Wesley Wyndam-Pryce
Encyclopedia
Wesley Wyndam-Pryce is a fictional character
created by Joss Whedon
for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel
. Played by Alexis Denisof
, Wesley first appeared in nine episodes of Buffy' s third season in 1999 before moving over to spin-off series Angel where he became, and remained, a main character for five seasons. Following Angel' s final season, the character's story is continued in the 2007 canonical
comic book
series Angel: After the Fall
. Wesley also appears in Buffy and Angel Expanded Universe
material such as comic books and novel
s.
Wesley is introduced as a member of the Watchers' Council; an organization which trains Slayers to fight monsters such as vampire
s and demon
s. Created as an irritating foil
for the character of Rupert Giles
, he was intended to be killed off shortly after his first appearance, but the character was popular with his creators and was instead written into Angel where he joined a supernatural detective agency. Over the course of Angel, Wesley went through dramatic character developments, becoming darker and less comedic. He was killed in the show's final episode, and appears in a ghost
ly form in the comic book continuation.
" as the new Watcher of Buffy
(Sarah Michelle Gellar
) and Faith
(Eliza Dushku
). Pompous and ineffective, he fails to elicit any respect from either his Slayers or his predecessor, Rupert Giles
(Anthony Stewart Head
), all of whom frequently ridicule and undermine him. He develops a crush on high school senior Cordelia Chase
(Charisma Carpenter
), and their mutual flirting throughout the season culminates in a pair of awkward kisses in the finale "Graduation Day, Part Two". When Faith goes rogue after accidentally killing a human being, the Scooby Gang neglect to inform Wesley, and his subsequent interference ruins Faith's brief chance at redemption. When Wesley fails to convince the Watchers' Council to help save the life of her vampire lover Angel (David Boreanaz
), an enraged Buffy severs all ties with them. Despite this, Wesley offers his assistance in the fight against the Mayor, proving entirely useless in battle when he is knocked down almost instantly.
Wesley reappears in the first season (1999–2000) of spin-off show Angel, in the episode "Parting Gifts". Introduced as a self-proclaimed "rogue demon hunter", Wesley reveals that he was fired from the Watchers' Council for incompetence, but is soon accepted into supernatural detective agency Angel Investigations
, working alongside Angel and Cordelia (effectively filling the gap left by the death of Doyle
(Glenn Quinn
)). When Faith is hired by evil law firm Wolfram & Hart
to assassinate Angel, Wesley is kidnapped and tortured by his former charge, until Angel forces Faith to take responsibility for her actions. Although still bitter towards her and doubtful of her chances at redemption, Wesley proves his loyalty to Angel by betraying his former colleagues at the Watchers' Council to protect Faith. In the second season (2000–2001), Wesley embarks on a romantic relationship with a woman named Virginia Bryce after helping to prevent her father from sacrificing her to a demon. When Angel descends into darkness and fires the team, Wesley continues Angel Investigations with Cordelia and Charles Gunn
(J. August Richards
). Having overcome his cowardice of earlier episodes, he gets himself shot trying to protect Gunn and spends the next two episodes in a wheelchair
; this injury also leads to the demise of his relationship with Virginia, who becomes disturbed by his dangerous lifestyle. When Angel returns to the fold, Wesley is appointed team leader, but feels inferior due to his father's berating and Angel's habit of taking charge. However, when put in charge of a rebellion in the demon dimension Pylea, Wesley proves to be an effective, albeit ruthless, leader.
In Angel' s third season (2001–2002), Wesley's path becomes filled with tragedies and difficult choices. Just as he starts developing romantic feelings for his teammate Fred
(Amy Acker
), he finds himself mystically influenced to kill her after a demon influences him to become homicidally misogynistic. While studying the birth of Angel's infant son Connor, Wesley discovers a prophecy which claims that Angel will kill the baby. Intending to take him to safety, Wesley betrays his friends and kidnaps Connor, and delivers the baby to Angel's sworn enemy, Holtz, a decision which has disastrous consequences when he has his throat slit and the baby is kidnapped into a hell
dimension by Angel's enemies. Angel then attempts to kill him while he is in recovery at the hospital. Alienated from Angel Investigations, a recovered Wesley forms his own team to fight evil, but maintains an interest in his former friends' affairs. He also begins a sexual relationship with Wolfram & Hart lawyer Lilah Morgan
(Stephanie Romanov
), who tries to convince him to join the firm. In the fourth season (2002–2003), Angel is rescued and revived by Wesley after being sunk to the bottom of the ocean by his now-adolescent son Connor (Vincent Kartheiser
). Wesley eventually returns to the team full-time to help them battle the Beast, making difficult decisions such as seeking the aid of Angel's evil alter ego Angelus and breaking Faith out of prison. Having developed genuine feelings for Lilah, he mourns her when she is killed by Cordelia, now possessed by the entity known as Jasmine
(Gina Torres
). In the season finale, following the defeat of Jasmine, Wesley joins the rest of Angel Investigations in taking over Wolfram & Hart in the hopes that they can turn it into a power for good.
