tara as evil, she was always sweet and i really would not like to see her in any other way than as what she was 🙂

 

[Black Eye Guy]

The first one would ave been so cool. But people would have went crazy, remember all those people that were mad Joss had killed the Gay character, can you imagine what they'd say if he brought the the ay character back as evil!

 

[Clem Rocks]

The first one would ave been so cool. But people would have went crazy, remember all those people that were mad Joss had killed the Gay character, can you imagine what they'd say if he brought the the ay character back as evil!

He could have brought her back as evil and straight...

Think maybe the idea of turning the shy quiet one evil was recycled into Illyria?

 

[Perny]

Answer to 1 and 2:

Willow shoves Kennedy down the stairs, and cries joyfully when she and Tara hugs

 

[Revolver]

And Second

Joss Whedon originally wanted to resurrect Amber's character, Tara, in the series finale of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997). Buffy was to be given one wish, which she would agonize over for the entire episode. Finally, she would step aside to reveal Tara for the final shot.

I'd heard this mentioned before, but not as the series finale. That would have been awful if the entire episode had been Buffy agonizing over a wish and just ended with Tara coming back. I'm sure shippers would have loved it, but Willow and Tara's relationship wasn't the focus of the series. That would have been a terribly disappointing final episode.

 

[Tueuse de Vampires]

About Kennedy: As far as I've heard, if he had gone through with it, Joss wouldn't have teamed Willow up with Kennedy. It really makes sense, getting Tara back would've been way more powerful if Willow was asulking all alone rather than already having a new girlfriend.

Tara and the First would've been really cool. On the same note, so would Halfrek have been (she was planned to talk to Anya, but the actress was busy). CwDP is one of my favourite episodes, but if you ask me it could've been even stronger if you had had more meaningful characters on some part, ergo Tara and Halfrek. It's just like with Dawn and the whole Joyce thing...the characters could've been played by the First a lot harder.
And on that note, Tara as the gay character oming back as evil wouldn't have sounded very convincing...after all, she wouldn't have been the only character to come back personified as the First.

It's a bit off-topic, but I really feel like saying this...I especially would've loved to see Halfrek return in this episode. It would've shown that Anya was also part of the group, that she had really chosen her side (which was sorta made a big deal of in Selfless). The way the episode was made kinda created a bit of an in-crowd...Buffy, Willow and Spike matter because they are the ones with power, Dawn is important because she's the key (pun intended, haha) to Buffy, and Xander and Anya....wait a minute, who were they again?

 

[Willow-Tree]

Yeah, we've known about these for a while.

I definitely think Amber should have returned for both episodes.

 

[EWR]

Hey guys I'm literally posting an answer based on a question anothe forum posed to her. She agreed to answer 20 of our BTVS questions;

In terms of season 7;
There was a plot that Buffy would be granted one wish and wished Tara back to life. In Conversations With Dead People, Tara was supposed to come and talk to Willow as the First, instead of Cassie.

the long and the short of it is that AB was getting ready to got to the UK to work on The Ghosts of Albion and they couldn't sort out details.

Hope this helps! 😀

 

[Kean]

I'd heard this mentioned before, but not as the series finale. That would have been awful if the entire episode had been Buffy agonizing over a wish and just ended with Tara coming back. I'm sure shippers would have loved it, but Willow and Tara's relationship wasn't the focus of the series. That would have been a terribly disappointing final episode.

The way it was supposed to go down was that 2 or 3 episodes from the end Buffy was to be granted one wish. She was to spend the episode thinking what she wanted more than anything. She thought of bringing her mother back, of being with Angel again but eventually she decided to bring Tara back for Willow. I think the reveal was supposed to be like Buffy walking into her living room and Willow asks her what she decided on and Buffy tells she has been thinking about it really hard, had nearly decided on these amazing boots she saw at the mall, at this point Willow cuts in with "You used your wish to get boots!!" and Buffy gives this little smirk and says "I nearly did" and then steps aside for Tara to come in. Queue reunion /resurrection make up smoochies as Buffy turns with a satisfied smile on her face.

There was a thread awhile back where we had the link to the source for that but I can't remember the thread name. Maybe TK "The Thread Collector" will be able to find it for us lol

 

[BuffyElevated]

I had heard about the second one before, and the idea of Tara as the First has been discussed before. I, personally, thought it would have been much more effective if Tara had come back as The First. Cassie Newton was in one episode, and she didn't mean that much to anyone (sorry, but she didn't although we did see the Scoobies mourning her death more than Jesse's in "Welcome To The Hellmouth"), so why the hell the writers brought her back to taunt Willow I have no clue. Hell, even Jenny Calendar would have been a better choice to talk to her I think...

