Actress Alyson Hannigan, who played the titular character’s best friend on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, still has some props from her days on set. Buffy was one of the most popular TV drama series of its time, running a total of seven seasons from 1997 to 2003 and spurring a spinoff show, Angel, as well as a series of comic books. The show centered on Buffy Summers, a teenage girl chosen as “the slayer.” Along with her watcher and friends—affectionately called the Scooby Gang—Buffy must hunt and kill vampires, demons, and any other evil beings that get in her way.
Hannigan played Willow Rosenberg, Buffy’s best friend, who eventually becomes a powerful witch. Although Hannigan had roles before Buffy, her time on the show jump-started her career. She subsequently had leading roles in the American Pie films, then returned to television to star as Lily on How I Met Your Mother. Hannigan now hosts Food Network’s Outrageous Pumpkins, meaning she’s no stranger to spooky Halloween ideas.
Her association with Halloween goes way back to her time on Buffy. According to Entertainment Weekly, Hannigan was actually able to keep several of the props from the Buffy set, which she now uses as Halloween decorations. Most notably, Hannigan has the tombstones from the iconic graveyard—where Buffy slew many a vampire—as well as skeletons from the Master’s lair. Unfortunately, Hannigan has to be careful with the props. On EW Live, she shared the following:
“I have to say, some of it is getting real old. They gave me the skeletons that they would actually have in the Master’s lair and stuff, and they look really authentic. But boy, are they crumbly now. We have to be super, super careful about bringing them out. They’re over 20 years old now!”
Hannigan also revealed that her memory of all the various Buffy episodes is a little fuzzy now. As far as the Halloween-themed episodes go, Hannigan mainly remembers the first, "Halloween," which happened in season 2 and featured the characters turning into the actual Halloween costumes they had on. This leaves Willow—who's dressed as a ghost—to become invisible. However, many of the Buffy episodes have similar storylines because of the fantastical subject matter. According to Hannigan, every episode felt a little bit like Halloween with the frightening subject matter and otherworldly villains.
Considering it’s been over two decades since the show first premiered—and Hannigan has since performed in roughly 200 episodes of How I Met Your Mother—it's no wonder that the actress can't recall every Buffy episode. Twenty years has done nothing to slow down the fans, though. There have been talks of reboots for several years, but after various Buffy set workers accused series creator Joss Whedon of abuse, reboot talks may be shelved for good. Regardless, Hannigan gained the perfect Halloween decor thanks to her time on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Source: Entertainment Weekly