Gunn was mandated by the Network

[Btvs fan]

Saw on YouTube stream about the Witcher game and they were talking about J Augustus Richards and that he had said Gunn was mandated by the network for the Angel show.
That's news to me though given Joss outlook it makes sense that he was forced into putting Gunn in

 

[nightshade]

Was J on the stream, or was it more a someone said type of thing. Unless J himself said it, or someone else on the show, I don't think we can know if it is true.

However I hope that they did say, they don't want an all white casting for a show set in Los Angeles.

 

[thetopher]

News to me as well. Gunn felt very organically brought into the show.
At the start of the season Angel's city contact is a cop but by the end he has a street-smart/wise LA native to help him with his investigations.

I think it fitted with the direction the show was headed in anyway; Angel and his crew more and more operating under the radar of normal society and the police. Gunn feels like a perfect addition.

 

[Btvs fan]

News to me as well. Gunn felt very organically brought into the show.
At the start of the season Angel's city contact is a cop but by the end he has a street-smart/wise LA native to help him with his investigations.

I think it fitted with the direction the show was headed in anyway; Angel and his crew more and more operating under the radar of normal society and the police. Gunn feels like a perfect addition.

It was on a YouTube video about the Witcher 3 remaster and it was awhile back. I'll need to try and Google it

 

[garfan]

News to me as well. Gunn felt very organically brought into the show.
At the start of the season Angel's city contact is a cop but by the end he has a street-smart/wise LA native to help him with his investigations.

I think it fitted with the direction the show was headed in anyway; Angel and his crew more and more operating under the radar of normal society and the police. Gunn feels like a perfect addition.

personally, I think that's because the Buffyverse was majorly underdeveloped. There's room for a ton more in it.

 

[famicommander]

Both shows are absurdly white for being set in Southern California.

Main cast members:
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Nicholas Brendon
Alyson Hannigan
Charisma Carpenter
Anthony Stewart Head
David Boreanaz
Seth Green
James Marsters
Marc Blucas
Emma Caulfield
Michelle Trachtenberg
Amber Benson
Glenn Quinn
Alexis Denisof
J. August Richards
Amy Acker
Vincent Kartheiser
Andy Hallet
Mercedes McNab

19 main cast members across 12 seasons of 2 shows and only 1 isn't white.

 

[November]

I did assume they needed the token "black" character when he came on. All the horror type genres had one at the time. It was a running joke wasnt it? The pool of actors at that level was probably smaller than it is today.

Its always a bit confusing to me that black just refers to skin colour because we have lots of white skinned blackfellas here, but real life is not tv. TV has to have all the right shades to tick all the right boxes, I guess thats why they have a blonde, red head, grey and brunette in the core group too?

 

[fauxindigo]

Both shows are absurdly white for being set in Southern California.

Main cast members:
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Nicholas Brendon
Alyson Hannigan
Charisma Carpenter
Anthony Stewart Head
David Boreanaz
Seth Green
James Marsters
Marc Blucas
Emma Caulfield
Michelle Trachtenberg
Amber Benson
Glenn Quinn
Alexis Denisof
J. August Richards
Amy Acker
Vincent Kartheiser
Andy Hallet
Mercedes McNab

19 main cast members across 12 seasons of 2 shows and only 1 isn't white.

I believe gunn was mandated completely, since they were going for a more urban feel on Angel than Buffy.. and they were probably trying to make up for there being so few good black characters on Buffy.
I hate “the race card” but this is truly one flaw in Buffy I noticed too.. (even though Charisma isn’t really “white”). We can’t fault the writers totally because even though it took a season and a half, we got Kendra… but then she was terribly underused and not developed as a character much at all. Mr Trick, Platt and Forest in seasons 3&4 didn’t do much except make villains and victims of black male characters. Olivia was random and underused and we didn’t get more proper black characters until the last season of Buffy with Robin Wood and Rona who was not likable.
I don’t like when a character seems like a token or inorganic but Gunn makes a lot of sense in the Angel series as a main character seeing as Kendra was the first pseudo- scooby who wasn’t white. I hate that it’s even an issue but imagine if Xander was black.. at least we’d have some organic interracial relationships from the start of the series. I resent all the shows nowadays though that are obvious with the diversity quote hires.

