BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER legacy sequel series in development

A new Buffy the Vampire Slayer project is in development at Hulu. This is not really surprising, with multiple attempts to resurrect the franchise having been discussed since not long after it concluded the first time around in 2003. However, this attempt appears to be closer to a pilot deal than any of the others, and is the first to have Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar, attached in an official capacity.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer started as a movie script written by Joss Whedon. The resulting film, released in 1992 and starring Kristy Swanson and Donald Sutherland, did poorly at the box office but found a dedicated cult fanbase on home video. This led to a TV show being picked up by Fox in 1996, for airing on The WB starting the following year, with Whedon as showrunner and Gellar in the starring role. Buffy the Vampire Slayer ran for seven seasons (ending in 2003) and 144 episodes, winning both critical and commercial acclaim for its canny mixture of supernatural fantasy, horror, drama and light comedy. Its spin-off show, Angel, ran for five seasons and 110 episodes from 1999 to 2004.

Although the story continued in comics, attempts to resurrect the franchise in other formats failed. Spin-offs focusing around the characters of Spike (James Marsters), Giles (Tony Head) and Faith (Eliza Dushku) were in development at one time or another, but none made it off the ground.

In 2010 an attempt to reboot the franchise as a new movie series foundered, whilst a 2018 attempt at a total reboot with Whedon producing and Monica Owusu-Breen showrunning also failed to gain traction. Whedon's subsequent fall from grace for alleged toxic behaviour on the sets of his various projects seemed to stall any further development on projects closely associated with his name.

Sarah Michelle Gellar distanced herself from the show after its conclusion, not attending conventions and gently discouraging speculation over a reboot or sequel with herself involved. She starred in two Scooby Doo movies with husband Freddie Prinze Jr., as well as Cruel Intentions and The Grudge, and occasional TV work, most recently Paramount+'s Wolf Pack. She has mainly focused on business interests outside of television and film. However, she recently spoke of Buffy more warmly having sat down to watch the show with her own children for the first time, and found the experience rewarding.

The new iteration of the show being discussed is a successor series which will focus on a new regular cast, with Gellar's Buffy and possibly other actors from the original series appearing in recurring roles. Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao (Eternals, Nomadland) is being touted as a producer, writer and possibly director for some episodes. Nora Zuckerman and Lila Zuckerman (Poker Face, Prodigal Sons, Agents of SHIELD, Fringe) will produce and showrun. Rights-holders Fran Kuzui and Kaz Kuzui (who produced the 1992 film) will produce alongside Dolly Parton, whose production company worked on the original series. Whedon is not involved at this time.

The original Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended with Buffy finding a way of creating more Slayers, allowing others to take over the burden of saving the world and allowing her to have a vacation. Some of the spin-off media posited that Buffy would effectively become a mentor to a whole new generation of Slayers, and working more in the capacity of a general directing her forces against larger threats. Whether this project would go in a similar direction, or return to the status quo of a single Slayer, remains to be seen.

SLAYERS & VAMPIRES: THE ORAL HISTORY OF BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER & ANGEL by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman

In 1997, Buffy the Vampire Slayer started airing. Over the course of seven seasons, it became a pop culture phenomenon and one of the most critically-acclaimed network TV shows of all time. It spawned a hit spin-off show, Angel, which ran for five seasons and did almost as well. The shows introduced a mixture of comedy, horror and character drama that became a template for many series and movies that followed them, but creator Joss Whedon would become an increasingly polarising and controversial figure.

The story of the development of Buffy and Angel has been told before, but Mark Altman and Edward Gross take a slightly difference tack with this 2017 volume by leaning heavily on oral accounts provided by the writing staff and some of the actors. This is a similar format to their earlier two Star Trek books and subsequent volume on Battlestar Galactica (and they have since produced similar volumes on James Bond, Star Wars and John Wick).

Reading in 2024, the book has a slightly different feel due to the well-publicised allegations from 2021 that Whedon created a toxic working atmosphere on Buffy and Angel before he departed both shows (the final two seasons of Buffy were helmed by Marti Noxon and Angel was overseen by a succession of different showrunners, including David Greenwalt, Tim Minear and Jeffrey Bell). These allegations followed earlier complaints that Whedon had bullied castmembers on the 2017 film Justice League, which he'd overseen reshoots on. This book, which just predates those allegations, is surprisingly candid on the fact that working conditions, particularly on Buffy, were often difficult and sometimes unprofessional.

Compared to the authors' other book on Battlestar, this tome is a little more disappointing. This is partially because it tries to cram much more in: twelve seasons of Buffy and Angel, not to mention some bleed-over into discussions about Firefly (the production and abrupt cancellation of which had consequences for Whedon's other shows), as opposed to six seasons of Battlestar (the four for the newer version of the show, the original and Galactica 1980). This means there is less time for discussion of individual episodes, with only the most prominent episodes getting a lot of coverage. Unfortunately there's a lot of repetition here for anyone who's familiar with coverage of the show from web articles and magazine articles back in the day.

There's also an issue in that actors seem much less willing to take part in the project: there's a much greater reliance here on stock interviews rather than new interviews undertaken just for this book. Only Charisma Carpenter and James Marsters get a lot of new discussion time, Nicholas Brendon gets almost none and stars Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz are primarily quoted from pre-existing interviews. This absence sees some Buffy critics called in to discuss the show's meaning and accomplishments, and no offence to their expertise, but there's dozens of books out there which have the space to do that a lot better.

The book does do better with the writers' contributions, with the likes of Tim Minear and Dave Greenwalt having a lot to say about television writing and production. Whedon himself gets quoted a fair bit but did not give new interviews for the book, unlike Ron Moore for the Battlestar tome, which makes for a less compelling read. There is some interesting stuff about the mythologising of Whedon, though, and even his most ardent friends and supporters in the book acknowledge he could be mercurial and difficult to work with.

The most fascinating material comes from interviews with Carpenter, who acknowledges her own faults on-set (getting a new haircut or tattoo mid-filming of an episode) and struggling with self-confidence issues, whilst struggling with her treatment by Whedon, who could be kind and generous to her one moment (like giving her a lead role on Angel in the first place) and harsh and judgemental the next.

There is much in the book that is interesting: Minear's journey in adapting to the writing of the show and driving it forwards, and his take-no-prisoners attitude which fascinated Whedon as much as it could annoy other people, is particularly noteworthy. The book also has a genuine emotional moment as it recounts Glenn Quinn's difficulties working on the show and the attempts by co-stars David Boreanaz and Christian Kane to help him out which ultimately did not pan out, with Quinn dying of an accidental drug overdose in 2002.

Compared to the Battlestar tome, Slayers & Vampires: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized, Oral History of Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel (***½) falls a little flat as it has nowhere near as many cast and crew contributing new material to it, forcing it to fall back on well-known anecdotes and interviews, as well as critical analyses that doesn't feel entirely appropriate to the book. There's also too many seasons and episodes to cover even in the generous 520 pages of material here (the Battlestar book gets 200 pages more, and it feels like the two franchises maybe should have inverted that). But there is enough new material, especially on the writing and production process of both shows, to make it worthwhile to established fans.

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THE NEVERS cancelled at HBO

In not-entirely surprising news, HBO has cancelled its Victorian supernatural drama series The Nevers. However, it has more surprisingly made the move ahead of the broadcast of its second batch of episodes.

