20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About Buffy The Vampire Slayer

7. Spike Was To Be Killed Off After Five Episodes

Yep, that's three long-running characters of the show who could have had shocking early exits. Well, this is Joss Whedon after all. The original idea was that Spike would hold the Big Bad fort of Season Two until the shock twist of Angel's transformation into the evil Angelus. At this point, Spike would be killed and Angelus would become the Big Bad alongside Spike's insane girlfriend Drusilla. Instead, the plan was changed due to the character's popularity and the potential the showmakers saw in him. Spike went on such a huge journey (perhaps only Willow went on a bigger one) across the series that it would have totally changed the show if he had been axed after such a short while. In fact, there's probably only one sane reaction to the idea: