So why didn't Cordelia ever return to Buffy?

[Nathan]

Not even as a one-off episode? I think the Scoobies would have been shocked to see how much she'd grown up since leaving Sunnydale; I find it odd she didn't even return for an episode, or that Xander didn't see her again after High School 🙁

 

[nightshade]

I wish they had done a crossover with her, it would have been great to see her back in Sunnydale

 

[The Scourge]

Because it would just emphasize how immature the Scoobies were compared to her.

---------- Post added at 02:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:17 PM ----------

Goby agrees: Totally agree. She went from 18 - 30 in about 1 season.

That's because life bitch-slapped her pretty hard. lol

 

[Ianigsy]

It's hard to see what the story would be that would take her back to Sunnydale- perhaps having to come back for some family business or something- but I think it would defeat the object of the way that Cordy grows once she goes to LA and doesn't have the same privileged lifestyle, if you then have her go back to her old haunts and she's more grown up than her old friends.

 

[Hale Caesar]

Because it would just emphasize how immature the Scoobies were compared to her.

---------- Post added at 02:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:17 PM ----------

Goby agrees: Totally agree. She went from 18 - 30 in about 1 season.

That's because life bitch-slapped her pretty hard. lol

We have a winner.

Cordelia would make the Scoobies realize how much they suck...especially in the later seasons

 

[TheAnnointedOne]

I always wondered that - it may have been interesting to see her and how it would have played out. I loved Cordelia in S1-3 of BtVS, I know she was there for comic relief in the early seasons, but she had some great lines that always make me laugh. I agree though, there was nothing for Cordelia to come back for.

On a side note, how funny in Season 5's "Family" Giles asks Buffy whether she can be more specific about what Glory is like and Buffy replies, "She was kinda like Cordelia, actually." If only they knew!! haaa

🙂

 

[Nathan]

I've heard the "she had nothing to go back for" line before; and I just don't buy it tbh. There was nothing for Angel to go back for really, half the time he was either lead there because of Buffy, or because he had some info for her. Surely they could have easily wrote up something to make Cordelia return for just an episode or something? There was hardly any reason for half of the Buffy/Angel crossovers tbh, but they took place. I don't think it was as much a character issue, as it was a writers issue tbh. Because I believe had Charisma stayed on with Angel in every season, they may have whipped up a crossover for her, but I always got the feeling Joss got annoyed with her after she got pregnant 😕

 

[MixolydiaJCF]

I wish Cordy would have gone back to Sunnydale too but I think she felt like she needed to move on and that if she ever went back even for one episode then all of the bad things that happened (Xander, being poor, etc) would only discourage her, whereas Los Angeles provided a fresh new role for her.

 

[Hale Caesar]

I've heard the "she had nothing to go back for" line before; and I just don't buy it tbh. There was nothing for Angel to go back for really, half the time he was either lead there because of Buffy, or because he had some info for her. Surely they could have easily wrote up something to make Cordelia return for just an episode or something? There was hardly any reason for half of the Buffy/Angel crossovers tbh, but they took place. I don't think it was as much a character issue, as it was a writers issue tbh. Because I believe had Charisma stayed on with Angel in every season, they may have whipped up a crossover for her, but I always got the feeling Joss got annoyed with her after she got pregnant 😕

I agree. It would have been very easy to write some reason why she would want to go back to Sunnydale. To be honest though, I was more interested to having characters like Giles or Xander crossover, just because they never had a good relationship with Angel, it would be nice for them to fix that

 

[Ripper666]

Thats exactly the thing that I thought "MixolydiaJCF" (two steps upstairs) And i think it's quite difficult to get a episode together with her because it would sucks to see vain, arrogant, Cordelia again. And it would be to difficult to give her a new character inside the story.

 

[VaderSpike24]

Of course the official reason is because Charisma, in addition to David Boreanaz and Alexis Denisof, were under contract from WB, while the Buffy guys were with UPN. Apparently, since the two networks were rivals, they didn't want any crossovers. I'm sure that if that hadn't happened, there would have been at least one episode with Cordelia in it (And maybe Wesley, who knows?)

 

[Leecapasso]

It would've been cool. It's been mentioned a couple times before and I agree. Cordelia could've had a vision about the scoobies and decided to go at it alone not wanting to upset Angel with another Buffy issue. I think Anya's reaction to Cordelia returning would've been priceless, lot's of one liners and lot's of digs toward Xander! The end of the episode could've gave Cordelia a proper goodbye from Sunnydale, I was always a bit peeved that that she was just gone with no mention in season 4!

 

[BuffyElevated]

Cordelia says once on BtVS "Who would ever want to come back here?" and I think that's the point of why she never went back to Sunnydale. Cordelia was clearly bigger than Sunnydale; she was shown in "Angel" to not have a relationship with her family after she left town, and I think for her, moving to LA was symbolic of her moving on to a new phase of her life. She didn't want to look back, so for me it made perfect sense for her never to go back to Sunnydale.

 

[Summerlilly]

Besides network legalities I thought it must have had to do with making the shows independent from each other. I get that, but I always wanted the Scoobies to realize that Cordelia was not the same person they knew. She's one of my favorite characters for that reason. She grew exponentially and became a vital part of Buffyverse.

 

[brinkster130]

I thought it was a shame that they never had Cordy return to Sunnydale. There could have been several reasons that didn't feel to forced or contrived for her to return; visiting her parents, holidays etc. I think we can all agree she wouldn't have a girls weekend with Buffy and Willow, but I can see her swinging by the manic shop to say hello or to pick up a book for Wesley.

I understand that she had moved on with her life and wasn't particularly close with any of the Scoobies but they were in the same line of work and Cordy and Willow did keep in touch so it would have been nice to see them reunite once in Sunnydale.

 

[funsmiley]

I always wanted cordelia to return to sunnydale at least for one episode. i guess from the characters point there wasn't really any reason for her to go back, due to her parents losing all there money and stuff. but really charisma was probably being in the control of WB, and they obviously didn't want the character to return to buffy.

 

[Robb Stark]

A few reasons. I think the simplest answer is that Cordelia basically ran out of things to do in Sunnydale. There weren't many stories left for her on Buffy. Besides Xander and maybe Buffy, she never really had many deep interactions with many of the cast on Buffy.

Plus, especially in the first season of Angel, the two shows were in very different places. The theme and feel of Buffy S4 was going off to college and beginning to grow up while Angel S1 was about being on your own as an adult for the first time, no school, no parents, just you, alone in the big city. Think of how big a deal Cordy getting her own place was. I've seen commentary episodes where Joss talked about how he wanted to emphasize those themes. The Scoobies that season drifted apart while Cordelia found friends in Angel, Doyle and later Wesley and pulled together. I think that's very reminicent of real life. The big city is a rough and cold place, and your friends are what keep you going a lot of the time. That wasn't the feel of Buffy that season.

I always, always wanted a big crossover arc between the two shows, beyond just Buffy coming to L.A. for an episode or Angel going back to Sunnydale (which we saw a few times). I would have loved Angel Investigations getting a case in Sunnydale or the Scoobies having to come to L.A. That happening in S5 or 6 of Buffy would have been great, and it would have been neat for Cordy to interact in that way, without really being the focus, with Buffy, Xander and the rest again.

But ya, as a fan, there is a part of me that gets a little sad that after "I will remember you" (an episode that never fails to make me sad to begin with) she never sees most of the Buffy cast again.