Charisma Carpenter Explains Why She Didn’t Watch ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ After Leaving ‘Angel’
Buffy the Vampire Slayer maintains a massive fan base more than a decade after it went off the air. Fans love to watch the TV show but one of its former cast members, Charisma Carpenter, has never seen the entire series.
Charisma Carpenter played Cordelia Chase on ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’
Carpenter is one of the original cast members on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Part of the show from the beginning, she joined the show as Cordelia Chase aka Cordy.
A classmate of Buffy Summers’ (Sarah Michelle Gellar) at Sunnydale High School, Cordelia was known as a popular student and a cheerleader.
Charisma Carpenter left ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ for ‘Angel’
After three seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Carpenter left the fictional town of Sunnydale for Los Angeles on Angel.
A spinoff focusing on Buffy’s love, Angel (David Boreanaz), Carpenter’s character joined the vampire for a fresh start. Together, they saved people in the city from evil.
Just like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel became a hit with viewers. The show premiered on Oct. 5, 1999, and ended after five seasons in May 2004.
Charisma Carpenter ‘was in survival mode’ on ‘Angel’, didn’t have time to watch ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’
When Carpenter bid farewell to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she put all of her efforts toward making Angel just as big a success. But when she left the spinoff, she never revisited Sunnydale or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Carpenter explained why in a 2019 interview with Complex. She’d been busy giving her all to the new series and simply didn’t have time to watch the original starring Gellar.
“I haven’t—and I know that this irks some of the fandom when I say this—but when I left Angel, I didn’t watch Buffy, Carpenter said.” Mainly because, for whatever reason—maybe it was the extra responsibility—that I didn’t have time. I was in survival mode.”
She continued, saying the show meant long hours and not much time for watching TV.
“When you’re starting a new show, it’s like doing a startup company for an entrepreneur,” Carpenter said. “The hours are intense and it’s a vampire show so it’s late nights. And you’re in some really dank locations. You’re literally living, breathing all things Angel.”
The actor said practically all of her time revolved around the show, noting that holidays with her family were a maybe depending on her filming schedule.
“I didn’t even have a personal life,” she said. “I couldn’t even commit to Thanksgiving dinner with my family because I didn’t know what my schedule would be.”
Calling Angel “all-encompassing,” Carpenter said the show was “more time consuming” because of the work involved with the show including special effects, fight scenes, and prosthetics.
Charisma Carpenter hasn’t watched all of ‘Angel’ either
Revisiting Cordelia in the 100th episode of Angel, Carpenter reprised her role but not for long. In the same episode, her character dies. It’s a major point of controversy among fans of Cordelia’s.
The show went on but Carpenter didn’t keep up on it.
“I didn’t watch after I died,” she told Complex with a laugh.
Allegedly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel creator, Joss Whedon, fired Carpenter for being pregnant.
Details on the actor’s exit aside, one thing is for sure. Carpenter’s never watched all of Angel or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