Season five (2003–2004) sees Wesley suffer yet more loss. In the episode "Lineage
", Wesley's father makes his first appearance after being alluded to in earlier episodes. Roger Wyndam-Pryce (Roy Dotrice
) is revealed to have sinister intentions when he tries to steal Angel's free will and threatens to murder Fred; Wesley responds by shooting him dead, only to discover he was not actually his father, but a cyborg copy. Despite the deception having been revealed, he is visibly shaken by his willingness to end his father's life to save another. After being in love with her for almost two seasons, Wesley finally gets together with Fred in the subsequent episode "Smile Time", only to watch her die in the next episode when she is taken over by the ancient demon Illyria. He retaliates by killing Knox, the man responsible for raising Illyria, and stabbing Gunn after discovering he played an indirect role in Fred's death. Descending into alcoholism
, Wesley holds onto Illyria as the only thing he has left of Fred, helping her understand the human world she is unfamiliar with. He inadvertently restores his and his friends' memories of Connor when he smashes the Orlon Window, thinking that Angel had betrayed his trust. Wesley visibly feels guilty after remembering how he betrayed his friends by taking Connor from Angel and later apologizes to Gunn for stabbing him. Towards the end of the season, Angel proposes an attack against the Circle of the Black Thorn, a powerful group of demons under the employ of the Wolfram & Hart's Senior Partners. In the show's final episode, Wesley does battle with the warlock Cyvus Vail (Dennis Christopher
) and is mortally wounded. He spends his dying moments with Illyria at his side, finally agreeing to let the demon take the form of Fred, thus allowing Wesley, in some way, to say goodbye to the woman he loved.
he falls under a mystical slumber
after receiving a mysterious package in the mail and becomes trapped in a nightmare, while Book of the Dead
sees his love of reading get the better of him after being sucked into a book about the occult. The comic book "Wesley: Spotlight" focuses on Wesley's struggles to save the life of Fred's love interest and (unbeknownst to Wesley) future murderer, Knox. The Lost Slayer
is a series of Buffy novels set in an alternate future where Wesley is Watcher to the current Slayer, Anna.
Angel: After the Fall
, a canonical comic book continuation of the television series, reveals that Wesley was unable to move on after his death due to the standard perpetuity clause in his Wolfram & Hart contract. Now incorporeal
, Wesley acts as the last remaining link to Senior Partners, who have sent Angel and all of Los Angeles
to hell as punishment for their attack in season five. Following the destruction of the Wolfram & Hart building at the hands of a now vampiric Gunn, Wesley's ghost fades away. He convinces the White Room to send him back to Hell, where his sudden appearance causes Illyria to change back and forth between Illyria and Fred's personae. When Angel is confronted by Gunn, now a deluded vampire who believes he is the champion of the Shanshu prophecy, Wesley delivers Angel a vision from the Senior Partners explaining that the prophecy has always concerned Angel. When Angel realizes that the Senior Partners need him alive for their plans, he devises a plan to get himself killed, thus forcing them to rewind time to the last moment before Los Angeles was sent to hell. However, this would not reverse Wesley's death. Wesley is resigned to his fate, believing that he has nothing more to live for now that Fred is gone, and walks away, but not before asking Spike to take care of Illyria. In the new timeline, Angel names a wing of the Los Angeles public library in memory of Wesley and Fred.
for the character of Rupert Giles. Actor Alexis Denisof comments that Wesley and Giles come from very similar backgrounds, but have gone in different directions "with the tools that they had"; he was conceived as a "nemesis" for Giles and Buffy. Co-executive producer Doug Petrie, who wrote Wesley's first episode "Bad Girls
", explains, "The way Faith is a reflection of Buffy, Wesley takes up a lot of the space that Giles traditionally occupies." He elaborates that, because Giles is usually the "stuffy guy from England who tells you to sit up straight and obey the rules", introducing Wesley, who embodies those traits "to the nth degree", allows Giles to become "subversive" and "cool". Writer Jane Espenson claims that the character was intended for viewers to have antipathy
towards, since he was trying to undermine Giles.
Alexis Denisof, who had been living in England before coming to L.A., was unaware of Buffy the Vampire Slayer since it had not yet aired in Britain. When actor Tony Head found out that Mutant Enemy
were looking for an actor to play Wesley, Head contacted Denisof, an old friend from England, to ask whether he would be interested in the role. Denisof claims that Wesley was originally supposed to "come in, irritate Giles and Buffy for a couple shows, and then be gloriously terminated". However, the writers became fond of the character's "curious humour" and found themselves unable to kill him off. Joss Whedon struggled to find a place for Wesley in the series where he wouldn't clash with Giles, and eventually approached Denisof with the offer of appearing in spin-off show Angel. For Wesley to work as a long-term character, Denisof claimed they had to re-shape the character to be more sympathetic.