The Nevers was created by Joss Whedon and was in development at HBO for some considerable time before it entered production in 2019. However, its development and production were overshadowed by accusations of bullying and unpleasant behaviour by Joss Whedon on the set of the film Justice League (2017), for which Whedon oversaw extensive reshoots. Warner Brothers initially sided with Whedon, but this became less tenable as more actors came forwards with stories of improper behaviour. Whedon abruptly resigned from working on The Nevers after principle photography on the first half of the first season (hugely complicated by the COVID pandemic) was completed but before it was edited.

The first half of the first season aired in May 2021 to a generally positive critical response, although again it was overshadowed by a second wave of allegations about Whedon, this time stemming from his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel from 1996 to 2004, where again he was accused of bullying and toxic behaviour.

The critical and commercial reception to The Nevers - the show enjoyed reasonable first-season ratings on HBO - meant that HBO did undertake a salvage operation on the series, appointing Philippa Goslett as the new showrunner and teeing up ideas for a second full season. It appears that the original plan was to let the second half of the season air and then see if it had legs to go on without Whedon's influence. However, the recent merger of Warner Brothers and Discovery has led to many shows, some of them bigger than The Nevers, being cancelled for finance and business reasons rather than popularity ones. It's somewhat unsurprising that The Nevers was deemed much more expendable in this new environment.

Production of the second batch of episodes was fully completed and apparently news of the cancellation came early enough that they were able to craft the season finale into a full series finale. The second batch of episodes should air in 2023, although it's not entirely clear where: the existing episodes have been pulled from HBO Max (alongside those of Westworld). It looks like the episodes may resurface as part of the new ad-supported streaming service that Warner Brothers is reportedly developing.

The Nevers: Season 1 (Part 1)

London, 1899. The city has been changed by the advent of the "Touched," gifted people (predominantly women, but a few men) with unusual abilities. The government is conflicted over what to do with the Touched, but noblewoman Lavinia Bidlow hits on the idea of opening an "orphanage" where they can feel safe and protected. The combative and resourceful Amalia True, who has visions of the future, is placed in charge of the orphanage and is aided by her friend Penance Adair, whose "turn" allows her to see electrical connections and create wonderful new inventions. The reputation of the Touched is marred when one of their number, Maladie, becomes the worst serial killer since Jack the Ripper, forcing the Touched to try to track her down whilst protecting themselves...and finding out what happened three years earlier to suddenly awaken their powers.

The Nevers mixes science fiction with a period Victorian drama, an intriguing new direction for HBO as it looks for the next big-budget, cross-genre show with mass appeal that can continue in the vein from Game of Thrones and Watchmen. Based on this initial batch of six episodes - another six episodes, delayed by the COVID19 pandemic, follows next year - HBO's faith may have been rewarded: The Nevers is epic in scope with a relentless pace, an intriguing story and terrific actors. Indeed, if it were not for behind the scenes drama* revolving around now-departed showrunner Joss Whedon, the show would have likely been hailed as a success. Instead, its critical reception has been muted, with many reviews focusing more on the behind-the-scenes situation than on the show on its own merits.

In terms of the show itself, the first (half) season is a tightly-wound and intricately constructed narrative structure, working backwards and forwards in time. Rewatching the season immediately after completing the sixth episode will result in a somewhat different experience. The Nevers is both a story and an illusion obscuring what the story is really about. This isn't too astounding - it's only six episodes, not completely revamping what the entire series is about a full season or two into its run - but it shows the degree of narrative daring and experimentation that we used to expect from HBO. In some respects, the show feels like a warmer and more approachable version of the network's clever-but-cold masterpieces The Leftovers and Watchmen, which also experimented with storytelling ideas whilst telling an interesting story.

In other respects, this is Whedon: The Greatest Hits, which can be distracting if you have more than a passing familiarity with his body of work. Character archetypes, ideas and story arcs from his earlier series (from Buffy right through to Dollhouse) have been recycled with near glee, resulting sometimes in intriguing ideas emerging from mashing together old ones, but a few too many times in predictability. The series finale should be - and in some cases, has been - hailed as one of the most interesting and accomplished episodes of television of the year, a bold right-hand turn in storytelling that completely rewrites the show's backstory, mythology and future direction through a masterclass of suspense and acting (Laura Donnelly should be nominated for an Emmy for her performance in this episode alone). It's just that Whedon lifted a huge amount of the ideas and tropes for the episode from one of his earlier shows, almost wholesale. For those who have less familiarity with his work, it's much less of an issue, and will probably be far more impressive as a result.

The cast is uniformly excellent: Donnelly's MVP credentials are established early on and is ably supported by Ann Skelly's turn as genius engineer Penance Adair (one of the most enjoyable "womances" - if that's a thing - of recent years). Olivia Williams is one of Britain's best actresses and is hugely impressive in her role as the Touched's benefactor, Lavinia Bidlow (being a wheelchair user is probably a nod at Professor X, The Nevers never being afraid to lean into its occasionally X-Men-ish inspirations). Pip Torrens is outstanding as charismatic maybe-villain Lord Gilbert Massen, a British patriot filled with loathing for the Touched after his daughter was killed on the day they gained their powers. Amy Manson is outstanding as the unhinged (or is she?) Maladie, with Rochelle Neil being highly impressive as Bonfire Annie, a criminal with the ability to create and manipulate fire. Ben Chaplin is particularly excellent as gruff policeman Frank Mundi, whose investigation into the various strange goings-on in London proceeds in parallel to the Touched, making him at times a co-protagonist with True and Adair.

There's also some outstanding action sequences, the highlight being a fight scene in the third episode which involves combat both above and below water, and Amalia having to desperately come up with a way of defeating a Touched whose power seems to render him unstoppable in this particular environment; her finding a way of turning his power against him in a logical manner is a magic system delight that I can imagine Brandon Sanderson nodding approvingly over. As another plus, the musical score of the series is absolutely stellar, with both the first and third episodes ending with striking musical pieces.

The basic premise, though, is wholly unoriginal: the first episode reveals that the Touched's powers came from some kind of alien entity that appeared in the skies over the city, which is less "inspired by" and "directly lifted from" George R.R. Martin's Wild Cards anthology series. The X-Men parallels are too numerous to concisely list, and of course "badass women kicking backside whilst quipping quippily" is pretty much the defining through-line of Whedon's career, from Buffy and Faith through Zoe to Black Widow and Wonder Woman (whom Whedon penned a spectacularly bad script for before directing on Justice League). The Nevers never pretends to originality but does execute its at-times overly-familiar story with gusto and enthusiasm.

There are some other, odd negatives. The effects work is strangely variable, with at times flawless depictions of late 19th Century London standing alongside blatantly obvious greenscreens, and I'm not sure why they needed to build iffy 3D models of the Houses of Parliament and St. Paul's Cathedral for establishing shots, given both still exist. HBO has also failed to learn from its "direwolf" mistake on Game of Thrones, where the inability of the CG team to convincing scale up ordinary wolves to huge size eventually became so embarrassing that they were ejected from the story altogether; on The Nevers a recurring character is over ten feet tall, and CGI is obviously used to sell this illusion. But unfortunately the character never sits well in the frame and never convinces the audience that she's actually there. This feels both bafflingly amateur for a TV show airing in 2021 (twenty years after a whole battery of techniques were used to far more convincingly sell the similar size difference between humans and hobbits) and distracts from the actress's fine performance in a challenging role.

There's also some distinct underuse of accomplished actors: James Norton has little to do but drape himself caddishly over sets and utter swinish remarks whilst sleeping with everyone and everything in his debauched sight. Nick Frost has even less to do as the "Beggar King," a high-ranking member of London's criminal underground. With Frost seeking more dramatic and more challenging roles in recent years (in the likes of Into the Badlands and Truth Seekers), and generally nailing them, it's a shame to see him so underutilised here; hopefully he'll have a larger role in the second half of the season.

The Nevers' first half-season (***½) has a lot going on, good and mediocre, but emerges as a mostly-qualified success. The actors are outstanding, the action scenes are great, the worldbuilding accomplished, the soundtrack excellent and the story is interesting, with great pacing and an oddly endearing, almost 1990s approach of giving each episode its own storyline whilst also furthering the overall arc (a structure that more modern shows should use, rather than trying to make "twelve hour movies"). In the sixth episode, the series pulls off a major revision of everything you thought was going on with success. Balanced against that is a distinct lack of originality (worsened by familiarity with Whedon's earlier work), some ropey effects work and under-development of a few characters. And of course your enjoyment of the half-season will likely depend hugely on if you can separate the art from the artist (remembering that a lot more artists worked on this show than just one man, and he's since departed).

* The Nevers has been afflicted by behind-the-scenes controversy that should be acknowledged; creator and showrunner Joss Whedon left the show after the first six episodes had been filmed, a presumed spill-over from his controversial period overseeing reshoots on Zack Snyder's 2017 movie Justice League (produced by HBO's parent company, Warner Brothers) which had resulted in claims of bullying and harassment being levelled against him by multiple castmembers on that film. Subsequent to that, numerous actors and crew from multiple previous Whedon projects had come forward with their own tales of inappropriate behaviour. The Whedon "brand," which had previously driven shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) to mass success and Firefly (2002) to immortal cultdom, has become toxic and it is highly questionable if he will ever work in Hollywood again.

With regards to The Nevers, Whedon wrote the first episode and directed the first and fifth; it is presumed, as showrunner and executive producer, he also had a hand in rewrites on the other episodes. Whedon also commissioned the scripts for the next four episodes of the series and may written one of them himself; HBO later expanded the order to twelve episodes in total after Whedon's departure, so the last two episodes will have no input from Whedon at all, and I suspect all six have been heavily rewritten. Philippa Goslett has taken over as showrunner for the second batch of episodes and any future seasons should they be commissioned. The show's other initial writers, including long-term Whedon collaborators Doug Petrie and Jane Espenson, remain involved in the project.

Multiple BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER stars speak out against Joss Whedon

Multiple cast and crew who worked on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off series, Angel, have spoken out against showrunner/creator Joss Whedon, claiming he created a toxic and bullying atmosphere on set.

Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia Chase on three seasons of Buffy and the first four seasons of Angel, made the first statement earlier today, stating that Whedon threatened to fire her as a joke and made unflattering statements about her figure and personal appearance, including after she became pregnant in the fourth season of Angel. Carpenter had previously complained that Whedon had effectively fired her from Angel after she became pregnant with no discussion of finding ways of incorporating her pregnancy and allowing her to remain on the show, and Whedon resented her for forcing him to change his storyline for the series. She was killed off during a one-off appearance in Season 5 after being promised that she would not, in fact, be killed off.

Carpenter's statement was quickly picked up and boosted by Amber Benson, who played Tara in Seasons 4-6 of Buffy. Benson confirmed that the show had a toxic atmosphere as a result of Whedon's personality and bullying tactics.

The show's star, Sara Michelle Gellar, then made a brief Instagram statement in which she said she'd forever be proud to have her name associated with that of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but not that of Joss Whedon.

Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Dawn Summers in Seasons 5-7 of Buffy, has also offered her support and said that Whedon's behaviour was "inappropriate." She later amended her statement to say that Whedon was not allowed to be alone with her in the same room during filming on Buffy.

Clare Kramer, who played the villainous Glory in Season 5 of Buffy, also offered her support for these reports.

The statements come after a year of allegations that Joss Whedon bullied and belittled actor Ray Fisher on the set of the 2017 movie Justice League (an allegation supported by co-star Jason Momoa). Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot also reported some difficulties in working with Whedon. Buffy actor James Marsters, who played Spike on both Buffy and Angel and was briefly involved in developing a spin-off series, last year recounted Whedon reacting badly to Spike's popularity, feeling that he had to keep Spike on the show rather than facing a fan backlash and reacting poorly to the situation (at one point grabbing the actor and telling him that he was "dead").

Buffy stunt actor and coordinator Jeff Pruitt also reported last year that Whedon had started off the show well, but by Season 4 had become an "egomaniac" due to the success of the series and had resorted to bullying cast and crewmembers, even interfering in Pruitt's relationship with stuntwoman Sophia Crawford, which led to him quitting at the end of that season and Crawford the following season.

In 2017, Whedon's ex-wife Kai Cole posted an article claiming that Whedon was unfaithful to her with several actresses from his shows and was mentally abusive to her in the process. Whedon's representatives did not dispute this point.

Whedon's most recent project was a new TV series for HBO, called The Nevers. Work had been completed on the first six episodes of the series, which HBO is showing in April, but Whedon quit the show last November. A second batch of four to six episodes (delayed by the COVID pandemic) is progressing with replacement showrunner Philippa Goslett in charge.

It was reported last year that Whedon was in talks to rejoin the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which he'd quit following a falling-out with Marvel head honcho Isaac Perlmutter over the film Avengers: Age of Ultron. With Perlmutter removed from any responsibility for the films in favour of MCU producer Kevin Feige, Whedon was reportedly interested in stepping back into a role. However, one imagines this is now highly unlikely to happen.

This is potentially a developing story, and more if it emerges.

UPDATE: Anthony Stewart Head, who played Giles on all seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, notes that he did not see any inappropriate behaviour on set but is fully supportive of the actors coming forwards. He notes that he was already a very experienced and relatively famous actor when he appeared in the show, so the power dynamics he had with Whedon were very different, and if he'd been aware of inappropriate behaviour he would have spoken out at the time.

Actor James C. Leary, who played the recurring role of Clem in the last three seasons of Buffy, has also voiced his support for those coming forwards.

Eliza Dushku, who played Faith in twenty episodes of Buffy and six of Angel, has voiced her support as well.

J. August Richards, who played Gunn in Seasons 2-5 of Angel and in a guest role in Season 1, has also spoken of his support for Charisma Carpenter.

James Marsters, who played Spike in Seasons 2 and 4-7 of Buffy and Season 5 of Angel, has added his support. He had previously reported unpleasant interactions with Whedon during the making of Buffy, particularly Whedon's anger over how popular Spike was and how he felt that interfered with his storytelling.

Marti Noxon, who was effectively the showrunner of Buffy the Vampire Slayer after Whedon stepped back to oversee Angel and Firefly as well, has also voiced her support.

Jose Molina, who worked as a writer and script editor on Firefly, alleges that Whedon liked to boast about bullying women in the workplace, in particular taking joy in making a female writer "cry twice in one meeting."

Adam Busch, who played Warren in Seasons 5 and 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has added his support to Charisma Carpenter.

Emma Caulfield, who played Anya on Seasons 3-7 of Buffy (and is currently playing Dottie on WandaVision), has also voiced her support.

