Who was Whedon's favorite?

[Tome]

I'm not sure if this was the place to put this, but as the title says... Who do you think was Joss' favorite character(a char from either show is fine)?

It was obviously not Cordelia... 🙄 I'd probably go with either Xander or Spike. Spike coming back in S4 and then getting a bigger and bigger role sure wasn't just because of James' acting. 😉 As for Xander, well I don't know why but I always imagined Joss would probably identify the most with him.

What do you all think?

 

[NY State of Mind]

Yeah I agree Xander......Xander was supposed to be him basically I remember him saying

 

[caritas08]

Joss has said in multiple interviews that Willow is his favorite character. That's part of the reason he gave her a love interest in the Chosen finale. Though I think being single is preferable to dating Kennedy.

(Hermoine is his favorite HP character for anyone who cares).

 

[prophecygrrl]

I think his favorite character is probably Buffy. I saw a quote from Scott Allie a while back when Season 8 was ending about Joss and Buffy:

"He loves this girl, he loves her. He created her because he wants her to exist."

I so get that. Buffy Summers is the reason for a lot of his success and even the fact that he's not done telling her story says a lot about how much he loves her.

 

[zobothehobo]

I vote Xander... I've read/heard Xander was supposed to be Joss' image of himself. I think he really liked Xander.

But he didn't like Spike at all... James has commented on that fact a lot... Joss hated Spike. He didn't like "good" vampires or vampires that people identified with.

---------- Post added at 01:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:14 AM ----------

[MENTION=8214]caritas08[/MENTION] agrees: I thought that was just David Fury who felt that way.

According to James, Joss really didn't want to have any vampires who were "good." He was really apprehensive about Angel... but ok'ed him. Then Spike came around and people liked him even though he was a bad guy and Joss hated that. He kept him around (now this is the part I've heard several versions of so this is what I think happened) because the fans and network loved him. But if it was up to Joss, Spike would have died when he was supposed to die in season 2.

 

[Icarium]

But he didn't like Spike at all... James has commented on that fact a lot... Joss hated Spike. He didn't like "good" vampires or vampires that people identified with.

I will believe that when pigs start flying. Joss didn't like good vampires...yet he made just about every important vampire be (sort of) a good guy at one point or another. He created a spin-off centred about a "good" vampire. He hated Spike, yet did an entire season all about Spike and basically changed the vampire mythos just to keep Spike around? Yeah, right. Might as well claim he hates killing off characters or tiny women who kick ass. 🙂

 

[Spikefan31]

I never knew Joss hated Spike. Huh.

 

[Taake]

I think Willow was his favorite character. 🙂 She's cute and nerdy and even when she goes super bad she gets away with it with little more than a slap on the wrist...

 

[sosa lola]

Oh, c'mon! It's obviously NOT Xander. Don't you think that if Xander was his favorite he'd have a much bigger role in the show/comics? It's not Xander.

He had said that Buffy was his avatar, not Xander. Buffy is Joss. And he loves Buffy and Willow the most. Which shows, look at how big their storylines are, how important the characters are: best Slayer in the world, strongest witch in the world.

And I don't believe Joss hates Spike, the opposite. I remember reading once that he thought Spike was more evolved than Angel and more mature than him. Joss knows how to write him when he doesn't know how to write Angel. Looking at how big Spike's role became in the last three seasons of the TV show and how his presence in the comics by the end was important and painted him in a much better light than Buffy and Angel, I'd say Spike is Joss' third favorite character after Buffy and Willow.

He also mentioned that he adores Andrew.

 

[caritas08]

This is the problem with all these interviews that are ten plus years old. We can remember them but we can't find the sources.

I've literally been rifling through my old Buffy magazines in my attic looking for the interview where he says Willow is his favorite and that's why he will never kill her.

 

[sosa lola]

This is the problem with all these interviews that are ten plus years old. We can remember them but we can't find the sources.

I've literally been rifling through my old Buffy magazines in my attic looking for the interview where he says Willow is his favorite and that's why he will never kill her.

I've read it, too. And I know it's true. I've searched google and I found a lot of fans admitting that Joss' favorite character is Willow. It just seems so obvious from the way he writes her on the show, her importance, her coolness, he loves Willow and AH to pieces.