". While discussing Wesley's character development over the course of Angel, Denisof explains: "I decided that Wesley was internally confronting his father and that released him a little bit and made him less repressed."
When Wesley is introduced in Angel, having been fired from the Watcher's Council, Denisof says this experience gave the character "a little shake". He elaborates, "When he arrived in Sunnydale, he was straight out of Watcher grad school; he lacked practical experience. He was living in the ideal of the perfect way to execute his duties. I think that losing his job and going out alone roughened him up a little, lopped off some of his sharper corners. It made him more approachable and more personable, less sure of himself all the time." Coming into the show immediately following the death of Doyle
, Wesley serves as a partial replacement for that character. Comparing the two characters, Denisof states, "Wesley is a clearer counterpart to Angel, whereas Doyle had more street smarts. Although [Doyle] was struggling with his demon nature, he had seen a lot more of the world in the same way Angel had." Nonetheless Denisof believes that in this period, his character "was so anxious to be a tough rogue demon hunter but was clearly a kind of soft puppy dog."
Denisof complimented the season three Angel episode "Billy
", in which Wesley tries to murder Fred after becoming supernaturally misogynous
, "because it was the first real dark change in Wesley to experiment with". Discussing Wesley's betrayal of his friends to protect Angel's baby, Denisof explains, "It isn't that he's purely bad or purely good, we're discovering a deeper and more complicated area of the character where good and bad aren't as clear, where Wesley does something motivated, he thinks, for the good of all - i.e. saving Connor and relieving Angel of the responsibility of murdering his son - and in doing so creates the situation in which the baby could be kidnapped, Angel loses his son and Wesley has his throat slit for the trouble. So it's grey rather than black or white." Science fiction
magazine
Starburst
said that "somber, subdued, bearded Wesley is worlds away from the foolish, pompous Wesley". Denisof says of the period, "It was a great opportunity to explore some of the character's darker layers. You couldn't have predicted it when he arrived in Sunnydale. This was an important element to introduce and explore, to be consistent with the show and to continue the organic exploration of all the characters." Whilst the character spent less time with his old friends, Denisof was "more or less isolated from the [main cast], barring one or two scenes of mild confrontation when they would come to visit me and we'd chew each other out. There's definitely a cold war going on with Wesley versus the world." Wesley's dark attitude is alleviated somewhat when the gang decide to take over Wolfram & Hart. The tension between Wesley and his co-workers did not go away because of the mind-wipe but because "we decided we were better off as a team than as separate entities. And we had to put our differences behind us and build our trust again as a group." Discussing the way Wesley's English accent softens over the course of Angel, Denisof says, "[The modified accent] just sits on him better. As an actor, it just felt that organically the way he was changing, and it also seemed to be accurate when you consider the amount of time he's spent in L.A. that the accent could have softened. And since he isn't surrounded by upper-crust academics as he was as a young Watcher in the Academy in England, it's understandable that he is changing the way he speaks and changing his voice, his delivery, as a result of his environment."
Denisof had earlier stated that he thought "it's better for the father [of Wesley] to be kept in the background and not become part of the story." When Wesley's father finally did appear in Angel season five, he said:
Wesley undergoes yet another drastic personality change in Angel' s fifth season following the death of his love, Fred. Denisof believes that the loss of Fred caused Wesley to become understandably "unbalanced". "By the time we get to the last few episodes, he's got a handle on the grief and is functioning in a more level-headed way," says Denisof. "But underlying it is a huge hole in his heart and it makes it possible for the decision that they make in the final episode. For him emotionally, the stage is set for a life or death battle, possibly for the last time, because at this point, there's nothing more for him to lose." Denisof talked with Whedon about what storylines would have been in place had the television series received another season; Wesley would not have died, and he and Illyria would have featured in an arc in which the transformation of Illyria to Fred would have been extended over many episodes and taken to a "much deeper, darker place" than it briefly was in the late fifth season episode, "The Girl in Question". Denisof continues, "They would have progressed the relationship between Wesley and Illyria in such a way it would conflict with his own feelings for Fred, in a much more profound way. And then we would have gone into the switching of Fred and Illyria and having these two people that he was having these strong feelings about. That was going to be a fairly long journey in the following season, all of which got abbreviated tremendously when [the WB] decided to cancel the show." The cancellation of the show was the inspiration for Wesley's death; Whedon gave Denisof the option of keeping the character alive, but Denisof believed killing the character was right for the story, "It was very upsetting to read. It's too good a story because it hurts."
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
created by Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel
Angel (TV series)
Angel is an American television series, a spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffys creator, Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt, and first aired on October 5, 1999...
. Played by Alexis Denisof
Alexis Denisof
Alexis Denisof is an American actor who is known for playing Wesley Wyndam-Pryce in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel.-Early life:...
, Wesley first appeared in nine episodes of Buffy
Canon (fiction)
In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series Angel: After the Fall
Angel: After the Fall
Angel: After the Fall is a comic book published by IDW Publishing. Written by Brian Lynch and plotted with Joss Whedon, the series is a canonical continuation of the Angel television series, and follows the events of that show's final televised season...
. Wesley also appears in Buffy and Angel Expanded Universe
Expanded Universe
The term Expanded Universe is generally used to denote the 'extension' of a media franchise with other media...
material such as comic books and novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s.
Wesley is introduced as a member of the Watchers' Council; an organization which trains Slayers to fight monsters such as vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
s and demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
s. Created as an irritating foil
Foil (literature)
In fiction, a foil is a character who contrasts with another character in order to highlight particular qualities of another character....
for the character of Rupert Giles
Rupert Giles
Rupert Giles is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Anthony Stewart Head. He serves as Buffy Summers' mentor and surrogate father figure...
, he was intended to be killed off shortly after his first appearance, but the character was popular with his creators and was instead written into Angel where he joined a supernatural detective agency. Over the course of Angel, Wesley went through dramatic character developments, becoming darker and less comedic. He was killed in the show's final episode, and appears in a ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
ly form in the comic book continuation.
Television
Wesley is introduced in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer season three (1998–1999) episode "Bad GirlsBad Girls (Buffy episode)
"Bad Girls" is episode 14 of season 3 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It is written by Doug Petrie and directed by Michael Lange, it was originally broadcast on February 9, 1999 on the WB network...
" as the new Watcher of Buffy
Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers is a fictional character from Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in the television series and subsequent comic book of the same name...
(Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze , known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar , is an American actress, singer and executive producer...
) and Faith
Faith Lehane
Faith is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Played by actress Eliza Dushku in the TV series and by Whitney Thompson in the motion comic series, Faith was introduced in the third season of Buffy and was a focus of that season's...
(Eliza Dushku
Eliza Dushku
Eliza Patricia Dushku is an American actress known for her television roles, including recurring appearances as Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff series Angel. She starred in two Fox series, Tru Calling and Dollhouse...
). Pompous and ineffective, he fails to elicit any respect from either his Slayers or his predecessor, Rupert Giles
Rupert Giles
Rupert Giles is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Anthony Stewart Head. He serves as Buffy Summers' mentor and surrogate father figure...
(Anthony Stewart Head
Anthony Head
Anthony Stewart Head , usually credited as Anthony Head, is an English actor and musician. He rose to fame in the UK following his role in television advertisements for Nescafé Gold Blend , and is known for his roles as Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and as Uther Pendragon in...
), all of whom frequently ridicule and undermine him. He develops a crush on high school senior Cordelia Chase
Cordelia Chase
Cordelia Chase is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer; she also appeared on Buffy's spin-off series Angel...
(Charisma Carpenter
Charisma Carpenter
Charisma Lee Carpenter is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Cordelia Chase in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel, for which she was nominated for four Saturn Awards. In her most recent film she starred opposite Sylvester Stallone and Jason...
), and their mutual flirting throughout the season culminates in a pair of awkward kisses in the finale "Graduation Day, Part Two". When Faith goes rogue after accidentally killing a human being, the Scooby Gang neglect to inform Wesley, and his subsequent interference ruins Faith's brief chance at redemption. When Wesley fails to convince the Watchers' Council to help save the life of her vampire lover Angel (David Boreanaz
David Boreanaz
David Boreanaz is an American actor, television producer, and director, known for his role as Angel on the supernatural drama series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and as Special Agent Seeley Booth on the television crime drama Bones....
), an enraged Buffy severs all ties with them. Despite this, Wesley offers his assistance in the fight against the Mayor, proving entirely useless in battle when he is knocked down almost instantly.
Wesley reappears in the first season (1999–2000) of spin-off show Angel, in the episode "Parting Gifts". Introduced as a self-proclaimed "rogue demon hunter", Wesley reveals that he was fired from the Watchers' Council for incompetence, but is soon accepted into supernatural detective agency Angel Investigations
Angel Investigations
Angel Investigations is a fictional detective agency run by the title character Angel previously on the WB television series Angel . It is sometimes abbreviated as AI...
, working alongside Angel and Cordelia (effectively filling the gap left by the death of Doyle
Allen Francis Doyle
Allen Francis Doyle is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the cult television series, Angel. The character was portrayed by Glenn Quinn.-Character history:Doyle was born to a human mother and a Brachen demon father...
(Glenn Quinn
Glenn Quinn
Glenn Martin Christopher Francis Quinn was an Irish actor in television and film, known for playing Mark Healy in the American sitcom Roseanne, and Doyle, a half-demon, on the 1999–2004 television series Angel, a spin-off series of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Early life:Quinn...
)). When Faith is hired by evil law firm Wolfram & Hart
Wolfram & Hart
Wolfram & Hart − Attorneys at Law is a fictional international, and interdimensional law firm featured in the television series Angel, as well as other extended materials in Joss Whedon's Buffyverse.-Fictional history:...
to assassinate Angel, Wesley is kidnapped and tortured by his former charge, until Angel forces Faith to take responsibility for her actions. Although still bitter towards her and doubtful of her chances at redemption, Wesley proves his loyalty to Angel by betraying his former colleagues at the Watchers' Council to protect Faith. In the second season (2000–2001), Wesley embarks on a romantic relationship with a woman named Virginia Bryce after helping to prevent her father from sacrificing her to a demon. When Angel descends into darkness and fires the team, Wesley continues Angel Investigations with Cordelia and Charles Gunn
Charles Gunn
Charles Gunn is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series, Angel. The character is portrayed by J. August Richards, and was named by Whedon after filmmaker James Gunn and actor Sean Gunn, both of whom had worked with Whedon...
(J. August Richards
J. August Richards
Jaime Augusto Richards III is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of vampire hunter Charles Gunn on the WB cult television series Angel.-Early life and education:...
). Having overcome his cowardice of earlier episodes, he gets himself shot trying to protect Gunn and spends the next two episodes in a wheelchair
Wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...
; this injury also leads to the demise of his relationship with Virginia, who becomes disturbed by his dangerous lifestyle. When Angel returns to the fold, Wesley is appointed team leader, but feels inferior due to his father's berating and Angel's habit of taking charge. However, when put in charge of a rebellion in the demon dimension Pylea, Wesley proves to be an effective, albeit ruthless, leader.
In Angel
Winifred Burkle
Winifred "Fred" Burkle is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon and introduced by Shawn Ryan and Mere Smith on the television series Angel. The character is portrayed by Amy Acker.-Character history:...
(Amy Acker
Amy Acker
Amy Louise Acker is an American actress. She is best known for her roles on the television series Angel as Winifred Burkle and Illyria and on Alias as Kelly Peyton. She is also known for her role as Dr. Claire Saunders/Whiskey on Dollhouse.-Early life:Acker was born and raised in Dallas, where she...
), he finds himself mystically influenced to kill her after a demon influences him to become homicidally misogynistic. While studying the birth of Angel's infant son Connor, Wesley discovers a prophecy which claims that Angel will kill the baby. Intending to take him to safety, Wesley betrays his friends and kidnaps Connor, and delivers the baby to Angel's sworn enemy, Holtz, a decision which has disastrous consequences when he has his throat slit and the baby is kidnapped into a hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
dimension by Angel's enemies. Angel then attempts to kill him while he is in recovery at the hospital. Alienated from Angel Investigations, a recovered Wesley forms his own team to fight evil, but maintains an interest in his former friends' affairs. He also begins a sexual relationship with Wolfram & Hart lawyer Lilah Morgan
Lilah Morgan
Lilah Morgan is a fictional character from the television series Angel, played by Stephanie Romanov. She is first introduced in the episode "The Ring," and appears in the show's first and second seasons. After Lindsey McDonald leaves Los Angeles, Lilah becomes the primary face of Wolfram & Hart,...
(Stephanie Romanov
Stephanie Romanov
Stephanie A. Romanov is an American model and actress, best known for playing Lilah Morgan on Angel.-Career:She first began modeling in Europe and was discovered at 15 by Elite Model Management founder, John Casablancas. Her first professional modeling job was in Europe, shooting fashion layouts...
), who tries to convince him to join the firm. In the fourth season (2002–2003), Angel is rescued and revived by Wesley after being sunk to the bottom of the ocean by his now-adolescent son Connor (Vincent Kartheiser
Vincent Kartheiser
Vincent Paul Kartheiser is an American actor known for playing Connor in Angel and Pete Campbell in Mad Men.-Early life:Kartheiser was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Janet Marie and James Ralph Kartheiser...
). Wesley eventually returns to the team full-time to help them battle the Beast, making difficult decisions such as seeking the aid of Angel's evil alter ego Angelus and breaking Faith out of prison. Having developed genuine feelings for Lilah, he mourns her when she is killed by Cordelia, now possessed by the entity known as Jasmine
Jasmine (Buffyverse)
Jasmine is a fictional character, a deity in the fourth season of the television series Angel. She is portrayed for much of the season by Charisma Carpenter , but when she acquires her own body she is portrayed by Gina Torres, who also appeared in Joss Whedon's Firefly as Zoe Washburne...
(Gina Torres
Gina Torres
Gina Torres is an American television and movie actress. She is known for her roles in science fiction and fantasy. She has appeared in many television series, including Hercules: The Legendary Journeys , Xena: Warrior Princess , the short-lived Cleopatra 2525, as well as Alias , Firefly Gina...
). In the season finale, following the defeat of Jasmine, Wesley joins the rest of Angel Investigations in taking over Wolfram & Hart in the hopes that they can turn it into a power for good.
