Charisma Carpenter Explains How Social Media Would Have Impacted ‘Buffy’ and ‘Angel’

• Charisma Carpenter, 54, appeared on the RE-VAMPED with Juliet Landau podcast published on March 27, to discuss Buffy and Angel
• The actress said she thinks fandom of the shows would have been “cuckoo bananas” if social media had existed when they aired
• Carpenter also revealed her all-time favorite Buffyverse couple

Charisma Carpenter thinks that Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel fandoms would have gone “bananas” if the shows had aired in the age of social media.

Carpenter sat down for a conversation about all things Buffy and Angel on the RE-VAMPED with Juliet Landau podcast, which published on March 27. During the discussion, the actress said that the shows were already getting strong audience responses on the internet back when they were on the air — and she thinks the presence of social media only would have heightened the intense fan culture surrounding both series.

“Back in the day when I was on Buffy, there wasn’t social media, but there was message boards and there were conventions. So I have been able to benefit from communication with the fans from [an] early age,” Carpenter said. “I can imagine if we were on social media during Buffy and Angel, it would have just been bananas, cuckoo bananas.”

Later in the conversation, Carpenter also revealed her all-time favorite romantic pairing within the Buffyverse.

“My favorite couple is obviously Angel and Cordelia,” she said. However, she shared that she didn’t think her character ultimately should have ended up with anyone. “I feel like Cordelia was kind of a solo lady.“

Carpenter played the character of Cordelia Chase on both shows. She appeared on Buffy from 1997 to 1999 and was a series regular on Angel from 1999 to 2003. Her character was eventually written off the latter series, which Carpenter has said was directly related to her decision to have a baby.

Carpenter also shared one of her favorite supernatural moments to shoot, explaining that it occurred during her final season on Angel.

“I thought it was really fun when Cordelia […] became a higher being and went up to the ether. And I literally was strapped in a body thing and craned up very high, hundreds and hundreds of feet into the air,” she recalled. “And they did it on an L.A. freeway, you know, like, near a big parking garage. So I think it was, like, at four in the morning when they could just close the freeway and do that.”

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Turning the conversation to her career as a whole during her appearance on the podcast, Carpenter opened up about what she wished she had known when she first started out as an actress — and specifically said she would tell her younger self to have a “plan B” given the constantly evolving nature of the industry.

“Have a backup plan because […] as much as I love doing what I am doing, you don’t always get to do it,” she explained. 

She continued: “I feel like I grew up at a time — and I was in the industry at a time — that […] I think, could be viewed by many of us as, like, the golden era. Because before […] contracts were tough on actors, and now it looks like contracts are getting [even more] difficult going forward.”

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“And I think people are really surprised to hear that these big, big movie stars and TV stars that are splashed on all the magazines are really […] not living that quintessential Hollywood life that maybe people think they are […]. Like, that’s just not the reality of most actors.”

“Always have a backup plan would probably be the number one thing,” she continued.