David Boreanaz, who played Angel on the first three seasons of Buffy (and recurring in later seasons) and was the star of the spin-off show, has also offered his support to Charisma Carpenter.

Amy Acker, who played Fred on Angel and Whiskey on Whedon's later show Dollhouse, has offered her support as well.

HBO airs first trailer for THE NEVERS

HBO has aired the first trailer for The Nevers, its new period supernatural show from Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon.

Set in London in the (apparently late) 19th Century, during the Victorian era, the show focuses on Amalia True (Laura Donnelly), an irresponsible drunk who becomes one of a number of women to gain supernatural powers. Some in society regard such people as a threat, others as an opportunity to gain power and influence.

The show also stars Olivia Williams, James Norton, Tom Riley, Ann Skelly, Ben Chaplin, Amy Manson, Eleanor Tomlinson and Nick Frost.

The show is Whedon's first solo-developed project for television since Dollhouse (2009-10) and his first TV work since directing the pilot of Agents of SHIELD in 2013. However, Whedon left the project shortly after the conclusion of principle photography. Whedon cited scheduling conflicts and problems caused by the delays in filming due to the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason for his departure, but some have noted that the departure coincided with accusations of bullying by actor Ray Fisher during his reshoots on Zack Snyder's Justice League (2017) (Warner Brothers, which produced Justice League, owns HBO). However, Warner Brothers have stood by the other producers and executives named in Fisher's complaints and Whedon's departure had been rumoured for months, since he was reportedly in talks with Disney about developing new projects for them.

Philippa Goslett has taken over as showrunner on The Nevers in the event a second season is greenlit. Season 1 will begin airing on HBO and HBO Max in April this year.

Joss Whedon steps down as showrunner of HBO's THE NEVERS

Joss Whedon has stepped down as showrunner of HBO's upcoming historical fantasy series The Nevers. Whedon cites the workload and schedule conflicts brought about by delays to filming caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Whedon made his name in the 1990s as a writer on Roseanne and working on Hollywood movies including Toy Story, Twister and Alien: Resurrection, as well as his own original property Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Frustrated with how his scripts were constantly being changed by other people, he jumped at the chance to revamp Buffy as a TV series. The series aired between 1997 and 2003 and spawned a nearly-as-successful spin-off, Angel, which aired from 1999 to 2003. Whedon also produced the TV shows Firefly (2002) and Dollhouse (2009-10), along with a Firefly feature film spin-off, Serenity (2005), which marked his feature film writing/directing debut. Whedon also wrote and directed The Avengers (2012) and The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) for Marvel and Disney, as well as helping develop and launch the TV series Agents of SHIELD (2013-20). He also took over production of the film Justice League (2017) when director Zack Snyder had to step down following a family tragedy. The Nevers would have marked the first TV show he had completely helmed from start to finish in more than a decade.

Although Whedon cites other reasons for leaving, many commentators will be sceptical of his claims. In 2017, Whedon's ex-wife accused him of cheating on her with at least one and possibly more actresses in some of the shows he worked on, although specific accusations were not made. The news rocked Whedon's fanbase, which had previously praised him for his depiction of female empowerment in his work (although other critics had long held some of Whedon's writing to be problematic, particularly in Dollhouse and his alleged sidelining and then firing of actress Charisma Carpenter from Angel for becoming pregnant). The largest Whedon fansite shut down and his fans have been divided ever since.

In 2020 Whedon was accused of bullying and unacceptable behaviour on the set of Justice League by actor Ray Fisher. Initially Fisher's comments were not substantiated by other actors, but then Jason Momoa stepped forwards to back Fisher. Warner Brothers launched an investigation of Whedon's behaviour during production. Warner Brothers own HBO, meaning that this investigation would certainly have a bearing on Whedon's involvement on The Nevers.

The Nevers began shooting in July 2019 and completed production of five episodes prior to being shut down by the pandemic in March 2020. Filming resumed in September and was completed at the end of October. However, post-production and editing has only been partially completed.

Whedon's long-term writing and producing partners Jane Espenson and Douglas Petrie are also working on the show, along with Game of Thrones producer Bernadette Caulfield. It is assumed they will take over showrunner duties during the post-production phase and new plans will be made if HBO decides to renew the show for a second season.

Currently The Nevers is tentatively planned to air in the summer of 2021.

She Saved the World...a Lot: A BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER Retrospective

Originally airing between 1997 and 2003 (and loosely based on a 1992 movie), Buffy the Vampire Slayer was one of the most popular genre TV shows of the 1990s. Created and produced by Joss Whedon, the show spawned a larger franchise – the “Buffyverse” – which came to incorporate novels, video and board games and a canonical, eleven-year comic series which continued the story from the TV show. It also spawned a spin-off show, Angel, which ran from 1999 to 2004. Almost every book, TV show and movie featuring supernatural creatures in a modern setting published since 1997, from The Dresden Files to Sookie Stackhouse (itself adapted to TV as True Blood) to the Twilight series, lives in Buffy’s shadow.

Buffy started as a joke: Joss Whedon getting annoyed at yet another helpless young woman going down the wrong alley or trusting the wrong guy and getting killed by a (usually male) monster or serial killer. Working as a scriptwriter on the mega-hit sitcom Roseanne gave the very young Whedon some pull in Hollywood, so he wrote a spec script which started with the same scene, but this time the young woman defeats the monster and kills it in hand-to-hand combat. The resulting movie made some noise on release for its casting of the then-hot Luke Perry (from Beverly Hills 90210) and Kristy Swanson (seen as a potential up-and-comer) in the title role, and did okay at the box office. Whedon was unhappy with the final film, which had dramatically cut his script, removed most of the best lines and exorcised the final set-piece battle in which the school gym is spectacularly blown up. He was also extremely unhappy with Donald Sutherland’s performance and felt his vision for the film had been butchered, turned more into a comedy than the comedy-horror hybrid he’d envisaged. He moved on, becoming a script doctor working on films such as Twister, Speed and Toy Story, and tried to forget about the experience.

Unexpectedly, 20th Century Fox didn’t forget about it. The movie had performed perfunctorily at the box office but picked up a long tail on home video and rental, making a pleasing amount of money and working as a kitsch cult favourite, although not enough to justify a film sequel. Along with the film’s producers they worked on the idea of turning the film into an ongoing TV series instead and invited Joss back to write for the show and run it. Whedon agreed, surprising many in the business as he turned his back on the lucrative world of movies for TV, where he had much greater creative control instead. Whedon’s last film script at this time was the first draft of Alien: Resurrection, which was also butchered by the director and in rewrites, causing him to later remake the same idea (of a disparate crew of reluctant allies working on a transport ship in the future) as a TV show…but that’s another story.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was produced by Fox but aired on the WB network, where it picked up very strong audience figures for the young channel. The show was a near-instant success, propelling its young and photogenic cast onto the covers of magazines worldwide. More startlingly, it attracted a degree of critical acclaim. After a few ropy opening episodes, the Season 1 finale and then most of Season 2 saw a huge uptick in the show’s critical reception, as Whedon took the show in unexpectedly dark directions.

The doomed relatonship between Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Angel (David Boreanaz) provided the main dramatic thrust for the first three seasons of the show.

