Anyone who’s a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan — guilty! — knows that “into every generation a slayer is born, one girl in all the world, a chosen one.” Barring the fact that the Buffyverse dusted that “there can only be one” myth ages ago, slayers have always been women. That is until now. Meet Billy, the gay vampire slayer.
Billy, however, is not a chosen one, but rather just a boy with a dream and a stake. He looks up to Buffy and wants to be a slayer, despite its typically feminine connotations. That Buffy has always been about female empowerment struck a chord with Season 9 scribes Jane Espenson and Drew Greenberg, who saw a metaphor ripe for the slaying.
Greenberg explained Billy’s coming-out to Out Magazine:
“Billy is someone who sees a need in his hometown and steps up to fill the void, even at great personal risk. He may not have the actual powers of the Slayers, but he’s determined to be his own kind of hero, one who’s sort of modeled after those who do have the power, and he sets out to make due with what he has. In the process, I think he hopes to follow the lead of all the strong, powerful Slayers who came before him and live up to the standard they set…Jane and I certainly talked a lot about the metaphor of feeling powerless in a place overrun with people who, if you let them, could end up sucking the life out of you, and what it means to be someone who stands up and says, ‘I want to make a difference in my life. And if I can make a difference in my life, maybe I’ll be making a difference in others’ lives, too.’
“Jane and I certainly talked a lot about the metaphor of feeling powerless in a place overrun with people who, if you let them, could end up sucking the life out of you, and what it means to be someone who stands up and says, ‘I want to make a difference in my life. And if I can make a difference in my life, maybe I’ll be making a difference in others’ lives, too.’ “
Bravo to Billy for finally breaking the slaying glass ceiling.
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Photo: Out Magazine
