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Exclusive: Buffy The Vampire Slayer's Amber Benson says Tara's death was supposed to happen earlier

Photo credit: Shutterstock
Photo credit: Shutterstock

From Digital Spy

Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans will never forget 'Seeing Red', season 6's 19th episode. After having his evil plans thwarted, Warren ended up shooting Tara Maclay through the chest, her blood splattering all over the dress of her girlfriend, Willow Rosenberg.

It set in motion the events of that season's finale, as Willow, who had been struggling with her addiction to magic, turned to darkness and wreaked her vengeance.

Interestingly, Joss Whedon apparently wanted to kill Tara off at the start of season 6, which meant that we wouldn't have gotten to explore her groundbreaking lesbian relationship, and see her really shine in the musical episode, 'Once More with Feeling'.

Photo credit: Shutterstock
Photo credit: Shutterstock

Related: Buffy creator on inspiration behind iconic episode

Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy as part of our Rainbow Crew series, Tara actor Amber Benson recalled Joss pulling her aside during the filming of the season 5 finale.

She told us: "He was like, 'Hey! Guess what? It’s so exciting! We’re going to kill your character!'

"I was like, 'Oh… oh, yes…. That sounds… awesome… yeah.'"

Although she was told that it would be early in season 6, she stated that it was changed multiple times before they finally settled on episode 19.

"He just kept pushing it further back," Amber reminisced. "It kept getting pushed further and further down the line.

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

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"I think there was a part of him that didn’t really want to do it."

You can read our full interview with Amber here, where she talks about the network pushback to Tara and Willow's relationship and seeing first-hand the positive impact it as had.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is currently available to stream or download on Amazon Prime Video. It's also currently available via All 4 in the UK.


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