Buffy The Vampire Slayer, the iconic teen drama series that first aired in 1997, continues to captivate audiences today, with all seasons now available on ITVX. The show features Sarah Michelle Gellar as the eponymous character, a demon-slaying heroine tasked with protecting Sunnydale.
The plot thickens when Faith, another slayer, enters the scene following the supposed death of a slayer. Faith Lehane, who made her debut in the third season, was activated as a slayer after Kendra’s (Bianca Lawson) demise.
After taking a seven-year break, the Faith star announced her retirement from acting in September 2024.
She revealed that she had become certified in psychedelic-assisted therapy and was furthering her education as a mental health professional.
“I had the means to shift directions and choose a course in my life that focused on healing myself so that I could help heal others,” she shared with Boston Magazine. “I would be remiss if I didn’t now share the transformation and the peace and the passion that I have. This is just absolutely so clearly my real calling, my real purpose.”
Her last acting gigs were in 2017, featuring in the TV film The Saint and the series Bull. That same year, she got engaged to businessman Peter Palandjian, and they tied the knot in August 2018.
A year later, she welcomed a son into the world, and in August 2021, she gave birth to their second son.
In 2024, she opened up about how confronting her troubled past led her to psychedelic-assisted therapy, stating: ” I wouldn’t have been able to do all of that without this psychedelic-assisted therapy and healing that showed me that I was safe in my body and in my life, naming and telling the truth about things. And it’s all kind of catapulted from there.”
At that point, she had been gearing up for her concluding internship, assisting veterans grappling with substance abuse and PTSD, and was on the verge of graduating from a master’s programme.
In Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Faith, hailing from a troubled background, found it challenging to bond with Buffy and the gang.
Still grappling with her newfound powers, she accidentally kills the deputy mayor (Jack Plotnick), mistaking him for a vampire. In an attempt to cope, she aligns herself with the villainous Mayor (Harry Groener), who becomes the father figure she yearned for.
However, her scheme to assassinate Buffy’s love interest Angel (David Boreanaz) at the Mayor’s behest goes awry.
She ends up in a duel with Buffy and is left in a coma, making only sporadic appearances in the fourth season.
Upon regaining consciousness, she uses a magical device to swap bodies with Buffy, experiencing what it feels like to be surrounded by people who genuinely care about her. After one last showdown with Buffy, she comes to terms with the fact that she must confront her own demons.
The actress bid farewell to Buffy to reprise her role in the spin-off series, Angel, for its first season. She made a comeback in Buffy’s final season to assist the slayer in training the Potentials ahead of the ultimate showdown.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer can be streamed on ITVX.
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