The cast of Angel recently swung by New York Comic-Con to celebrate the show's 20th Anniversary and reveal some amazing behind-the-scenes secrets. Here's everything we learned:
1. First, Spike was originally only going to be in five episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer — by the time Buffy and Angel ended, Spike was in over 120 episodes.
2. James Marsters revealed that Spike was supposed to die during Season 2 of Buffy — he was going to be Angel's first kill after "going evil."
3. Spike was "never designed to be a romantic character," and fan support really transformed him into the character he ended up becoming.
4. For Amy Acker's original chemistry screen test with Alexis Denisof and J. August Richards, they had to read a Shakespearian scene Joss Whedon wrote — Alexis said it's one of his favorite scenes.
5. Joss actually gave Amy some of Illyria's first scenes while they were attending Alexis and Alyson Hannigan's wedding.
6. Also, Joss had Amy and Alexis come over to his house and read an Illyria and Wesley scene while he played with different colored lights — this is how they came up with Illyria's color scheme.
7. Charisma Carpenter had to re-record Cordelia's final line after filming wrapped because she was originally so choked up while saying it that she gave away Cordelia's surprise fate.
8. The iconic shawarma post-credits scene in Avengers was apparently inspired by what the Angel cast looked like after filming the episode with Fred's death — Joss directed both.
9. Alexis said he felt like he was "taking somebody's seat at the table" when Wesley was brought onto Angel following Doyle's departure.
10. Charisma wishes she could've "explored Season 5" with Cordelia and is still heartbroken over her death.
11. In fact, Charisma recalled that she didn't want to return as Cordelia if they were going to kill her but "it didn't work out that way."
12. James explained that the only reason Spike became a series regular on Buffy was because the show "needed a new Cordelia" after Charisma left and joined Angel.
13. J. August's favorite memory from filming Angel was when the cast would gather in Alexis' trailer and play Boggle during lunch.
14. Meanwhile, Alexis recalled one night when they were filming a scene in an alley in Downtown Los Angeles and someone "poured a cup of urine over us."
15. If Amy were to revisit a plot line on Angel it would be both of her love interests — she felt like she never got to portray "the full experience."
16. James said people always ask him what his favorite Spike lines are and he truthfully "doesn't remember anything."
17. While filming "Smile Time," there was a puppeteer who was hidden in the scenes — Amy said even when they cut the puppeteer would use the puppet to talk to the cast.
18. Charisma's favorite Angel episodes are when Cordelia got her own sitcom and "Spin the Bottle."
19. And James' favorite episode was "Smile Time." He explained that it was "such a brave move" for a show to do an episode like that.
20. When they were filming the series finale, James assumed that all of the characters were dead and it was their last "heroic act" — he was shocked to open the continuation comic book and find out they survived.
21. And finally, the cast agrees that, to them, Angel means "growth, family, life, and dedication."