This is one of the quotes I found written by a fan as fans speculated which character would die in S8:

"We know Willow is Joss favorite character so maybe he will give her a really historic death. Well if he did kill her off."

 

[Kean]

Well, it sure as Hell ain't Angel 😉 😛

I think I'd have to agree about Willow too. And I'm nearly certain I read that quote that Sosa mentioned.

Honestly though, if we could pick from all of his characters? It's Mal. It is so Captain Mal Reynolds.

 

[sosa lola]

caritas08 agrees: Which is hilarious to me since it was the network that picked her over Riff Regan.

I don't think it has anything to do with Alyson. Joss really wanted to have an overweight, not Hollywood type actress as a main character. He wanted Willow to be a real nerd, since obviously Alyson was too pretty to be considered a dateless nerd, they had to make her wear all these hideous clothes just to make her less attractive.

Honestly though, if we could pick from all of his characters? It's Mal. It is so Captain Mal Reynolds.

Oooh, he really, really loves Mal and Nathan. I also think he adores NPH.

 

[Kean]

I don't think it has anything to do with Alyson. Joss really wanted to have an overweight, not Hollywood type actress as a main character. He wanted Willow to be a real nerd, since obviously Alyson was too pretty to be considered a dateless nerd, they had to make her wear all these hideous clothes just to make her less attractive.

I think what a "nerd" has been traditionally regarded as is changing. I mean look a Tina Fey, she is a beautiful woman, revered for her work, and a cultural icon. But when she was younger, she was a nerd, and in her own words "she couldn't give it away". She was 24 before she lost her virginity (granted to the guy that would be become her husband) but the point is, a "nerd" isn't necessarily an overweight, pimply, awkward adolescent. So, I'm actually happy that other actress wasn't used, because to me that is a stereotype as much as a weak, helpless, blonde girl being killed first.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

a "nerd" isn't necessarily an overweight, pimply, awkward adolescent.

According to that trusted source called Wiki:

The slang meaning of the term dates back to 1951, when Newsweek magazine reported on its popular use as a synonym for "drip"; or "square" in Detroit, Michigan.[5] By the early 1960s, usage of the term had spread throughout the United States and even as far as Scotland.[6][7] At some point, the word took on connotations of bookishness and social ineptitude.[3]

 

[sosa lola]

I think what a "nerd" has been traditionally regarded as is changing. I mean look a Tina Fey, she is a beautiful woman, revered for her work, and a cultural icon. But when she was younger, she was a nerd, and in her own words "she couldn't give it away". She was 24 before she lost her virginity (granted to the guy that would be become her husband) but the point is, a "nerd" isn't necessarily an overweight, pimply, awkward adolescent. So, I'm actually happy that other actress wasn't used, because to me that is a stereotype as much as a weak, helpless, blonde girl being killed first.

I'm not implying that all nerds are bad looking and awkward, just pointing out why Joss wanted someone different to play Wilow, heck I used to be a huge geek yet I was slim and considered good looking, but was an awkward adolescent and had very few friends.

I do wish we had an overweight female character, but not shy and weak, a strong overweight female character.

 

[Marisa]

It seems Buffy is to me it is like her character can do no wrong at times and when she does it is quickly swept under the rug where with other characters it drags on sometimes.

Maybe Lorne was his favorite because he is the one character that was never messed up at all I mean he got a good storyline but yes he didn't suffer like the rest.

 

[white avenger]

I've never heard of Joss saying that he "hated" any of his characters, but I have heard that it was Sarah's idea for Spike to come back as a regular from Season 4 on, and that she was the one also who thought that making them lovers would be a good idea. But, as has been pointed out before, interviews that old are next to impossible to recover.

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

Xander or Willow, I would say.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I will believe that when pigs start flying. Joss didn't like good vampires...yet he made just about every important vampire be (sort of) a good guy at one point or another. He created a spin-off centred about a "good" vampire. He hated Spike, yet did an entire season all about Spike and basically changed the vampire mythos just to keep Spike around? Yeah, right. Might as well claim he hates killing off characters or tiny women who kick ass. 🙂

LOL Totally agree with you... I think Joss loved Spike. I know he loved James, anyway, or else he wouldn't have kept bringing him back over and over and over and kept giving him more and more to do and then ended up ultimately making him the second most important character on the show after Buffy.