10 Secrets Not Even Immortals Knew About "Angel"

Buffy The Vampire Slayer may have come first, but when the show produced the spin-off, Angel, the audience ate it up. It is considered to be one of the better spin-off shows ever created.  

Angel only lasted five seasons, but it wasn't for a lack of popularity, it actually did quite well during its somewhat short run. It has been nearly 13 years since we closed the book on Angel and the rest of his gang, so in honor of that, let's take a look at 10 things you likely didn't know about the show.

1. Awards and accolades

Angel was nominated for an Emmy. Even though it didn't win, the show went on to win several other awards from the Saturn Awards. It tied with CSI for Best TV Series in 2004, but they also won Best Actor TV, David Boreanaz, and Best Supporting Actress, Amy Acker.

2. Season One's Doyle

Doyle was a beloved character from season one played by Irishman Glenn Quinn. When Quinn auditioned for the show, they actually decided to write the character of Doyle specifically for him, it was the first time in his acting career that he didn't have to change his accent to something else. Though, his Irish accent was so thick sometimes that they had to re-shoot scenes to clean it up.

3. Charisma Carpenter was disrespected by Joss Whedon

While Carpenter was playing Cordelia on Angel, there was a lot of tension. By the end of season three, the writers were running out of ideas for what to have her character doing, and Cordelia was put into a coma for most of season four. Carpenter was pregnant in real life during season four so it was a win-win for everyone. Carpenter only agreed to come back for the 100th episode if she was guaranteed that Cordelia wouldn't be killed off. After she signed her contract Whedon told her Cordelia would be getting killed, and as a result this soured the relationship for many years.

4. The shows cancellation was surprising, and it made everyone mad

When Angel was cancelled after the fifth season, fans were both shocked and hurt. No one could explain what had happened since it was second in ratings behind only smash hit Smallville, and it had grown its audience each year it was on-air. Fans tried everything from petitions to letter writing campaigns to get another network to pick up the show, but were unsuccessful.

5. The truth about the cancellation

Shows are usually renewed come sometime in May, but Whedon went to the network to get an early renewal so that his staff could ensure job security. When he went to WB, the network had its hands tied, and with no other options at that point, decided to cancel the show. There is speculation that if Joss Whedon had just waited as usual, the show would have continued for at least another season.

6. Joss Whedon made a secret cameo in the show

In the episode "Through the Looking Glass," Whedon went to the extreme to make sure no one knew that he was going to make a cameo in his own show. Only Boreanaz, David Greenwalt, Tim Minear and the makeup artists knew what was going on. He played Numfar, the dancing demon.

7. Angel was most definitely not Buffy

I never even considered this until reading about it, but Whedon made sure that Angel would be a lot different than its predecessor Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Angel was far more of a "guys show" and was much darker than Buffy had ever been. You might also have noticed that Buffy was always trying to beat insurmountable odds to save the world, while Angel was constantly seeking redemption for his past.

8. Character crossover

Over the course of five seasons, five characters that originated with Buffy made at least one appearance in Angel. It didn't go the other way though, no character that originated on Angel ever appeared in Buffy.

9. Last words

At the end of the final episode of Angel, Angel closes the series with the last words, "let's go to work." Once Buffy went off-air, the story was continued in comic form. Her last words at the end of the final issue of season eight were "let's go to work."

10. From fan-fiction to screenwriter

Both Buffy and Angel produced a number of fans that decided to delve into "fan-fiction." One fan in particular, Mere Smith, submitted one of her fan-fiction stories to Whedon, he liked it so much he made it the basis for the episode of Angel, "Untouched." Now Smith works professionally as a screenwriter and producer.

Share if you were a massive fan of Buffy and Angel.