Faith spinoff

[Wesley Pryce]

So, what if there had been a Faith spin off. What do you think it would be like. Set up the series for me. Where is the show set? what is the major theme(s) of the Faith series? Who from Buffy and Angel would join as full time cast members? What would the tone of the series be? and how would Faith's villains usually present themselves(as metaphors,allegories, etc)? Have fun with this one 😀 🙂

 

[WillowTaraHolic]

I honestly have no idea what it would be like because of two reasons:

1. I have not seen all of Angel yet

2. I have not read any of the comics XD

 

[chasesummers]

First of all, there is no reason why Faith TVS shouldn't still be an opportunity. Eliza looks more mature but still very fine as Faith, this is also the case with Sarah, Alyson and so forth in case there are guest appearances.

I feel that Faith is a solitary person but it would be too heavy on her if the show was solely on her and it would get a little boring probably. A new cast member or two would work well, I don't think anyone but Angel from the original cast would stick around Faith so much although it would be nice.

Angel and Faith would be fantastic, they have a wicked friendship. This would open up loads of doors for old cast members like Buffy, Willow and Cordelia as a guide to Angel. Somehow I get the feeling that David wouldn't be so committed to re-enter the Buffyverse with a whole season ahead, I have no doubt Eliza would be up for it though.

Such a shame things turned out the way they did with this project.

 

[Blaze]

If we ever get a Faith spin off (one can dream right), I think it would work best as Faith and one other character. A show with a big group wouldn't be very Faith like, and it would feel too similar to BtVS and AtS. Another issue for me is that Faith has the best chemistry with Angel and with Buffy, and well both of these two already had a show of their own. So my pick would be for a Giles and Faith spin off. Heck, combine the idea of the Ripper and FtVS together, and used flash backs to show Giles' past.

As for themes, I would hypothetically like for this to be darker than BtVS. If were talking about Faith and Giles, you know there's lot of room for dark stories. I see this series being closer to AtS in the sense that there would be more grey areas, I'd like for this to deal with the idea of good and evil and everything inbetween. This was touched a bit on AtS, but we still knew who the good guys were and who the bad guys were. With FtVS, I would like to see something where there are less defined sides to the fight.

Location, I almost would like them travelling, since this hasn't been done with either Angel or BtVS. I'd like for the show to be mostly situated in England though, I think that would give a great unique background compared to the AtS or BtVS.

Of course, the other possibilities that has been discussed not to long ago would have been to replace s6-7 of BtVS with FtVS. I think that could have also worked well, but essentially we could have kept the same overall storylines.

 

[white avenger]

The Faith spinoff, as I recall, would have had Faith traveling all over the U S, maybe on a motorcycle or something, sort of doing the traditional Vampire Slayer search & destroy thing, with a new supporting cast each week, something like Carradine in "Kung Fu." Eliza didn't want to do any more Faith at that time, so she opted for "Tru Calling" instead.

The subject comes up every now and then, and she always says how much she loved playing Faith, and how much she enjoys working with Joss and his team, but I think that it's just Eliza not wanting to burn her bridges, pretty much the same as when David said that he would reprise Angel only if it were in a movie.

 

[Fuffy Baith]

I imagine Faith being like a female Dean Winchester. It could be Faith and Spike traveling the country. Faith trying to find her path to redemption and Spike having to figure out what having a soul means to him. Spike and Faith have great chemistry so I think they could work well together. I'm not sure about the theme but it would be darker like Angel.

@ChaseSummers: I agree that Eliza could still do it if she wanted to. She's gotten a little too skinny lately, but if she bulked up she could still be Faith. I think she said that she would reprise the role only if Joss was in control and it was a really good script. One reason she turned down FtVS is because Joss wasn't going to be involved a lot. We can still hope though.

 

[thetopher]

The way 'Faith The Vampire Slayer' was envisioned was as Faith on a motorcycle travelling the world and trying to find her place in it.

Like 'Kung Fu', or 'Supernatural' meets Jack Reacher. 🙂

It's a nice idea and would've marked the show as different from 'Buffy' or 'Angel'.

Themes: Well, Redemption obviously, making peace with past actions/mistakes.
But not just that, I think the main themes would've been:

Home/Family (Faith is pretty much a loner, has never really had any family, yet she needs that in her life- and actually wants it. I imagine her seeing/interacting with other 'families'- like the people she saves, and searching for something like that herself.)

Relationships (This would link into the above, but more romantically. Faith has never been in a relationship- a grown up one- with the whole romance/closeness aspect. Learning to open up to somebody else should be a big theme for her, and it shouldn't take a five minute scene with Wood to make it happen. 🙂rolleyes🙂 It should be something much more meaningful.)

A Place In The World (Faith was there when the world was changed, but she really didn't have a part to play in the bigger picture, no big idea, no spells, no amulet. How does she fit in to this new world full of girls who are, basically, just like her?)

Searching For Angel (This would be a 'S2' theme, after 'Not Fade Away' on 'Angel', because if there's one person Faith would go to the ends the the earth for, it would be Angel. Finding out what happened to him, saving him from the macinations of W&H would have a nice 'quest-like' aspect we wouldn't have seen on the show before.

Lastly, what makes Faith special? We've had Buffy who broke the rules, we've had Angel, the vampire with a soul. But Faith?
She's always been the other slayer, the screw-up, the one who went off the rails. So, what makes her more than that now? What makes her unique and seperate from Buffy and the hundreds of other girls in the world. If the world is full of slayers then Faith will have to define herself as someone other than just 'the bad ass slayer'

Characters: Faith and two others to start with (like Angel season 1), with a few guest stars over the weeks (again similar to Angel S1) like Xander or Willow.