 

[famicommander]

I believe it completely, since they were going for a more urban feel on Angel than Buffy.
I hate “the race card” but this is truly one flaw in Buffy I noticed too.. (even though Charisma isn’t really “white”). We can’t fault the writers totally because even though it took a season and a half, we got Kendra… but then she was terribly underused and not developed as a character much at all. Mr Trick, Platt and Forest in seasons 3&4 didn’t do much except make villains and victims of black male characters. Olivia was random and underused and we didn’t get more proper black characters until the last season of Buffy with Robin Wood and Rona who was not likable.
I don’t like when a character seems like a token or inorganic but Gunn makes a lot sense in the Angel series as a main character seeing as Kendra was the first pseudo- scooby who wasn’t white. I hate that it’s even an issue but imagine if Xander was black.. at least we’d have some organic interracial relationships from the start of the series. I resent all the shows nowadays though that are obvious with the diversity quote hires.

It's not just the lack of black characters. Southern California has a ton of Asians and Hispanics too.

 

[Kendar]

It's not just the lack of black characters. Southern California has a ton of Asians and Hispanics too.

Yeah, in 2000 California was 46.7% white (so a plurality, not a majority). Hispanics were second at 32.38%, and and Asians were third at 10.77%. So a majority of the state was non-white. Despite that, until Gunn came along non-whites only had reoccurring roles at best (Kendra, Trick, etc.).

 

[Plasma]

I did assume they needed the token "black" character when he came on. All the horror type genres had one at the time. It was a running joke wasnt it? The pool of actors at that level was probably smaller than it is today.

Still is, though less prevalent with the rise in popularity of films like Get Out.

Almost every horror movie geek knows the adage that the black character dies first every single time. (Even though quite a few films have them survive for some time, most notably Night of the Living Dead)

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

Wouldn't surprise me. 1999 was probably the nadir of black representation on television, with most of the Cosby's coattails finally running out, and most new shows being about hot young white Gen Xers. It's also close to an election year, and black activists are quite good at the game. Well, parts of it, anyways. Point is, Jesse Jackson and friends did write an open letter concerning representation on television, and the network ordering black casting seems like a reasonable action, all things considered.

But, was it Gunn 1.0 or Gunn Season 2 regular?

 

[DagonSphere]

I mean, have you guys seen all WB shows from the late 90s and early 2000s? Barely black characters in them, so I doubt that Gunn was mandated by the network. They couldn't care less at the time.

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

Yes, that's correct. The WB's primary advertising market was suburban white girls. Casting black talent did not advance their revenue, nor could black actresses be used for in show modeling. The only business reason to cast black actors was CYA. If Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton called for a WB boycott, advertisers may have gotten skittish. Hiring some black actors was the cost of doing business, an protection scheme, if you will. Now, there may be artistic or moral reasons for hiring and promoting black talent, but let's clear, a chat with Rev. Al didn't make their hearts grow three sizes.

I do think the character was hurt in the transition from urban warrior to another guy living in Angel's hotel, and that they really didn't have enough use for the character to justify full time status, kind of what happened with Lorne.

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

I hate “the race card” but this is truly one flaw in Buffy I noticed too.. (even though Charisma isn’t really “white”). We can’t fault the writers totally because even though it took a season and a half, we got Kendra… but then she was terribly underused and not developed as a character much at all. Mr Trick, Platt and Forest in seasons 3&4 didn’t do much except make villains and victims of black male characters.

Don't forget Jasmine, who is also a villain.

As for Gunn, I had not heard he was cast to meet a quota, but I wouldn't doubt it. Has J addressed this? I'm curious.

And perhaps this is for a different thread, but I'm curious what people think would or could have been different if Gunn had been white?

Post automatically merged: May 28, 2026

I do think the character was hurt in the transition from urban warrior to another guy living in Angel's hotel, and that they really didn't have enough use for the character to justify full time status, kind of what happened with Lorne.

Which is a real shame, because I think Gunn had an interesting backstory, and could have been developed so much more than he was.

In my head canon, he survives, and him and Anne get together and run the teen homeless shelter.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I've never heard this before, but I wouldn't be surprised at all. Both BTVS and Angel definitely needed more diversity in the casts. For shows set in southern California, I was always surprised there weren't more actors of color hired.