Alyson Hannigan says Buffy should have ditched vamp romance and dated Willow instead
Could Willow and Buffy have been a perfect match? (20th Century Fox)
Buffy The Vampire Slayer star Alyson Hannigan thinks that Buffy should have ditched her Angel/ Spike love triangle and dated Willow instead.
Angel vs Spike was arguably one of the biggest pop culture debates of the 1990s, and the original vampire love dilemma, putting Team Jacob vs Team Edward and Team Stefan vs Team Damon to shame.
When Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) wasn’t busy protecting Sunnydale from vampires and demons, or dealing with regular teenage responsibilities, she was falling hard for both Angel (David Boreanaz) and Spike (James Marsters).
Would she choose Angel, the quiet and thoughtful vampire haunted by his past, or the sexy bad boy vampire Spike? It was a debate that took over fans’ every waking minute for seven seasons.
But Alyson Hannigan, who played Buffy’s bestie, Willow, thinks she knows who was really best for Buffy.
The revelation came about in 2020 when politician Stacey Abrams picked out her top Buffy boys on Twitter (now known as X), inspiring an intense debate among users.
Even series showrunner Joss Whedon joined the discussion – but it was Alyson Hannigan who had the final say.
“Actually Buffy should have dated Willow,” she wrote.
And she makes a very valid point.
Ok, so Willow wasn’t a vampire, but she did become a worthy suitor to contend with when she stepped into her power as a witch.
As a best friend and occasional sidekick to Buffy, Willow knew the iconic vampire slayer better than anyone and was always there to support her.
The more you think about it, the more it sounds like Buffy and Willow really could have been the perfect match.
From season three onwards, Willow identified as a lesbian and had romances with a number of women throughout the horror series, even making history by being involved in both the first long-term lesbian relationship and the first lesbian sex scene on primetime US television.
But, unfortunately, any sort of lesbian romance between Buffy and Willow was rather unlikely.
In 2020, showrunner Joss Wheton revealed that Willow was originally supposed to be bisexual, but it wouldn’t fly because the world wasn’t “ready” for that.
“There are you things you can’t do, thanks to [the society at the time],” he told Metro at the time.
“It [was] like, “OK, you can’t make Willow bi, you can’t say this is a phase, because that’s what people do to deny their existence. So, if I did it now, I’d be like yes she can be bi. Because some people are! But back then it was like, no we’re not ready for that.”
If studios wouldn’t let Willow be bisexual, they definitely wouldn’t have let Buffy be bisexual.
But, today, who knows? Maybe if Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alyson Hannigan were up for a reunion it could happen.
After all, (spoiler alert), she when the series wrapped in 2003, Buffy decided she wouldn’t date Spike or Angel, instead opting to focus on herself and leading a normal life. All these years later, who knows where she might be!
