The 2012 Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo will be remembered for many things, both good and bad. One of the highlights was James Marsters, who portrayed Spike on Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel appearing to meet fans. For the actor, it was a memorable experience that has led to his return to the 2017 expo April 27^th – 30^th.

"I remember the massive amount of people that showed up. It was just a sea of people. That is always an amazing feeling to have that many people staring at you. There were a lot of people that wanted to meet me. I remember the people of Calgary being comfortable in their own skin and happy to be living there. It made it a great place for me to have as many conversations as I do throughout the day. Some places in the world people are not as happy to be living in the town they are in and it isn’t as pleasant," Marsters told GayCalgary.com.

Although Marsters has been in many other major projects including Torchwood, Smallville, and Hawaii Five-0 it is Buffy that has a lasting legacy with fans and its cast. The group recently reunited for the 20th anniversary of the first season for Entertainment Weekly.

"It was really cool. I remember the cast being tired and burned out. Joss Whedon worked us into the ground. Most shows taped 12 hour days, we never did 12 hours 14 was short for us we would go up to 20 hours. It was glorious to see what Sarah is like when she’s rested. To see the rest of the cast when we have all had a good night’s sleep. When you are making a show as ambitious as Buffy there is a low-grade panic that you wouldn’t get it right. There is something nice about having done it right to come back and celebrate that and it was a nice, easy hang out with friends."

With recent reunions of casts like Aliens and Star Trek: TNG fans often hope that other cast reunions could happen at an Expo. Buffy is one of the top requests, and Marsters would love to see it happen.

"That would be awesome! I don’t know that I am the person to talk about whether or not that would happen. We all get along really well. If it happened it would be really fun. You would need someone really good at their job to coordinate it because we work a lot. Buffy was a great springboard for careers so we are often in different time zones. If someone was willing to work really hard and work it out I am sure we’d all love to do it."

It has been 20 years since the start of Buffy and 14 years since it ended and it’s evident from seeing people at events how much the show means to so many. We asked James if there was a point where he realized how important the show had become to fans.

"There wasn’t a single time, it was a slow dawning realization. I knew right from the beginning how good the show could be. I knew it had enormous potential and how proud I was to be on a subversive show in the 90’s showing a young woman being perfectly capable of defending herself was a bit of a revolution and made certain people uncomfortable which I thought was just great. I knew that the writing was some of the best I had ever had in my mouth. I knew that Joss Whedon was a genius and his central theme of how do you look at the world and realize how messed up it and not give up was a great theme. There was a dawning realization that it was resonating with people. The internet was young but people were talking about it online. I remember telling Sarah you and I may go on to million dollar paychecks but I am not sure if we are ever going to have the chance to touch the nerve of the world like we are today. So there was a time that we knew it, I am just not sure when it was that it happened."

Marsters will be performing a live concert on Friday at Cowboys at the official Expo after party.

"At the bottom of things with art is just a group of artists checking to see if they are alone. When I write a song, I am describing something personal and I express it publicly and I am really just checking around me to see if anyone has felt the same thing.  I write songs about things that I don’t necessarily tell anybody about, some of my best friends don’t know about things I write songs about. I put those secrets to music and I tell people that I just met my deepest, darkest secrets. There is something scary about it but also something comforting when they don’t walk away. The same thing is what is glorious about Buffy - all over the world people are saying that they connect with the material of the show and felt the same way about things. It has been this decades long experience of remembering that I am not alone.

James has been to many conventions and is always a pleasure to meet him for photo ops and autographs. It is obvious that he enjoys it as well.

"I am most excited to play music and meet the fans – both the ones that have been with the show since the beginning and fans discovering it now. I’ve met fans as young as 7 years old sometimes. It is always wonderful to meet the teenage fan who has just been introduced to the show and just starting to get something from it. I think that is probably more than anything what the show is for and it is great to see that it is still working and being useful for people."

Related Articles

Contributor Jason Clevett |

Person James Marsters |

Topic Angel | Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Calgary Expo | Celebrity Interview |Comic Expo | Smallville | Torchwood |