Buffy’s a legend. There’s no going around this. A show that’s turning 20 years old this week has changed the face of television and has yet to meet its match. And surely a show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer couldn’t have been a critic darling without a remarkable vampire or two. Spike (played by theater trained James Masters) is still one of the most remarkable TV vampires in history, and we had to dig deep into his grave to uncover all of the secrets behind the making of the cult series.

Below, he breaks down all things Buffy, 20 years later.

The Audition

I was called in at the very last minute. Apparently they’ve been looking for Spike for a few months and haven’t found anyone. They were three days away from filming when they cast me. I think what happened was Joss Whedon, the creator of the show, just told the casting director to scrape the bottom of the barrel and see what he found. And they found me at the bottom of that barrel.

I’d just come to Los Angeles, I only had a few television credits (I come from theater). And no one knew who I was. For me [the audition] was a pretty regular experience. I auditioned at the casting director’s office and then got a call back to the Buffy stages and read for Joss and the other writers of the show. I think the thing that won me the role was that I clicked with Juliet Landau, who played my girlfriend Drusilla. I was gonna be her boy toy for five episodes, and then Angel was going to kill me off. Because me and Juliet are both theater actors, we have the same vocabulary and we were very comfortable with each other right away. If it hadn’t been for Juliet liking me, you’d be talking to someone else today.