Season five (2003–2004) sees Wesley suffer yet more loss. In the episode "Lineage
Lineage (Angel episode)
-Plot synopsis:Wesley meets with a man named Emil in a warehouse and is displeased to be talking to a middleman when he had expected to meet with the distributor. Fred appears with a highly specialized rifle that has been custom-made by Wolfram & Hart and details the specs for Emil...
", Wesley's father makes his first appearance after being alluded to in earlier episodes. Roger Wyndam-Pryce (Roy Dotrice
Roy Dotrice
Roy Dotrice, OBE is a British actor known for his Tony Award-winning Broadway performance in the revival of A Moon for the Misbegotten.-Life and career:...
) is revealed to have sinister intentions when he tries to steal Angel's free will and threatens to murder Fred; Wesley responds by shooting him dead, only to discover he was not actually his father, but a cyborg copy. Despite the deception having been revealed, he is visibly shaken by his willingness to end his father's life to save another. After being in love with her for almost two seasons, Wesley finally gets together with Fred in the subsequent episode "Smile Time", only to watch her die in the next episode when she is taken over by the ancient demon Illyria. He retaliates by killing Knox, the man responsible for raising Illyria, and stabbing Gunn after discovering he played an indirect role in Fred's death. Descending into alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
, Wesley holds onto Illyria as the only thing he has left of Fred, helping her understand the human world she is unfamiliar with. He inadvertently restores his and his friends' memories of Connor when he smashes the Orlon Window, thinking that Angel had betrayed his trust. Wesley visibly feels guilty after remembering how he betrayed his friends by taking Connor from Angel and later apologizes to Gunn for stabbing him. Towards the end of the season, Angel proposes an attack against the Circle of the Black Thorn, a powerful group of demons under the employ of the Wolfram & Hart's Senior Partners. In the show's final episode, Wesley does battle with the warlock Cyvus Vail (Dennis Christopher
Dennis Christopher
Dennis Christopher is an American actor. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is known for playing Dave Stoller in Breaking Away and tragic film buff psychopath Eric Binford in Fade to Black....
) and is mortally wounded. He spends his dying moments with Illyria at his side, finally agreeing to let the demon take the form of Fred, thus allowing Wesley, in some way, to say goodbye to the woman he loved.
Literature
Wesley appears in comic books and novels based on the Buffy and Angel television series. He appears in numerous Angel novels as a member of Angel Investigations, but has a more prominent role in some; in Stranger to the SunStranger to the Sun (Angel novel)
Stranger to the Sun is an original novel based on the U.S. television series Angel.-Plot summary:Wesley opens a strange package that arrives by special delivery, which instantly sends him into a slumber. It seems likely he is the victim of a spell. Angel leaves with Gunn to investigate...
he falls under a mystical slumber
Sleep
Sleep is a naturally recurring state characterized by reduced or absent consciousness, relatively suspended sensory activity, and inactivity of nearly all voluntary muscles. It is distinguished from quiet wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, and is more easily reversible than...
after receiving a mysterious package in the mail and becomes trapped in a nightmare, while Book of the Dead
Book of the Dead (Angel novel)
Book of the Dead is an original novel based on the U.S. television series Angel, written by and published by Pocket Books. It was first published in 2004.-Plot summary:Wes has loved books since childhood...
sees his love of reading get the better of him after being sucked into a book about the occult. The comic book "Wesley: Spotlight" focuses on Wesley's struggles to save the life of Fred's love interest and (unbeknownst to Wesley) future murderer, Knox. The Lost Slayer
The Lost Slayer
The Lost Slayer is a series of four novels written by Christopher Golden. It was later collected together in one omnibus paperback. Each was published by Pocket Books-Description:...
is a series of Buffy novels set in an alternate future where Wesley is Watcher to the current Slayer, Anna.
Angel: After the Fall
Angel: After the Fall
Angel: After the Fall is a comic book published by IDW Publishing. Written by Brian Lynch and plotted with Joss Whedon, the series is a canonical continuation of the Angel television series, and follows the events of that show's final televised season...
, a canonical comic book continuation of the television series, reveals that Wesley was unable to move on after his death due to the standard perpetuity clause in his Wolfram & Hart contract. Now incorporeal
Incorporeal
Incorporeal or uncarnate means without the nature of a body or substance . The idea of incorporeality refers to the notion that there is an incorporeal realm of existence, or "place", that is distinct from the corporeal or material universe. Incorporeal beings or objects are not made out of matter...