The show’s premise is broadly similar to the movie’s (which, confusingly, in the show canon is referenced only in the form of Whedon’s original script, not the final product). Into every generation is born a Slayer, one teenage girl in all the world who has the strength, speed and stamina to fight against the vampires, demons and other forces of darkness. When one Slayer dies another is called. An organisation known as the Watchers’ Council identifies potential Slayers before they are called and helps train and prepare them for the role, but in the case of Buffy Summers they completely miss the signs. Buffy thus has to train and learn how to be a Slayer at the same time as dealing with ordinary teenage concerns: dating, studying and family trauma (her parents have recently divorced).

For the show, Buffy relocates to Sunnydale, California, a fictional town which just happens to be built on top of the Hellmouth, a portal leading to a myriad of unpleasant hell dimensions. The Hellmouth has been relatively quiet for seventy years (although there’s still more supernatural activity than normal there) but has recently become more active due to the presence of the Master, a vampire lord who has been imprisoned nearby. As the Master’s prison weakens, so the Hellmouth gets more active and more weird stuff starts happening.

Buffy is aided in her task of guarding the Hellmouth by a new Watcher, Rupert Giles, and two friends who discover Buffy’s secret in her first week in her new high school: Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg. This foursome forms the core of the “Scooby Gang.” Over the course of the seven seasons, there are numerous additions to and departures from the Gang, but this core group remains (mostly) constant. The presence of the Hellmouth helps the writers explain why Buffy is constantly coming up against weird creatures in the same location, the show lacking the budget to have her constantly on the road travelling to trouble spots (as is suggested is the normal life of a Slayer); the WB’s later supernatural, demon-hunting series (now on the CW), Supernatural, actually employs this idea instead.

The show’s initial focus is on action, with Buffy fighting a new “monster of the week” each episode, including crazed Inca mummies, a giant praying mantis (probably the nadir of the show’s episodes) and – apparently – a serial-killing sentient puppet. However, she also has a recurring problem in the form of the Master’s plan to break free and open the Hellmouth, thus ending the world (or flooding it with demons). The show also gives Buffy a potential love interest, Angel, a “reformed” vampire who has had his soul restored by a gypsy curse. The twelve-episode first season culminates in a final battle where the Master is defeated.

Although the later seasons are much longer (22 episodes apiece), the first season establishes the show’s basic format: a threat – the “Big Bad” – is established in the opening episodes, which at first is in the background and vague and then grows more powerful, usually becoming prominent by mid-season, where there is usually a twist or reversal which ups the stakes and drives the back half of the season. Buffy also has personal challenges to face at the same time, involving romance, her academic career or her family life. With some variations, each season of the show broadly follows this arc, with occasional moderate changes in format driven by events such as Buffy and her friends graduating from high school to college at the end of Season 3. Whedon chose this format over the “one big story unfolding across the entire series” approach favoured by one of his favourite shows, Babylon 5, because it gave greater closure to each season (making it less problematic if the show was unexpectedly cancelled). However, he later acknowledged this was somewhat contrived – a new threat showing up in September that was normally defeated by May, with there being no threat at all over the summer – and seeded in more long-running story arcs into the later seasons, whilst also including a series-long, ongoing threat in the spin-off show Angel (that of evil law firm Wolfram & Hart).

Spike (James Marsters) was an early-series villain who returned later on as a friend and ally.

The reasons for Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s commercial and popular success were obvious: the young and photogenic cast and the stories mixing action, drama, soap opera elements and romance. The reasons for its critical success were initially less clear; contemporary young dramas such as Charmed, Roswell and Dawson’s Creek seemed to be somewhat more risibly received by adult critics whilst Buffy was wowing them as early as the end of Season 1. The reasons for this are numerous. The first is that Buffy is the rare show that completely masters tonal variation, a hallmark of Joss Whedon’s work (who also does the same thing in Angel, Firefly and the two Avengers movies he worked on). Buffy is an intense teenage character drama one minute, an all-out action show the next and then a comedy. During and after Season 4 it also developed a nice line in unexpected experimentation, with one episode taking place almost completely without dialogue and another being a musical filled with original songs referencing and pushing forwards the plot.

The second is that the show has pretty good dialogue. Whedon – 32 when the first season aired – knew he wasn’t “down with the kids” so developed his own language cadence and lexicon for the show which both felt real (the weird teenager in-references and jokes feel genuine) but weren’t based on real contemporary slang, also preventing the show from dating. More cleverly, he was also able to make Giles sound like a genuine English guy (thanks to Whedon spending three years in the UK as a teenager) and developed more elaborate and flowery dialogue for the vampire characters who had lived for centuries.

The third is that Buffy is self-aware, and usually the first to poke fun at itself. Its premise and even the name of the show are batty and weird, and it leans into it. The fact that all vampires seem to inexplicably learn kickboxing in the time between dying and raising from the grave is noted, and Buffy’s tendency to give wonderfully uplifting speeches but which then can get a bit repetitive becomes a recurring gag in the final season. Giles’s tendency to get immediately knocked out by whatever threat has arisen is also noted, with the other characters starting to worry he’ll “wake up in a coma.” For those who think metacommentary in a TV show is a new thing, watching twenty-three-year-old episodes where characters mock the dramatic angst and doomed tragedy of the Angel/Buffy relationship can be amusing.

The fourth reason is that Buffy is a metaphor, and a successful one. The show uses the vampires, werewolves and supernatural creatures as reflections and stand-ins for the traumas of life, at first applied to teenagers and later to life in general. An unpopular girl is so fed up at being ignored and lonely that she literally fades out of view and becomes completely invisible. The most popular girl in the year, Cordelia, is constantly being complimented and having sycophants hang on her every word, but is lonely and unhappy until joining Buffy’s crew gives her a sense of purpose and fulfilment (despite Buffy’s group being considered weird rejects and outcasts at school) because they are actually achieving something. In Season 2, Buffy loses her virginity to Angel, inadvertently breaking his curse and turning him back into a vicious, amoral killer, a nod at the “nice guys” who turn into arseholes the second they get what they want from the girl. More controversially, numerous young, lonely and male students are shown dabbling with various dark arts to kill or hurt their fellow students, often after being rejected by female crushes. One even pulls out a gun in school, although this is to kill himself rather than his classmates, but this was so problematic in the wake of the Columbine massacre that the episode was delayed by several months.

The metaphors are usually reasonably elegant, but occasionally get preachy: Willow’s addiction to using magic in Season 6 is a worthwhile storyline, but is clumsily presented, with Willow visiting “magic dens” where people get off on doing spells like they’re 1960s acid-trippers. This wasn’t so much “on the nose” as “snapping the nose clean off.” Faith’s third season descent into being a “bad girl” is also pretty clichéd, saved only by Eliza Dushku’s performance and her later redemptive arc on Angel (which then feeds back into Buffy’s final season).

The relationship between Tara (Amber Benson) and Willow (Alyson Hannigan) was extremely popular with viewers, and the resolution to it remains controversial.

As Buffy went on it matured, and the audience matured with it. The final three seasons (the sixth, in particular) are sometimes criticised for going “too dark,” with Buffy embarking on an inappropriate, creepy and mutually destructive relationship with the vampire Spike (who, unlike Angel, doesn’t have a soul) and several popular supporting characters being killed off. In the case of Buffy’s mother, this felt necessary to drive a new wave of storylines about Buffy’s independence and making her stand alone, but in the case of the extremely popular Tara it felt less justified and more gratuitous (and problematic, with Tara being a then-rare example of a lesbian character in a happy relationship). 

