If Nathan Fillion Had Played Angel...

[MistressPointy]

IMDB tells us in the trivia for BtVS that Nathan Fillion (Captain Malcolm Reynolds - Firefly) originally auditioned for the role of Angel, but was eventually cast as Caleb instead. I know a lot of people (myself included) were sort of anti-Angel in BtVS (warmed up to him in Angel, when he arguably became a different character). My question is, do you think we would have hated Angel less (or liked him more, whichever you relate to) *in Buffy* (Angel, the series, aside) if he were played by Nathan Fillion instead? And for you Browncoats out there, had Nathan Fillion previously played Angel, do you think that would have affected your opinion of Malcolm Reynolds?

Feed the birds.

 

[NY State of Mind]

I'm too used to David already...

 

[Buffy Summers]

I liked David better on Buffy, and didn't like Nathan as Caleb, so probably not 😉

 

[Kelsey]

Hmmm. I haven't done a proper rewatch of the early seasons of Buffy in a very long time, so I only vaguely remember him. However, Angel was written as a sort of sidekick/love interest on BtVS, and he probably wouldn't have had much chance of expanding on that no matter who played him. Technically, I think Nathan Fillion is the better actor. Boreanaz is perfectly fine and has good comedic timing, but developing characters isn't his forte in my opinion. Therefore, Fillion could have possibly done more on that front.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I love David as Angel. He owned that role from the very beginning. I blame his awkwardness, as is sometimes cited by fans, on the writers and the directing he was given. In the first season, they didn't really know what they were gonna do with Angel, and I don't think they intended him to become such a fan favorite.
I personally LOVED Nathan as Caleb. If anyone else had played that role I don't know if I would have been able to like the character as much.
So no, I don't think I would have loved either character as much if their roles had been reversed.

 

[white avenger]

I think that Nathan would have created a totally different, quite possibly more interesting, Angel/Angelus. The image of Angelus, fresh from losing his soul in bed with Buffy, telling Spike and Dre, "I'm aimin' to misbehave," would have brought new depth to the character. Or that line from the opening titles of "Castle," with Nathan/Angel telling Buffy, "I would be happy to let you spank me." Heck, I might've been a Bangel if he'd gotten the role.

 

[charmedones193]

I Like David Better As Angel, I Couldn't See Nathan Fillion As Angel.

 

[MistressPointy]

I think that Nathan would have created a totally different, quite possibly more interesting, Angel/Angelus. The image of Angelus, fresh from losing his soul in bed with Buffy, telling Spike and Dre, "I'm aimin' to misbehave," would have brought new depth to the character. Or that line from the opening titles of "Castle," with Nathan/Angel telling Buffy, "I would be happy to let you spank me." Heck, I might've been a Bangel if he'd gotten the role.

My husband and I love your post! :-D To be fair, the way you describe Fillion as Angel is the reason I'm a Spuffy fan. The Fillion quotes you gave are definitely Spike lines! 😛

 

[Buffy Summers]

Yeah, but Angel isn't supposed to be Spike...

 

[MistressPointy]

No, he's not supposed to be Spike. And I'm glad he wasn't. Spike is awesome, but made far more awesome by comparison. :-D

I myself have a hard time seeing Fillion as Angel. Not that I don't think he could have done as well (or better). I just wanted to know what you guys thought. 😛 I think no matter who played Angel, he would have been equally hated by the Angel haters because that's just how Joss wrote him, broody and depress-o. That's another reason I'm glad he wasn't played by Nathan; I would have hated hating Captain Mal. 😛

 

[ILLYRIAN]

Nathan as Angel, he could have done that role. But he was so much better as Caleb, I can't imagine David wearing a dog collar, and Nathan was in Dracula 2001 as a priest.

Is there anyone who would prefer to see THAT scene in Trash with David as captain Mal?

 

[GrrArghx]

I love Nathan as Caleb. & I love DB as Angel. Soo no, lol.

And anyways, I liked Angel on Buffy, too. 🙂 I never found him boring at all.

His S1 persona of being mystery man, I loved.
S2 we got Angelus.
& S3 we see more of the Angel we get to know through AtS.

As for Caleb, I couldn't imagine anyone else in the role. Nathan was awesome.

 

[Marisa]

I liked Angel on Buffy and his show and I personally think that David was best to play him.

 

[white avenger]

Just to put some perspective on this, I honestly have no trouble whatsoever accepting Nathan as Angel, even if he played the role fairly close to David's interpretation of the character, but, David Boreanaz as Rick Castle? Inconceivable!

 

[Black Eye Guy]

I don't think Nathan could have been Angel, all the roles I've seen Nathan do have had a funny twist to them, which is because he's a very funny guy.

If you've ever seen an interview with David he's actually very similar to Nathan, very funny, but angel only has brief moment of comedy, and allot of the time Angel has to be broody and David pulls that off perfectly!

Maybe Nathan could have, but I've never seen him in a serious role.

 

[TheGrandmaster]

I liked David as Angel. I thought Nathan Fillion did a great job with Caleb. I would be interested to see Fillion's take on Angelus, but I don't think he could do as well as Boreanez...

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

I don't see that being a good thing. I don't think Sarah and Nathan would have good chemistry on screen, not the like Sarah and David had. For me, Sarah with David and Ryan Phillipe has the best chemistry, although I don't think Ryan would be good for Angel. And I just don't see Nathan brooding that good.

 

[Kelsey]

I don't think Nathan could have been Angel, all the roles I've seen Nathan do have had a funny twist to them, which is because he's a very funny guy.

If you've ever seen an interview with David he's actually very similar to Nathan, very funny, but angel only has brief moment of comedy, and allot of the time Angel has to be broody and David pulls that off perfectly!

Maybe Nathan could have, but I've never seen him in a serious role.

True, Angel is definitely broody. I think on terms of emotional damage, though, he and Mal are probably about equal. Mal carried so much baggage around with him; he just used humor rather than broodiness. Angel's comedic moments are underrated though! He can be very funny.

 

[MinwaraYana]

Nathan's got his 'daddy like' face so I don't think he can play Angel. But who knows if he got to play Angel, we'd see another version of Angel while the storylines were still the same. I guess Nathan's Angelus would be similar to Caleb(But I prefer David's Angelus). 😉

 

[Faith]

Having just said in another thread how I feel Nathan is a better male lead than David, I do have to say that for me he would be all wrong as Angel. Angel is the one thing that David did right and had some depth and sense of character. For the same reason I don't think anyone else could be Spike (even though I don't like James) I think that he (David) brought something to the table and created the character in a way that no one else could.