Buffy The Vampire Slayer Needed This Recasting

When looking back at the original run of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Alyson Hanigan playing Willow Rosenberg. She played the part of someone who made up the heart and soul of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a character that set some new standards in this kind of series considering she stepped out of the closet as gay once the Scoobies went off to college. It’s hard to imagine anyone anyone else talking Xander or Buffy off the ledge whenever they started feeling quite down. She was also the most compelling part of the show when she went dark. And her battling with the urge to go dark again was an interesting take on dealing with addiction in a world of magic.

While Alyson Hanigan embodied Willow so spectacularly that she was a member of the show from the first episode to the very last, there was a time when the people behind the long-running series were looking at someone else entirely to play the part of Willow. It turns out that the original actress that was picked to play the character only did so in the pilot before the Buffy went to air. There’s no doubt that while Riff Regan might have been talented, she didn’t end up embodying the character the way that Alyson Hanigan did.

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Buffy The Vampire Slayer Started With A Sadder Willow

Before the official Buffy the Vampire premiere, “Welcome to the Hellmouth,” debuted in March 1997, an unaired Buffy pilot was created in 1996. The twenty-five-and-a-half-minute pilot followed a similar plot to the broadcast counterpart, but there were a few major differences, including Regan’s portrayal as Willow. While the pilot did its job in selling the network that Buffy was as series that needed to go to air, its creator Joss Whedon was adamant that there were some things about it that needed to be changed. Those who have since gotten a look at the original pilot have agreed that while Regan didn’t do a bad job in the role she was asked to play, she simply wasn’t a fit for the series or the character.

Most who saw the original unaired pilot talked about how Regan didn’t have chemistry with the rest of the cast, and the character came off as too timid. That alone might seem like the actress played the character exactly as Willow eventually showed up in the first season, there was a strength that Hanigan was able to bring out, especially in Season 2 and so on.

There was also talk that Regan’s Willow seemed a little too down and sad. While that too was part of what made Willow such a lovable character once the show really got big, there was something that she managed to bring to the table even if she wasn’t always upbeat and happy. In fact, there were times when she went darker than anyone else in the Scooby Gang. However, Hanigan’s version of Willow always brought something to the table that not every actress could have added to the show.

Alyson Hannigan Was Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s Heart

Over the seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Willow’s character changed from someone who was picked on and bullied by people like Cordelia and her gang, to someone who stood up for herself to the point where she was one of the most respected members of her high school class. She was someone who was the shoulder to cry on for everyone in the group and she was indeed the heart of the show.

Certainly part of the writing was to make Willow that way, but Hanigan had her own personality that she brought to the character that made her someone that people naturally wanted to gravitate towards. The idea that the show almost went with someone else in order to play the character is one of those things that would have made it the massive hit that it was.

She made the show something that was so beloved after seven seasons that after a very long lay off, there was enough of a push that a Buffy the Vampire Slayer revival is now in the works. While there isn’t any guarantee that Alyson Hanigan is coming back as Willow, it would make the revival that much better. It’s a safe bet that there is a push from the people behind the show that the character would be good if it came back.

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