The addition of Buffy’s “sister” (actually a magical construct) Dawn to the show also upset some fans, who felt it added an element of soap opera to the show and also contributed to the ever-expanding cast, which added some story variety but also dissipated the tight focus on the core foursome. Whedon certainly seemed to have issues jettisoning actors he’d befriended once their main contribution to the story was done, having the likes of Oz, Anya and even Spike hanging around for maybe a season too long apiece as he tried to work out what to do with them. The final season, which has about a dozen new recurring characters (between multiple villains, new allies and the “potential Slayers” Buffy takes under her wing) showing up, is particularly guilty of this. Another element which has aged poorly is Xander’s borderline sexism towards girls in the first season which thankfully improves dramatically in the second.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer isn’t perfect, but it’s one of those shows where the imperfections make it more interesting. It’s a show that tried to wear several hats simultaneously – action, comedy, romance, horror – and actually succeeded in doing so. It could be funny, scary and thought-provoking, and occasionally (in the case of the harrowing Season 5 episode The Body, comfortably one of the best episodes of television ever made) genuinely tear-jerking. It was also a show way ahead of its time in many respects, with the series doing metacommentary, genre savviness and social commentary arguably better than most shows attempting the same today.

Buffy has aged like a fine wine (apart from some of the dodgier effects and a half-arsed HD remaster which should be avoided like the plague) and is still richly compelling and entertaining television, the forerunner of so many modern shows, books and movies which have never quite managed to hit all the same notes simultaneously. If you’ve never seen it, I recommend giving it a whirl, and if it’s been a while since you last visited Sunnydale, you might be surprised at how welcoming the Hellmouth can be on a return trip.

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Joss Whedon's HBO show THE NEVERS won't air until 2021

At a PR event this week, HBO confirmed that Joss Whedon's forthcoming Victorian drama The Nevers won't air until (presumably early) 2021.

Whedon is shooting the drama in and around London right now, and has been for several months, with shooting set to conclude in the New Year. This led to speculation that the show could air in late 2020. However, HBO have a full schedule coming up - a result of being mandated to increase their number of original dramas to compete with Netflix - and it sounds like The Nevers has been slotted in later than expected to make up for it.

This leaves HBO with something of a dilemma, as if they wait to see if the show is a hit we may not see a second season until late 2023 or even early 2024 (based on the production schedule for Season 1). Modern premium dramas have been criticised for airing new seasons only every eighteen months to two years, a problem that Amazon Prime has overcome by commissioning two seasons of their new shows up front (so Season 2 is shooting when Season 1 airs, allowing them to decide to commission a third season or not and giving the show time to build an audience over two seasons). HBO has so far been happy to allow two years to elapse between seasons, but it's unclear if they will continue in this vein with the competition apparently taking steps to overcome the issue.

The Nevers is Joss Whedon's first TV series since Dollhouse debuted ten years ago and his first screen project since The Avengers: Age of Ultron was released in 2015.

Joss Whedon's THE NEVERS announces cast

HBO has announced the cast list for The Nevers, it's first television collaboration with Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, The Avengers) and Whedon's first television series since Dollhouse ten years ago.

From left to right, Olivia Williams, Nick Frost and Ann Skelly.

The series is set in Victorian England and deals with the Touched, people with unusual abilities who are in danger of being exploited or destroyed for their powers. Whedon is the head writer, showrunner and director on the show, and has been joined by Buffy vets Jane Espenson and Doug Petrie, along with Melissa Iqbal (Humans), playwright Madhuri Shekar and journalist Laurie Penny on the writing team. Bernadette Caulfield (Game of Thrones) is handling much of the organisational side of production.

Laura Donnelly (Outlander) is playing protagonist Amalia True, "the most reckless, impulsive, emotionally damaged hero of her time."

Olivia Williams (Dollhouse) is playing Lavinia Bidlow, a wealther spinster and champion of the Touched. She is the founder of the Orphanage, where Amalia and many of the Touched live.

James Norton (Grantchester) as Hugo Swann, a club owner who collects information and intelligence. He is fascinated by the Touched and may or may not be an ally.

Tom Riley (Da Vinci's Demons) as Augustus Bidlow, Lavinia's younger brother, Hugo's best friend and keen ornithologist. He develops an infatuation with one of the Touched.

Ann Skelly (Little Women) as Penance Adair, Amalia's dearest friend and a fellow member of the Touched. She is a devout Irish Catholic, which guides her moral choices.

Ben Chaplin (Snowden) as Detective Frank Mundi, a police officer with a sense of morality but who is driven to drink by the moral quandaries he finds himself in. He runs afoul of the rich and powerful, who ignore the laws of the land, and becomes aware of the presence of the Touched in London.

Pip Torrens (The Crown) as Lord Massen. A former general in the British Army and now a Peer of the Realm, Massen fears that the Touched are a danger to the Empire.

Zackary Momoh (Seven Seconds) as Dr. Horation Cousens. Another of the Touched and an ally of Amalia. As a doctor with a wife and son, he has a respectable place in society.

Amy Manson (Being Human) as Maladie, another of the Touched but one who has been driven mad by its powers. She now lives underground and has been blamed for a murder spree.

Nick Frost (Into the Badlands, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) as Declan Orrun, the Beggar King. Charismatic but brutal, Declan runs most of the crime gangs in the city. He has been both an ally and an enemy of the Touched, as he is happy to back them in return for favours but also doesn't have a problem selling them out to a higher bidder.

Rochelle Neil (Episodes) as Annie Carbey, aka Bonfire, a career criminal and one of the Touched, with the power to manipulate fire. She is a lone operator and not interested in working with others.

Eleanor Tomlinson (Poldark) as Mary Brighton, an aspiring singer.

Denis O'Hare (Big Little Lies) as Dr. Edmund Hague, a gifted American surgeon.

The Nevers started shooting last month in London and should air on HBO in mid-to-late 2020.

Angel: Season 5

Angel and his team have made a deal with the devil, joining forces with their former enemies at Wolfram & Hart following their mutual battle against the evil Jasmine. Angel believes his team can rehabilitate the law firm and turn them into a force for good, but some (including their old allies from Sunnydale) believe they will be corrupted and swallowed by the beast. The return of an old friend turned enemy turned unreliable ally causes Angel to question his place in the world...and the loss of another friend threatens to destroy the team altogether.

Angel's fifth and final season is an interesting one. The fourth season (and to some extent the second and third as well) had gone into an incredibly dark, intense and serialised direction which the studio had not been entirely comfortable with. For the fifth season they wanted more stand-alone episodes and a lighter tone, which the show initially struggles a little bit with. It's hard to go as dark as Angel did in Season 4 and then reel it back in.

Moving the action to Wolfram & Hart shakes things up nicely, bringing in new and former recurring characters (like Mercedes McNab's Harmony and Christian Kane's Lindsey) and setting up a new paradigm. This allows the show to switch back to a monster/case-of-the-week storyline (albeit with serialised subplots continuing between episodes, such as Fred and Wesley's growing attraction) without it feeling too contrived. The addition of Spike to the cast takes a bit more work, since his sacrifice at the end of Buffy gave the character a powerful send-off and bringing him back to chase ratings on the sister show is a bit cheesy. That said, the addition of Spike - a second vampire with a soul - helps Angel's character, by causing him to question his own place and purpose in the world. James Marsters is good as usual and the writers find things for Spike to do to develop the story and characters without him dominating the show (as arguably he did on occasion in Seasons 4-7 of Buffy).

