OT: Joss on Season 7 <Spoilers>

[inell@xxxxxxx]

Some information someone sent me concerning Season 7 according to Joss and 
Marti Noxon on the possibility of Season 8. Thought some of you might be 
interested. Read and either enjoy or be fearful....

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9:00am ET, 19-June-02

Buffy Season 7 Spoiled

Joss Whedon, creator of UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, revealed plot
spoilers for the upcoming seventh season of the series during a panel
discussion at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles
June 18.

The fall season premiere begins with the grand reopening of Sunnydale
High School, which was destroyed a couple of seasons back, Whedon told
the audience.

"The reopening of the high school is where we're starting, and it
represents a lot of what we're talking about in terms of getting back to
the very first mission statement of the show, which was the joy of
female power: Having it, using it, sharing it," Whedon said.

Willow (Alyson Hannigan) will have to pay for skinning Warren at the end
of this season, the show's sixth, Whedon added. "There are consequences
for everything," he said. "Not to the point where she'll spend all day
crying, 'I'm so sad, why, why?' But she will have to deal with this. We
don't let people get away with things, unless there's a reason. Giles,
the year before, killed a person, but nobody found out."

In a separate interview, Whedon reaffirmed for SCI FI Wire that Amber
Benson, who played Tara, will return next year, though her character
died at the end of this season. But when asked to elaborate that Benson
would return, but not as Tara, Whedon replied, "I'm not saying a word
about that."

Whedon did tell SCI FI Wire that Willow's addiction to magic and Spike's
(James Marsters) attempted rape would figure in the new season, despite
an intention to lighten the tone from this year's dark themes. "We'll
deal with issues, but we won't be hitting the incredibly depressing
reality of being grown up quite so hard," he said. "Those things will
still be issues, because Spike is still in the mix, and he did try to
rape Buffy. Willow has been addicted, and both of those people have to
be in the mix, so we'll deal with the things, and things are still going
to be scary, depressing and confusing for our characters. It's going to
be tough for them, but at the same time, they're going to reclaim that
essential notion of the beauty of power and of their mission and not get
so caught up in the questions."

Whedon added that he wants Anthony Stewart Head to appear as Giles in
more episodes this season than last, and that he hopes to bring back
Jonathan (Danny Strong) and Andrew (Thomas Lenk), the remaining duo of
villains from this season. "We're looking for them to [return], because
they make us laugh," he said.

One thing that won't be back is Buffy's (Sarah Michelle Gellar) job at
the Doublemeat Palace. "Doublemeat Palace was the only thing we ever did
to make advertisers pull out," Whedon said. "They did not like us making
fun of fast food. Sarah's very upset about not getting to wear the hat
anymore."



9:00am ET, 20-June-02

Noxon Confirms Buffy Season 8

Despite rumblings that next season will be Buffy the Vampire Slayer's
last, executive producer Marti Noxon told SCI FI Wire that she thinks an
eighth season of the UPN show is likely, even though its star's contract
expires after season seven.

"I think that it's very likely there will be [a season eight]," Noxon
said in an interview. "I'm not sure if Sarah [Michelle Gellar] will come
back or not, but it's really up to UPN and 20th Century Fox if the
franchise continues. It would be very hard to continue the show without
her, but they might try."

Buffy the Vampire Slayer begins its seventh season in the fall—its
second season on UPN, after five years on The WB. Noxon took over as
executive producer in 2001, when creator Joss Whedon focused attention
on the upcoming SF series Firefly, which debuts on Fox in the fall.