Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Slayers: A Buffyverse Story.
Summary
- Slayers: A Buffyverse Story introduces an alternate reality where Cordelia becomes the Slayer instead of Buffy, but also provides some main timeline updates.
- The world is now overrun with Slayers, leading to a boring lifestyle for demons who struggle to face these powerful opponents.
- Familiar characters like Spike, Clem, Giles, and Anyanka make a return, revealing new developments and relationships in their lives after the events of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast , it picks up just over a decade after the show’s ending, charting its own canon path that largely ignores the comics.
Slayers: A Buffyverse Story spans realities: there’s the Buffy universe of the show, and a reality where Buffy Summers never existed. In that world, Cordelia Chase instead became the Slayer, but the two worlds are about to collide as that Cordy needs this Spike’s help to defeat the big bad terrorizing her reality: Drusilla. Slayers is an entertaining new story for fans of the show, and reveals some great new details about what happened after Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended.
6 Major Characters & Actors Missing From Buffy The Vampire Slayer's New Sequel
Some Buffy the Vampire Slayer actors are returning for an Audible series about Spike, but which major stars won’t lend their voices to the project?
11 Buffy’s Alternate Reality: Cordelia The Slayer, Dark Witch Tara, Vampire Giles & More
Although the biggest reveals are really about the main reality of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, since the other world is completely new to audiences, it’s still worth running through some of the biggest differences. Cordelia is the slayer, but there’s much more besides, including:
- Cordelia’s family and friends (including Harmony) were killed by the Master on prom night.
- Cordelia's sister was turned into a rabid vampire by the Master, and Cordy had to kill her.
- Drusilla is not only the main villain, she’s Queen of Vampires.
- Tara Maclay is still alive, but has turned to the dark side of magic thanks to a curse. The good Tara is still inside, struggling to break through.
- Tara and Drusilla are in a relationship now.
- Tara drains the magic from people, including Ethan Rayne, leaving them empty.
- Xander Harris exists, but only gets a brief mention and didn’t work with the Slayer and become a hero.
- Anya Jenkins is alive, and also a witch.
- Willow Rosenberg is a prisoner of Drusilla. Dru frequently siphons off Willow's magic to boost her own powers.
- Rupert Giles is believed dead, but he's actually been turned into a vampire by Drusilla.
- Angelus doesn't appear, but Drusilla plans to look for him, implying he never became Angel in this reality.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Every Known Slayer (In Canon)
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10 The World Is Overrun With Vampire Slayers
Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s series finale turned all potential Slayers into actual slayers, and that’s the backdrop for the world still over a decade later. Indeed, as Spike reveals in the opening narration of Slayers: A Buffyverse Story, the world is “overrun” with them (there’s said to be 1,000, and a worldwide network of Watchers), which has caused some major problems for the monsters. So much so, in fact, that life has become “boring” for what Spike refers to as the "friends of darkness," because there’s very little the demons can do when faced with so many slayers who can oppose them. Buffy’s finale didn’t just change the game against the First Evil, but for all that came after.
9 There’s A Demon Resistance In Los Angeles, And Spike Is Working Undercover With It
Slayers: A Buffyverse Story begins with Spike insisting that he’s back to being the big bad of old, with some demons even believing he was mind-controlled by Buffy herself. Of course, it’s all a ruse: Spike is actually working undercover against the demon resistance, infiltrating their ranks to learn more about their plans and, ultimately, make it easier to stop them. It’s particularly interesting that Spike is working with a resistance of demons in Los Angeles, given his place in ’s ending was as part of the resistance to the demon apocalypse.
8 Clem Is Still Working With Spike, And His Powers Are Revealed
Spike’s role in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer sequel also means another character returns: Clem. The character was last seen on TV in season 7, episode 19, “Empty Places.” There, he was getting the hell out of dodge, one of many Sunnydale residents leaving in their car due to the impending apocalypse. Clearly he found his way back to the group after the events of Buffy’s finale - Slayers reveals he’s still hanging around and working with Spike for the side of good. Clem is also revealed to be more dangerous than previously thought, as he bites the heads clean off several demons. That’s why his skin is wrinkled, so it can stretch and balloon up.