In the second half of the season the writers seemed to realise the writing was on the wall for the show, so started layering in more serialised storytelling, setting up both an absolutely shocking, heart-wrenching plot twist that comes out of nowhere (and is beautifully sold by all the actors, particularly Alexis Denisof and a never-better Amy Acker) and a final confrontation with the forces of evil, an all-star group of villains which, it turns out, the first half of the season was cleverly setting up and foreshadowing. This gives Angel - both the show and character - its mission statement back, to present a band of people fighting the good fight against the forces of darkness, no matter the cost. If Buffy was about growing up, Angel is about working out what to do with the rest of your life and if you can find something to believe in and fight for. It's a universal theme, but one arguably rarely presented as well and without cliche as in this show.

Angel's fifth season (****½) falters slightly early on but recovers to deliver a second half which sums up the character, the show and the entire Buffyverse in tone, and gives the show and the universe one of the best, messiest and most realistic endings an SFF show has ever had. It is available now as part of the complete series boxed set (UK, USA).

Angel: Season 4

Angel is trapped in a coffin at the bottom of the ocean. Wesley, feeling betrayed by his friends, has turned into a hard-bitten, demon-killing mercenary. Cordelia is missing and Lorne has relocated to to Vegas. Connor, Fred and Gunn are carrying on the good fight, but outnumbered and outgunned there are limits to what they can do. As the gang set out to gather their friends, a much greater threat is gathering force and is about to unleash an evil upon the world that nobody, not even the demonic law firm Wolfram & Hart, are prepared to deal with.

The fourth season of Angel is the most polarising. It's the show's darkest season, at times seemingly delighting in finding ways of sending characters already in dire straits to an even lower and more depressing state. However, it's also the most serialised season and the writers spend a lot of time delighting in one-upping one another with ever more elaborate and challenging cliffhangers and dramatic plot twists, most of which (just about) hang together.

It helps that the previous seasons established both this tight-knit group of characters and their enemies in Wolfram & Hart so well, so when the show rolls hand grenades into both camps in the form of "the Beast" (a seemingly unstoppable killing machine) there's a lot of good drama to be mined. Previously-established secondary characters are killed off at a rate of knots, and the show has to draft in some heavy guns from previous seasons (not to mention Buffy) to help tackle the threat, which makes the story feel genuinely high-stakes.

This year also benefits from better pacing than the third season, with a more heavily serialised arc split into chapters separated by stand-alones (which nevertheless further either characterisation or subplots related to the main arc). There's also a lot to do, from rescuing Angel to getting Wesley back on-team (or at least on speaking terms again) to identifying the Beast and formulating a plan to deal with it. More than most Buffy and Angel seasons, it earns its 22-episode running time.

Although the pacing is excellent and the general storyline very good - arguably the strongest season arc Angel ever tackled - some characters suffer, a lot. Behind-the-scenes shenanigans led to Cordelia's character being effectively thrown under a bus for most of the season and then shuffled off to Ambiguous Coma Land. Given Charisma Carpenter's excellent performance in the third season as she changed Cordelia into being the show's strong, moral centre, that's a bitter disappointment. Even worse is what happens to Angel's son, Connor. Connor is a moody teenager, which automatically makes him hard to like, but whilst the similarly-initially-unpopular character of Dawn on Buffy was allowed to change and grow and eventually earn her place on the team, Connor stays a mopey teenager all season. He also ends up being everyone's patsy, played like a fool by multiple enemies. His late-season redemption isn't enough to save the character and the producers have to shuffle him off the show in the most embarrassing way possible once they realise they can't redeem the character.

The fourth season of Angel (****) is divisive, being both a compelling rollercoaster of interesting storylines, and a sustained character assassination which renders at least two major characters unlikable for no real particular reason. It is available now as part of the complete series boxed set (UK, USA).

Angel: Season 3

The team at Angel Investigations are on top form, solving new mysteries and enhanced by the addition of Winifred Burkle - an astrophysicist with a gift for science and research - to the team. As Fred settles in (having spent five years imprisoned in another dimension), the team have to face the consequences of past actions, as Wolfram & Hart continue to undermine their operation and Darla returns...with a surprise for Angel.

The second season of Angel was a success, with a great main story arc and lots of excellent character development, especially for Angel, a character you'd assume by now had been fully explored. The third season is more or less a direct sequel to the second, but the writers pull back on some elements they feel had already been explored in sufficient depth, such as making Angel a darker character or having Wolfram & Hart constantly being behind whatever evil is going on in any given episode.

They also - thankfully - don't explore the camp fantasy world of Pylea again. Although a nice change of pace, Pylea outstayed its welcome at the end of Season 2 and we can do without going there again. Instead, the consequences of the Pylea trip play out several times over the course of the season, particularly for Fred (a winning performance by Amy Acker) and Cordelia (an ever-improving Charisma Carpenter).

If Season 3 has a major problem, it's in its structure and pacing. The writers clearly decided that some storylines in previous seasons had been allowed to dominate too many episodes, so this season each story arc unfolds much more intensely, usually over 3-4 episodes max, separated by stand-alone episodes. This means that stories have much greater verve and pacing, but it also means that the growing narrative momentum of the season keeps being reset with stand-alone episodes, which vary in quality immensely. The story arcs, revolving around the return of Darla, the campaign against Angel by his old enemy Daniel Holtz (a fine performance by Keith Szarabajaka) and the birth of a child with a surprising destiny, are all pretty solid, but the gaps between the stories feel contrived at best.

The season also makes a series of curious decisions regarding characterisation which are still highly controversial. Wesley has been getting more ruthless and capable since the first season, but the way he goes full-on dark and borderline amoral at the end of the season feels a bit undercooked. It makes him a far more interesting character in the final two seasons, sure, but the way he gets there feels implausible. There's also the implication that Wesley, a thirty-something guy who's been around the block a few times, makes the decisions he does because he gets turned down by a woman he likes, which feels like a very juvenile motivation point.

There's also the treatment of Cordelia as a character. Through most of Season 3 she undergoes tremendous growth and improvement as a member of the team and ends up being arguably the most well-adjusted and empathetic member of the crew, which given where she started so long ago (in Buffy Season 1) is remarkable. The end of the season throws this development into some doubt. This is less of a problem in Season 3 itself, but paves the way for Season 4, where Cordelia's character is thrown under the bus in a manner that is still highly contentious.

Still, Angel's third season (****) is highly watchable with some impressive storylines, cliffhangers and dramatic moments. Character development is a mixed bag, and some of the stand-alone episodes are painful, but overall it remains a solid addition to the series, and paves the way for the more impressive (if more controversial) fourth year. It is available now as part of the complete series boxed set (UK, USA).

Joss Whedon's THE NEVERS casts lead role

Joss Whedon has cast the lead role in his new television series, The Nevers.

Laura Donnelly will play the role of Amalia True, a hell-razing Victorian woman who refuses to confirm to stereotypes and ends up in charge of a group of women with unusual powers. Donnelly is best-known for playing the role of Janet Fraser Murray on Starz's Outlander, and has also appeared in Merlin, Beowulf and Britannia.