Since Spike is on Angel Season 5- hes out. (Plus, chemistry aside, the whole vampire/slayer dynamic had been done to death.)

Faith, Giles and Dawn probably.

Giles has been explained earlier by @Blaze.

And I always liked the way the writers were taking Dawn in S7, having her balanced between 'normal girl' and competent fighter. She would've fitted in with some of the above themes quite well (finding her place in the world while her sister was busy running slayer central, plus the romance/who are you aspects). Plus Michelle Trachtenberg really wanted to continue playing the character, and it would've been fun to see her grow up away from her sister.
(In the S8 comics Dawn is pretty much back to being a wasted character- suddenly wanting to be a 'normal girl' who goes to college, and who doesn't really want anything to do with supernatural stuff in S9)

Later on they could pick up maybe one other male character- probably a newbie (funny, Xander-like) who they could explain things too. Possible romantic interest, not sure about that.
Or maybe Conner or Gunn, coming over from Angel, could've been fun to see. Would've led to a bunch of Faith/Gunn or Dawn/Conner fic for sure. 🙂

Also of course Wood goes and gets brutally murdered in the first episode of FtVS. Either that or Faith tells him to go take a running jump, gotta undo that whole thing first, before we get to the show proper. 🙂

 

[Silverspike]

Oh lord, If I remember correctly after season 7 finished the original idea banded about for this was to have Faith riding around the country fighting the good fight with 'Ghost Spike' as her companion and sort of watcher.

I remember when word got out in certain circles many Spike fans weren't very happy about Spike being stuck as a ghost. So you can imagine how they felt when AtS season 5 came along. lol

 

[Blaze]

@thetopher brought up a few good points. I'd love for Dawn to be involved. Not sure how they'd explain that since I'm sure Buffy would not be thrilled that the only two family members she truly got are out travelling the world with Faith, but it'd be an interesting storyline. It would also be a chance to make people really like Dawn (I think they did a good job with her in s7, they could have done so much with her character with more time).

But about relationships, I might be the only one here, but if FtVS was a thing I would want Faith to ride solo. I wouldn't want the show to be about relationships since those were extensively covered in BtVS/AtS. And it'd be nice to see a slayer embracing the fact that she's not suppose to be with someone. Supernatural comes to mind, there's very few actual relationships on the show, they focus more on the brother stuff. I would want FtVS to be more along that line. But I do love the family theme, I think that would be more important then Faith having a boyfriend or a girlfriend.

On the other side I kind of understand that it'd be a big and important step for Faith to trust someone romantically, but shows always glorifies being in a relationship. Why is it never okay to be alone and be happy about itl. The only issue would be that considering Faith's past and how she uses people, they would have to find a way to show that she's changed and that she can trust someone on an intimate level.

 

[BuffyElevated]

A Faith spinoff would have been epic. Out of all the roles she's had, Faith was the best for Eliza Dushku, I think. She owned that character.
I think it would have been cool to see her go to Cleveland, to the Hellmouth that Giles mentioned. However, since she wasn't close to the other characters of the show, I don't really see any of them being regulars. A couple of guest spots here and there would work, but I don't see any of them coming on full-time, except maybe Giles.

 

[The Bronze]

Hmm a few interesting ideas kicking around here. For me the most interesting thing about a Faith spin off would be looking at Faith herself past, present and future. We've seen Faith fight the good fight and be part of saving the world but we've also seen her torture, rape and murder people. So flashbacks would be good, to see some of her troubled past. The series would need to explore what if anything has changed and makes Faith different now. Has there been a fundamental change or would one little event send her back into a sadistic mood?

So for me it would have to be quite a dark show. I'd say for the character it would make more sense to start off with just Faith alone and maybe build up a supporting cast along the way. I'm not so sure it would be the best move for entertainment value but that's why I'd have the option of adding cast along the way.

 

[thetopher]

@thetopher brought up a few good points. I'd love for Dawn to be involved. Not sure how they'd explain that since I'm sure Buffy would not be thrilled that the only two family members she truly got are out travelling the world with Faith, but it'd be an interesting storyline. It would also be a chance to make people really like Dawn (I think they did a good job with her in s7, they could have done so much with her character with more time).

But about relationships, I might be the only one here, but if FtVS was a thing I would want Faith to ride solo. I wouldn't want the show to be about relationships since those were extensively covered in BtVS/AtS. And it'd be nice to see a slayer embracing the fact that she's not suppose to be with someone. Supernatural comes to mind, there's very few actual relationships on the show, they focus more on the brother stuff. I would want FtVS to be more along that line. But I do love the family theme, I think that would be more important then Faith having a boyfriend or a girlfriend.

On the other side I kind of understand that it'd be a big and important step for Faith to trust someone romantically, but shows always glorifies being in a relationship. Why is it never okay to be alone and be happy about itl. The only issue would be that considering Faith's past and how she uses people, they would have to find a way to show that she's changed and that she can trust someone on an intimate level.

I see your point, not everybody needs somebody. Some people are fine being loners.

But it's already being established that Faith (althought a self-described loner) was envious of Buffy's friends, her relationship with a (relatively) stable boyfriend.- I think it would've been nice to see her develop those relationships for herself.

I always thought, if the big thing with Buffy was sex (sex= bad!), then the thing with Faith should be relationships (relationships are painful, risky things), or at least struggling to develop one- to let somebody in past all that 'tough gal' front.

I think it would've been different enough from Buffy's experiences and Angel's 'curse' to be interesting enough to watch. 🙂

But I get that's just my personal wish- to see Faith making out with more people. 😀

And I don't really see FtVS as a big ensemble cast either, maybe Faith and two, maybe three other characters (just enough so that Eliza has somebody to vibe with.) and making more room for the guest star of the week.