Buffy’s Charisma Carpenter Reveals the Private Connection of ‘Slayers’

Charisma Carpenter is again as Cordelia Chase — and returning to the Buffyverse in Audible Authentic Slayers wasn’t a call she made frivolously.

“[I had] little little bit of apprehension after I first was requested to hitch, however these feelings and emotions, open wound emotions have been instantly massaged by Amber [Benson]’s pitch in that I heard her enthusiasm,” Carpenter completely informed Us Weekly whereas on the Slayers activation at New York Comedian Con on October 14.

Benson, who portrayed Tara Maclay, and Christopher Golden began engaged on Slayers in 2020 after studying Audible had rights to work on an authentic venture set within the universe of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which aired from 1997 to 2003). They created a nine-episode audio story set in 2013 that introduces a brand new slayer, Indira (Laya DeLeon Hayes), who crosses paths with a unique Cordelia from an alternate universe — one the place she wasn’t the imply cheerleader in highschool. She was as a substitute destined to be the lone vampire slayer, and Buffy Summers doesn’t exist.

Buffy followers may be stunned to see Carpenter return to the Buffyverse after she opened up about her experiences behind the scenes. In 2021, Carpenter was the primary of a number of stars who got here ahead to accuse Buffy showrunner Joss Whedon of abusing his energy and exhibiting “hostile and poisonous” habits. It could’ve been comprehensible if she selected to depart Cordelia prior to now, however Carpenter wished to embrace Cordy’s power as a substitute.

“It’s private for me. I’ve lived with Cordelia,” Carpenter informed Us. “I carried out her for about 10 years of my life, and I really feel she, as a personality, knowledgeable me, the lady that performed her. It’s wealthy to me. The thought of coming into my very own energy as a younger lady via a personality that then I ended up utilizing that energy in a strategy to communicate out towards the creator of that energy. … What I imply to say is that in plenty of methods, Cordelia gave start to Charisma and actually knowledgeable who I’m immediately, and it was so highly effective that I used to be in a position to do very arduous issues at a really essential time in my life. And I feel that’s the final Buffyverse story — discovering out what your function is and utilizing it to make the world a greater place.”

Finally, it was Benson and Golden who satisfied Carpenter to hitch.

James Marsters and Charisma Carpenter on the set of ‘Angel’ in 2004. Mark Sullivan/WireImage

“[Amber is] a nurturer, and so is Christopher,” Carpenter defined. “Realizing that I might be protected in that function once more was actually the factor that received me over. I knew I may belief them.”

Emma Caulfield, who returns as an alternate universe Anya, was a bit of extra blunt when she informed Us about her response to coming again: “I stated, ‘F—okay no.’”

Benson’s pitch, nonetheless, had her hooked. “I like her. We’re mates, so we all know our luggage. We all know the historical past, we’ve lived it,” Caulfield, 50, shared. “After which she simply gave me the total pitch and that was it. I used to be like, ‘Oh honey, I’m in. one hundred pc. I’ll do no matter you do.’”

Followers watched Cordelia die on Buffy spinoff Angel whereas Anya met her demise within the authentic sequence finale. Benson wished to make use of the Audible sequence to work with characters who didn’t have glad endings within the TV present universe.

From left: Christopher Golden, Laya DeLeon Hayes, Emma Caulfield Ford, Juliet Landau, James Charles Leary, James Marsters, Amber Benson and Charisma Carpenter. Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Pictures for Audible

“For me, the inroad to being like, ‘OK, I actually need to do that,’ is the concept of Charisma Carpenter, being Cordelia the Vampire Slayer. … Due to the way in which plenty of these characters didn’t fairly have the endings that we might’ve wished them to have, so we’re like, ‘Effectively, we’d like a multiverse.’”

Benson added, “We will dwell on this world. The followers get to have one thing that feels protected and fantastic.”

Along with Benson, Carpenter and Caulfield, returning stars embody James Marsters as Spike, James Charles Leary as Clem, Juliet Landau as Drusilla, Anthony Stewart Head as Giles, Phina Oruche as Olivia and Danny Sturdy as Ghost Jonathan.

The forged hopes that followers need to return to their nook of the Buffyverse for Slayers season 2.

“After every single day, we have been like, ‘We’re going to do one other one, proper?’” Caulfield recalled to Us. “Now we have to do as many as we are able to. There’s a lot to say on this area. … I’d like to begin tomorrow.”

The primary season of Slayers is on the market now on Audible.