In Angel S5, who is the second male lead?

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Robb Stark

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Spike or Wesley? I was rewatching a few episodes of S5 today and was thinking about it. And you know, I couldn't come up with an answer. Most shows have clearly defined second and third leads for their characters (think Smallville, where it's Lex, or LOST, where it's Sawyer), and Angel adheres to that formula for the first four seasons, but I couldn't figure it out in the fifth. What do you guys think?
 
Spike. Wesley got shunted aside the moment it was decided Spike would be on the show. Luckily Wesley took his role back in the second half of the season.
 
BuffyElevated
BuffyElevated
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The general custom in movies and TV series, at least in the U S, is to list the characters by order of importance in the opening trailers, so, by that, I would have to say that Spike was the #2 character in Season 5. This would seem to be substantiated by the fact that the only way that the network would renew "Angel" for Season 5 was on the condition that James came on the show as a regular.

As much as I like both the character and James in pretty much anything that I have seen him in, and as talented as he is, I do feel that that, if true, was a rather crappy way to treat the other actors on the show who had been there so much longer. It says a lot for their professionalism that, as far as I know, none of them made a big fuss about it.
 
I would go with Spike. He was brought onto the show because the creators and fans all expected him to be important, and he was. He almost went to hell. He fought with Angel a lot. He hung out with Illyria in someting like the same way that Wesley did. He seduced his ex-girlfriend Harmony. Yes, he did a lot of stuff with his time in the final season.

Wesley's big plot was the story of Illyria, but that doesn't start until the second half of the season; before that, Lineage is Wesley's only big moment. And he had to take a vacation for the next episode; he's gotta lose points for that.

Even Gunn gets a more important arc in the first half of the season --the magical lawyers' knowledge. And this plot continues unfolding in the second half, though admittedly he has little screen time in much of the second half. So if you're thinking of the second half of the season, I can see why Wesley seems more important, but for the first half Gunn seems like just as much of a contender.
 
white avenger said:
The general custom in movies and TV series, at least in the U S, is to list the characters by order of importance in the opening trailers, so, by that, I would have to say that Spike was the #2 character in Season 5. This would seem to be substantiated by the fact that the only way that the network would renew "Angel" for Season 5 was on the condition that James came on the show as a regular.
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It didn't work that way in Buffy though, look at Willow for example. She was at the end of the credits from season 5 (or maybe season 6, I can't remember), but I think that her character was the second lead and that Alyson Hannigan made almost the same money as SMG. 🙂
 
Tricky question. I'd have to say Spike. He just got more attention than Wes (who would be the other obvious other candidate) and many of his plot lines involved the other vampire-with-a-soul title character. In his first full episode he tagged along with Angel (Just Rewards), he's had other plot lines where he basically tagged along with Angel (Destiny, Damage, Why We Fight . . .). He goes with Angel to try and save Fred, and then there's the whole go to Italy to find Buffy thing. He's Angel's equal (or just better, or a little worse, take your pick) in terms of strength. Plus he's second in the credits.

In previous season, I'd imagined it to be Wes though. He did have the "And Alexis Denisof" thing in the credits like Willow had. And we all know Willow was the second main female character in BtVS.
 
Personally I don't care one bit. Maybe it did for the ones involved but since I more often like supporting cast over the lead (or so it feels) I've never even thought about it.

James were used to get more people to watch the show so in that respect he might have been more important to the show this season than David even if David is the lead from being the character the show centers around.
 
Washburne said:
Personally I don't care one bit. Maybe it did for the ones involved but since I more often like supporting cast over the lead (or so it feels) I've never even thought about it.

James were used to get more people to watch the show so in that respect he might have been more important to the show this season than David even if David is the lead from being the character the show centers around.
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Haha, no, not who is the lead, who is the second lead? Angel is clearly the main character (it is called "Angel" after all), but between Spike and Wes, who is the secondary male lead? I suppose you could consider Gunn as well, but I wouldn't really put him with Wes and Spike.
 
I didn't express myself clearly. Of course David is the lead. Still, James could have been the most "important" character/actor in the season. In my opinion.

Spike is definitely the second male lead in season 5. I just don't give a crap about that.

The comment about liking support cast over the lead was just a note in itself. Had nothing to do with who's second, third lead etc.

Not sure that explains it better...
 
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