Toronto Comicon is almost here, taking place March 14-16, 2025, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s own Spike, James Marsters, sat down to talk to us ahead of the big event!
Buffy The Vampire Slayer premiered in 1997, and now, nearly 30 years later, rumours of a reboot are running wild. James Marsters was a pivotal character in Buffy and made appearances on Angel, the spinoff starring David Boreanaz. Despite not being the title character, fans have been going wild for Spike for almost three decades, and they show no signs of stopping.
That makes James Marsters the perfect candidate for events like the upcoming Toronto Comicon, where we are sure his photo ops will be packed. We were able to sit down with everyone’s favourite bad-boy vampire to find out what he loves about cons, conventions and Canada, and even tried to get the scoop on the Buffy reboot rumours!
We are here for Toronto Comicon! What made you decide to get involved this year?
James Marsters: I always love coming to Canada for any reason. I find that Canada is the country that America thinks it is, but it’s fooling itself. Canada is as cool as America wishes it was. I always meet well-read people in Canada. I often get asked if I’m Canadian when I’m overseas, and I always take it as a compliment, but I have to apologize and tell them that I’m not.
What about the convention circuit do you enjoy?
James Marsters: I love conventions. I feel like in a convention, everyone’s beautiful, everyone’s safe, and you can be whatever you want to be, and that’s a little slice of heaven to me. It’s probably about as close as I can think to heaven on earth. One of my favourite moments in the convention was when I was looking at this woman, I think she was in her late 80s, in a wheelchair, dressed as Wonder Woman, and just owning it. Just living it. She WAS Wonder Woman, and she was having a blast.
And that just encapsulates what I love about conventions. People are supportive of each other. People are loving and happy. And frankly, there’s not enough places left in the world where people come to be together. We come and hang out in larger groups to watch something, whether it’s a movie or a concert, but a large group of people all milling around and talking to each other. There’s, I think, not enough places where that happens. And, and conventions are one of the places that it does. And so, I just love it.
As an attendee instead of a guest, who would be your ultimate Comicon meet and greet?
James Marsters: Who would be your ultimate Comicon meet and greet? Oh, wow. Meryl Streep! Although I don’t know if I’d have the guts to go say hi if she was at a convention signing autographs. I don’t know. I don’t know if I’d be able to put it into words. I think I would just so embarrass myself if I went to get an autograph from Meryl Streep.
But I just think she’s the best actor that’s ever come out of out of my country. I think that I would probably just giggle and run away if she was at a convention.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer is a cult classic, and Spike is the man we all hate to love. What is it like being a part of something that has held onto its fan base this long?
James Marsters: It’s so wonderful, because I think that Buffy actually said a lot of good stuff, you know? Primarily, I think that it was talking about the fact that it’s hard to be a human being. It’s hard for all of us. Living is tough sometimes, but it’s important not to give up. And I think admitting how tough it can be, honestly admitting that and then saying don’t give up, can be very powerful.
I’m just so happy that that message resonated, that it was told well enough to resonate and that that message is still useful to people today. I think that message will be useful to the end of time. I’m glad that Buffy was able to say it. So, I’ll never get tired of being part of it.
Do you ever tire of the Spike character and the fans’ obsession with him?
James Marsters: No, actually, if I had played Urkel, I might be getting tired of it, but I play. I played a really cool character. So yeah, I’ll just run with that for the rest of my life. That’s fine. I was one of 500 people who created the character of Spike. I was the face of Spike, but frankly, the script had a lot to do with the character Spike.
The music behind him had a lot to do with the character of Spike. All the props, all the set, all of everyone. We all work together to make that show, and we all work together to make Spike. And I’m glad to take all the credit.
Are the rumours of the Buffy reboot true? If so, will you be involved, and how do you feel about the idea of a reboot overall?
James Marsters: I think the world needs Buffy. I’m glad she’s going to come back and help. And in the vein of not spoiling the surprise, and the experience of the fans, I am not going to say anything more about that.
As a part of a cult classic, do you have any favourite shows, movies or video games that have stood the test of time or that you just really geek out about?
James Marsters: I was a Star Trek fan when I was growing up. The original series with Captain Kirk and Spock and stuff. I love that show because I think at the end of the day, Star Trek was selling the idea of hope during the Cold War. Hope for humanity was hard to come by.
And Star Trek was this shining example of saying, “Hey, we might grow up as a species here. We might make it, guys. We might get to the point where we’re all trying to help each other rather than trying to dominate each other, and imagine what could happen if that took place. It would be a pretty cool world, wouldn’t it?” And that got me through some pretty dark days.
We used to say, the kids would always say to each other, “The missiles could have already been fired. We could be dead in ten minutes. We just don’t know it yet.” And that’s a pretty dark way to grow up. And Star Trek really helped me with that.
You also have a history with voice acting and even RomComs like PS I Love You. Do you have a preference for the medium or genre you are in?
James Marsters: I guess I do love fantasy and Sci-Fi. It’s just fun to have a space laser. It’s fun to have fangs. You know, there’s something a little more…the child in me revels in that more even than doing PS I Love you, but that was that was really fun for a different reason.
I like going far afield and inhabiting a fantastical world. I just think it’s delicious. But basically, I just like really good writing. I’m attracted to really good writing, whatever genre that’s in.
And to finish up, what are you looking forward to most when coming to Canada for Toronto Comicon?
James Marsters: I’m hoping to meet Wonder Woman again and everyone else who is there to have a good time to be together, to form community and get the strength that comes from community. Okay. I’ll see you very soon in Toronto.
You can find James Marsters at the Toronto Comicon on March 15th and March 16th, with the whole show running March 14-16 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, North Building.