7 Giles Is Running A Bookshop In London, And Is In A Relationship With Olivia Williams
Rupert Giles already left Buffy the Vampire Slayer once before, heading back to England after the events of season 5 before returning to the fold on a semiregular basis. Over a decade on and he’s now completely out of the Watcher/Slayer business. In Slayers: A Buffyverse Story, Giles is found running Fairweather Books in London - and unlike The Magic Box, this is just a bookshop, rather than a hive of Scooby Gang activity.
It’s also revealed that Giles is in a relationship with a woman named Olivia, who is almost certainly Olivia Williams. An old friend from Giles’ “Ripper” days, she previously appeared in two episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 4. Giles reveals that he promised her he’d left the Watcher life behind him, so is reluctant to be drawn back in.
6 Giles & Willow Had Set Up A Magical Portal From Sunnydale To London
Giles may be doing his own thing nowadays, but he can still be found… if you know where to look. At some point, Giles and Willow set up a magical portal at The Magic Box, known as a static ageway, which leads to him in London. It’s still active even after all this time, although only accessible to those who were present when the spell was cast, or were keepers of the property on either end of the age at that time. That’s lucky, as Anya - from the alternate reality - is able to access it, traveling with new Slayer, Indira, to get Giles’ help and drag him back into the action.
5 The Area Surrounding Sunnydale Has Been Re-developed, But The Sinkhole Remains
Buffy, Spike et al destroyed all the Turok-Hana and the Hellmouth, but it wasn’t all great for Sunnydale. A great sinkhole opened, with the town collapsing in on itself, and that’s the way it remains by the time of Slayers: A Buffyverse Story. The surrounding area is undergoing re-development, but the sinkhole itself remains fenced off and dangerous to enter. Among the plans for it are, apparently, filling it with landfill and then building a playground on top. Given how important a location Sunnydale is, it wouldn’t be too surprising if it was more fully revived.
4 Spike's Hellmouth Sacrifice Is The Stuff Of Rumors
The events of Buffy the Vampire Slayer should be globally known, but given they were supernatural then there is a sense of mystery, and presumably cover-ups. Still, there are those who know the truth - Slayers reveals there are sub-Reddits and social media s dedicated to it, and things like Willow’s Slayer spell are commonly accepted as fact among them - but even then, not everything is certain. Case in point is Spike’s role, saving the day with the amulet as Buffy’s champion: this is, according to Indira, regarded as a “rumor” even among those obsessed with these events. Given there were few witnesses to what really happened, and that he’s still around, it’s somewhat understandable, if a little harsh.
3 Anyanka (The Vengeance Demon) Is Still Alive, Despite Anya's Death
Emma Caulfield returns not only as Anya of another reality in Slayers, but also as Anyanka, the vengeance demon. And yes, the same one from the main Buffy universe, not another timeline or reality. Anya’s human death has not been reversed, but instead it’s revealed that the demon actually lived on outside its host body, despite being expelled by Anya’s humanity. She is the very first vengeance demon to return in this way, explaining:
“I am a miracle. The human Anya purged me, and I returned to the ethereal hell of my people, but my rage burned brightly, and my longing to return to the flesh and blood world gave me such strength that I built a physical body from little more than the dust.”
2 New Slayers Are Still Being Called After Buffy's Ending
Willow’s spell in Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s finale gave the Slayer power to every single potential in the world, but its reach extended even further than that. Indira is a new vampire slayer in Slayers: A Buffyverse Story, and has been one for around a day when things kick-off. It’s revealed she’s 16-years-old, so would have been alive when Willow’s spell was cast, but her calling and powers didn’t manifest until many years later.
It’s long been unclear exactly what Willow’s spell meant for future slayers, but this does seemingly confirm that new ones will continue to be called when they reach the right age. The presence of a younger girl playing baseball in Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s finale in particular had put this in doubt, leading to questions of whether it would happen immediately or not, but the answer is that the power-development works the same as it always did - only now, every potential gets them when the time is right, not the chosen one.