The Nevers marks Whedon's first foray into television since the first season of Agents of SHIELD in 2013, and his first original drama series since Dollhouse in 2009. Whedon will write and direct for the show, and will co-showrun alongside Buffy the Vampire Slayer veteran Jane Espenson. Doug Petrie, also a veteran of Buffy, will also serve as writer and producer. Journalist Laurie Penny and playwright Madhuri Shekar will also act as writers on the series.

The Nevers will start shooting in June this year and run through to February 2020, shooting in and around London. It is expected to debut on HBO in late 2020.

Angel: Season 2

Angel Investigations is expanding, fighting the good fight against evil from a new headquarters and recruiting expert vampire fighter Charles Gunn and finding a new informant in the form of Lorne, the Host. But when demonic law firm Wolfram & Hart resurrects Angel's sire and old lover Darla, it sets a chain of events in motion. To defeat their plan, Angel has to alienate his friends and risk his soul.

The first season of Angel, a spin-off from Buffy the Vampire Slayer focusing on the broody vampire-with-a-soul, was an entertaining but diffuse collection of episodes which varied widely in quality. However, in the second half of the season the show coalesced with the addition of Wesley as a regular character and became much more dynamic, climaxing with the explosive season finale in which Darla is resurrected.

Season 2 picks up on this thread with Darla playing mind games with Angel and throwing him off his game. Early episodes feel a bit Season 1-ish with a few stand-alone episodes, but these are mostly excellent. Are You Now or Have You Ever Been is a fantastic stand-alone drama which answers the question of what just Angel was doing for the century between regaining his soul and deciding to ally with Buffy and start redeeming himself, and Guise Will Be Guise is an entertaining Wesley solo adventure.

The meat of the season is the relationship between Darla and Angel and its impact on other characters such as Wolfram & Hart lawyers Lindsey ("evil hand!") and Lilah. This creates a complex, messy and compelling ten-episode story arc as Angel's commitment to doing the right thing are tested as he tries to help Darla find redemption, and then (once Darla joins forces with a returning Drusilla, from Buffy) vows to destroy her, alienating his team in the process.

Both Buffy and Angel work best when dealing with moral conundrums and difficult character relationships, and this story allows the writers to explore that to the hilt. Excellent performances - especially from Julie Benz (who was supposed to appear in one episode of Buffy and then die, so was doing pretty well here) - and genuinely surprising plot twists keep the story moving in a gripping fashion.

The season does fall down in a few areas. One of these is that it's never really explained why or how Angel and his team are able to rent out such a massive hotel in LA that is in a fully usable condition. Given their money troubles in Season 1 when they were renting a tiny office, it's unclear how they can afford this building. This is paid more attention to in Season 3, but is a niggling oddity in Season 2. Another is that there's so much going on this season that other storylines from Season 1 are minimised or ignored. Kate Lockley's storyline feels a bit undercooked in particular (Elisabeth Rohm's decision to quit the show to become a regular on Law & Order being very understandable as a result).

The season then ends in a curious manner. Perhaps feeling that the season had gotten a bit too dark and depressing, the writers decided to visit Pylea, the home dimension of Lorne, a karaoke bar-owning friendly demon who helps Angel out over the course of the season. Angel goes a bit Hercules/Xena in the final four episodes of the season, with lots of unconvincing castle sets and exteriors, and the crew helping the people rise up against their evil overlords. It's Angel's most bizarre and out-of-place story and hugely divisive amongst fans. I kind of like the whacky change of pace and the way it helps Angel come back from his dark place, but at four episodes the mini-arc is roughly twice as long as it really should be. The best thing the arc does is introduce Amy Acker as new regular character Fred, whose importance becomes much clearer in subsequent seasons.

Angel's second season (****½) is a significant improvement over the first, with a much more riveting story arc and more interesting character developments. It's a rollercoaster of darkness and grit, ending in an unexpected blaze of camp. It is available now as part of the complete series boxed set (UK, USA).

The Great Marvel Rewatch: The Avengers - Age of Ultron

The Avengers have brought down and destroyed the last HYDRA cells which survived the collapse of SHIELD. However, Tony Stark is concerned that the focus on HYDRA has made the Avengers - and the world - forget about the threat from alien forces that resulted in the Battle of New York. His new plan is to create a powerful AI and an automated army of soldiers capable of destroying any threat before it gets close to Earth. Things go wrong when Stark puts his plan into operation, and soon the Avengers have to take on a new threat...one of their own making.

Age of Ultron is the second Avengers movie and the eleventh film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, making it also (at this time of writing) the film that marks the halfway point of the MCU. On release the film was a huge commercial hit (but not as big as The Avengers) but garnered a mixed critical reception.

The reasons for this are clear. Age of Ultron is a tentpole Avengers movie with all the previously-established heroes (Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, the Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Widow, as well as War Machine and Falcon) back to kick butt again. This second film also introduces several new characters, most notably Vision, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, as well as the titular Ultron. This kind of integration of old and new characters is something the MCU is quite good at these days, but way back when Age of Ultron was made (er, four years ago), it wasn't quite as sleek and efficient as it is now. The result is a movie with rocky pacing which sometimes loses focus on what story it's supposed to be telling.

We know now, thanks to director Joss Whedon's candour, that the movie had a lot of behind-the-scenes interference from the studio. In particular, the studio wanted more action and all but demanded that Whedon cut out character-based scenes (such as the sojourn at Hawkeye's farm), whilst they also insisted on shoehorning in more scenes teasing upcoming films rather than retaining focus on the movie at hand. Whedon was also unhappy with the introduction of the "new Avengers" at the end of the film, thinking they lacked bite, and wanted to add Captain Marvel and Spider-Man to the roster at the end of the film. The latter plan was shot down as Captain Marvel hadn't been cast (and her solo movie ended up being delayed by a couple more years) and the Marvel/Sony legal team-up hadn't yet been completed, meaning that Spider-Man was off the menu.

These issues become apparent in the finished film, where there's a lot going on but most of it feels inconsequential. Whedon is also less adept at juggling the large cast this time around, and in fact seemingly checks out of trying to service the cast: War Machine and Falcon get almost no material of consequence, and it feels like Maria Hill and Nick Fury show up only out of a contractual obligation to the actors. Vision is splendidly played by Paul Bettany (who'd already been playing the voice of JARVIS since the original Iron Man) but again it feels like there's barely any room for him, so his importance to the plot feels a bit murky beyond his tie-in with the Infinity Stones.

Also, the Underwhelming Marvel Villain problem strikes again. Ultron is given a great vocal performance by James Spader and has some good lines, but mostly he feels like a generic robot bad guy with a very forgettable look (somewhere between a knock-off Terminator and a lesser Michael Bay Transformer). Ultron's plan to destroy the world at the end of the movie also feels bizarrely random.

Still, there's a fair amount to praise. The actors all bring their A-game and it's fun to see them doing their thing. There's a nice feeling of continuity with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, with the Avengers joining forces to spend a year non-stop wiping out HYDRA after the events of that movie. The new additions to the cast are mostly great and there's some good, fun action scenes and set pieces.

The biggest problem with The Avengers: Age of Ultron (***½) is how incidental the whole thing feels. This is supposed to be the Avengers, up against the biggest bad guys in the universe, not taking on yet another take on "evil AI" in a battle that never feels as high-stakes as it is supposed to be. The end result is a movie that's certainly watchable and at times fun, but also feels kind of unnecessary, especially given the much higher quality of the movies that came out around it (The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy just before and Ant-Man and Civil War just after).