 

[Revolver]

The way it was supposed to go down was that 2 or 3 episodes from the end Buffy was to be granted one wish. She was to spend the episode thinking what she wanted more than anything. She thought of bringing her mother back, of being with Angel again but eventually she decided to bring Tara back for Willow. I think the reveal was supposed to be like Buffy walking into her living room and Willow asks her what she decided on and Buffy tells she has been thinking about it really hard, had nearly decided on these amazing boots she saw at the mall, at this point Willow cuts in with "You used your wish to get boots!!" and Buffy gives this little smirk and says "I nearly did" and then steps aside for Tara to come in. Queue reunion /resurrection make up smoochies as Buffy turns with a satisfied smile on her face.

There was a thread awhile back where we had the link to the source for that but I can't remember the thread name. Maybe TK "The Thread Collector" will be able to find it for us lol

Yeah, I commented in that thread earlier. It was just the comment in this thread that it was supposed to be the series finale that surprised me. Frankly though, even if it wasn't going to be the series finale, I'm really glad they didn't go that route. It just seems too contrived.

---------- Post added at 01:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:36 PM ----------

Hell, even Jenny Calendar would have been a better choice to talk to her I think...

I don't think they'd have been able to talk Robia LaMorte into coming back as The First by that point. She became a born-again Christian shortly after leaving the show, and I guess was really upset that they made her the equivalent of Satan when they had her guest star in season 3 so I doubt she'd have agreed to do it again.

 

[Kean]

Yeah, I commented in that thread earlier. It was just the comment in this thread that it was supposed to be the series finale that surprised me. Frankly though, even if it wasn't going to be the series finale, I'm really glad they didn't go that route. It just seems too contrived.

I agree, I for one don't think Willow deserved to get Tara back after what she did. Plus, after Buffy had been pulled from Heaven I really couldn't see her doing that to Tara. It just wouldn't have made sense.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I agree, I for one don't think Willow deserved to get Tara back after what she did. Plus, after Buffy had been pulled from Heaven I really couldn't see her doing that to Tara. It just wouldn't have made sense.

I totally agree... By Willow doing what she did to Warren, it darkened her to the point that I don't even know if Tara DID come back if she'd be able to live with that. If she couldn't stay with her when she was an addict, could she stay with her if she knew she was a murderer??
As far as Buffy goes, I think you're right about that, too. She knew what it was like to be torn out of Heaven. Why would she want to make Tara- or anyone else, for that matter- go through that kind of pain?

 

[Kean]

I totally agree... By Willow doing what she did to Warren, it darkened her to the point that I don't even know if Tara DID come back if she'd be able to live with that. If she couldn't stay with her when she was an addict, could she stay with her if she knew she was a murderer??
As far as Buffy goes, I think you're right about that, too. She knew what it was like to be torn out of Heaven. Why would she want to make Tara- or anyone else, for that matter- go through that kind of pain?

Exactly, that's why I think this episode never really would have worked. I don't think she would have brought her mother back for the same reasons as Tara and as much as I would love to see them back together I don't think Buffy would ever actually wish Angel to be with her. It would basically be the same as Willow's I will-it-so spell. I just can't see Bufyy messing with people's lives like that, no matter how happy it would make her.

 

[Revolver]

Well, and we've seen what kind of consequences both wishes and magic can have in general on Buffy too.

 

[charmedones193]

Hey guys I'm literally posting an answer based on a question anothe forum posed to her. She agreed to answer 20 of our BTVS questions;

In terms of season 7;
There was a plot that Buffy would be granted one wish and wished Tara back to life. In Conversations With Dead People, Tara was supposed to come and talk to Willow as the First, instead of Cassie.

the long and the short of it is that AB was getting ready to got to the UK to work on The Ghosts of Albion and they couldn't sort out details.

Hope this helps! 😀

I wish she did come back. I liked her with Willow the Kennedy

 

[Grami]

I love Tara but bringing her back with a wish is so 'Charmed'!!
It just wouldn't have felt Buffy to me and it would've made everything the characters had gone through at the end of season six very pointless.

As for the first, I so think Amber should've played that. I mean the girl who played Cassie was creepy enough in that part but I think Tara would've been brilliant. Can you imagine her using her innocent, shy nature to be evil and manipulative? Would've sent chills down my spine!

I know it would've been difficult to get a lot of actors in but I always felt that the people the first 'appeared' as could've been a lot more varied and a lot harsher. It was really tame for the supposed creator of all evil.

 

[Anya2012]

I would have loved to see Kennedy's face if Tara had been resurrected. Willow would choose Tara over that B**** any day.

But why choose Tara? I would have thought Buffy would choose her mom.