, Wesley acts as the last remaining link to Senior Partners, who have sent Angel and all of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to hell as punishment for their attack in season five. Following the destruction of the Wolfram & Hart building at the hands of a now vampiric Gunn, Wesley's ghost fades away. He convinces the White Room to send him back to Hell, where his sudden appearance causes Illyria to change back and forth between Illyria and Fred's personae. When Angel is confronted by Gunn, now a deluded vampire who believes he is the champion of the Shanshu prophecy, Wesley delivers Angel a vision from the Senior Partners explaining that the prophecy has always concerned Angel. When Angel realizes that the Senior Partners need him alive for their plans, he devises a plan to get himself killed, thus forcing them to rewind time to the last moment before Los Angeles was sent to hell. However, this would not reverse Wesley's death. Wesley is resigned to his fate, believing that he has nothing more to live for now that Fred is gone, and walks away, but not before asking Spike to take care of Illyria. In the new timeline, Angel names a wing of the Los Angeles public library in memory of Wesley and Fred.
Concept and creation
Wesley was initially designed to be a foilFoil (literature)
In fiction, a foil is a character who contrasts with another character in order to highlight particular qualities of another character....
for the character of Rupert Giles. Actor Alexis Denisof comments that Wesley and Giles come from very similar backgrounds, but have gone in different directions "with the tools that they had"; he was conceived as a "nemesis" for Giles and Buffy. Co-executive producer Doug Petrie, who wrote Wesley's first episode "Bad Girls
Bad Girls (Buffy episode)
"Bad Girls" is episode 14 of season 3 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It is written by Doug Petrie and directed by Michael Lange, it was originally broadcast on February 9, 1999 on the WB network...
", explains, "The way Faith is a reflection of Buffy, Wesley takes up a lot of the space that Giles traditionally occupies." He elaborates that, because Giles is usually the "stuffy guy from England who tells you to sit up straight and obey the rules", introducing Wesley, who embodies those traits "to the nth degree", allows Giles to become "subversive" and "cool". Writer Jane Espenson claims that the character was intended for viewers to have antipathy
Antipathy
Antipathy is dislike for something or somebody, the opposite of sympathy. While antipathy may be induced by previous experience, it sometimes exists without a rational cause-and-effect explanation being present to the individuals involved....
towards, since he was trying to undermine Giles.
Alexis Denisof, who had been living in England before coming to L.A., was unaware of Buffy the Vampire Slayer since it had not yet aired in Britain. When actor Tony Head found out that Mutant Enemy
Mutant Enemy Productions
Mutant Enemy Productions is the production company created in 1997 by Joss Whedon to produce Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The company also produced the Buffy spin-off, Angel, and his two short-lived science fiction series, the space western Firefly and his high-concept Dollhouse, produced by 20th...
were looking for an actor to play Wesley, Head contacted Denisof, an old friend from England, to ask whether he would be interested in the role. Denisof claims that Wesley was originally supposed to "come in, irritate Giles and Buffy for a couple shows, and then be gloriously terminated". However, the writers became fond of the character's "curious humour" and found themselves unable to kill him off. Joss Whedon struggled to find a place for Wesley in the series where he wouldn't clash with Giles, and eventually approached Denisof with the offer of appearing in spin-off show Angel. For Wesley to work as a long-term character, Denisof claimed they had to re-shape the character to be more sympathetic.
Characterization
Wesley matures significantly over the course of both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel; in his early appearances he was largely cowardly and incompetent. Alexis Denisof claims that his initial goal in playing the character was to be as annoying as possible for the other characters. He explains, "I thought that an irritating version of Giles would be annoying for [Giles] and also for Buffy. Wesley's purpose was to come there and point the finger and get things shipshape. He's a by-the-book school teacher. Considering what kind of person it would be who would have dedicated his life to this peculiar task of being a Watcher, and what would be the unique characteristics of somebody who had made those decisions, and then was taken out of that environment and put into Sunnydale. To Wesley that was a completely new and bizarre place." During this time, Denisof came up with a background story for Wesley regarding his father to explain "why he was so repressed." The writers used this story in the show, alluding to it in early Angel episodes such as "I've Got You Under My Skin", and "BelongingBelonging (Angel episode)
"Belonging" is episode 19 of season two in the television show Angel.-Plot synopsis:The Angel Investigations team celebrates at an expensive restaurant for Cordelia's role in a national commercial. Cordelia expresses her worries about leaving them temporarily while Wesley and Gunn are sure they can...
". While discussing Wesley's character development over the course of Angel, Denisof explains: "I decided that Wesley was internally confronting his father and that released him a little bit and made him less repressed."
When Wesley is introduced in Angel, having been fired from the Watcher's Council, Denisof says this experience gave the character "a little shake". He elaborates, "When he arrived in Sunnydale, he was straight out of Watcher grad school; he lacked practical experience. He was living in the ideal of the perfect way to execute his duties. I think that losing his job and going out alone roughened him up a little, lopped off some of his sharper corners. It made him more approachable and more personable, less sure of himself all the time." Coming into the show immediately following the death of Doyle
Allen Francis Doyle
Allen Francis Doyle is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the cult television series, Angel. The character was portrayed by Glenn Quinn.-Character history:Doyle was born to a human mother and a Brachen demon father...
, Wesley serves as a partial replacement for that character. Comparing the two characters, Denisof states, "Wesley is a clearer counterpart to Angel, whereas Doyle had more street smarts. Although [Doyle] was struggling with his demon nature, he had seen a lot more of the world in the same way Angel had." Nonetheless Denisof believes that in this period, his character "was so anxious to be a tough rogue demon hunter but was clearly a kind of soft puppy dog."
Denisof complimented the season three Angel episode "Billy
Billy (Angel episode)
"Billy" is episode 6 of season 3 in the television show Angel. Written by Tim Minear and Jeffrey Bell and directed by David Grossman, it was originally broadcast on October 29, 2001 on the WB television network. In this episode, Angel investigates a wave of violence against women throughout Los...
", in which Wesley tries to murder Fred after becoming supernaturally misogynous
Misogyny
Misogyny is the hatred or dislike of women or girls. Philogyny, meaning fondness, love or admiration towards women, is the antonym of misogyny. The term misandry is the term for men that is parallel to misogyny...
, "because it was the first real dark change in Wesley to experiment with". Discussing Wesley's betrayal of his friends to protect Angel's baby, Denisof explains, "It isn't that he's purely bad or purely good, we're discovering a deeper and more complicated area of the character where good and bad aren't as clear, where Wesley does something motivated, he thinks, for the good of all - i.e. saving Connor and relieving Angel of the responsibility of murdering his son - and in doing so creates the situation in which the baby could be kidnapped, Angel loses his son and Wesley has his throat slit for the trouble. So it's grey rather than black or white." Science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
Starburst
Starburst (magazine)
Starburst is a British science fiction online magazine published by Starburst Magazine Limited. The magazine is published every month on the 14th, with news and reviews being published daily.-History:...
said that "somber, subdued, bearded Wesley is worlds away from the foolish, pompous Wesley". Denisof says of the period, "It was a great opportunity to explore some of the character's darker layers. You couldn't have predicted it when he arrived in Sunnydale. This was an important element to introduce and explore, to be consistent with the show and to continue the organic exploration of all the characters." Whilst the character spent less time with his old friends, Denisof was "more or less isolated from the [main cast], barring one or two scenes of mild confrontation when they would come to visit me and we'd chew each other out. There's definitely a cold war going on with Wesley versus the world." Wesley's dark attitude is alleviated somewhat when the gang decide to take over Wolfram & Hart. The tension between Wesley and his co-workers did not go away because of the mind-wipe but because "we decided we were better off as a team than as separate entities. And we had to put our differences behind us and build our trust again as a group." Discussing the way Wesley's English accent softens over the course of Angel, Denisof says, "[The modified accent] just sits on him better. As an actor, it just felt that organically the way he was changing, and it also seemed to be accurate when you consider the amount of time he's spent in L.A. that the accent could have softened. And since he isn't surrounded by upper-crust academics as he was as a young Watcher in the Academy in England, it's understandable that he is changing the way he speaks and changing his voice, his delivery, as a result of his environment."
Denisof had earlier stated that he thought "it's better for the father [of Wesley] to be kept in the background and not become part of the story." When Wesley's father finally did appear in Angel season five, he said:
"I had mixed feelings [at first]. It was a lot of pressure to have to define something that had been speculated about for many years. I was worried that by making it specific, it would lose its power, both in the mind of the character and in the minds of the audience. All my concerns disappeared as soon as I read it. There are responses to powerful figures in your life, like your parents, that you can't necessarily control. Wesley's a very controlled person on the exterior and presents a very collected persona to the people around him, being with his father he would no longer be able to control his responses. That's one of the things I wanted to explore with this, the subtle ways in which you respond to the conditioning of your parents. Wesley has difficulty around his father on a physical level, on an emotional scale, and on an intellectual scale. He is extremely intimidated by his father, and at the same time, still seeking the approval that we all essentially want from our parents when we're children. The shooting [of the cyborg Wesley believed to be his father] was an exhilarating moment in which there was the most dangerous person in his life on every level, and there is a woman he is obsessed with. And to have the woman jeopardized by something as dangerous as his father - I played that moment as a moment of pure instinct. Wesley is centered in his intellect and is more uncertain in his emotional life, but in that moment, he becomes pure instinct because he has to choose between the woman he loves and his father."
Wesley undergoes yet another drastic personality change in Angel
External links
- Wesley Wyndam-Pryce at Buffyverse Wiki, a Buffy the Vampire SlayerBuffyverseThe Buffyverse, also known as the Whedonverse or Slayerverse , is the shared fictional universe in which the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel are set. This term, originally coined by fans of the TV series, has since been used in the titles of published works, and adopted by Joss...
WikiaWikiaWikia is a free web hosting service for wikis . It is normally free of charge for readers and editors, deriving most of its income from advertising, and publishes all user-provided text under copyleft licenses. Wikia hosts several hundred thousand wikis using the open-source wiki software MediaWiki...