Ah yes, BBC is full of Buffy gems and Amber goodies :-)

And forget these interviews (both clips and text) which are actually much more recent and deal with her "Ghosts of Albion" endevour:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/ghosts/interviews/benson/
and
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/ghosts/interviews/benson_golden/

Actually, I was initially upset towards Amber when hearing she turned down two chances two be on Buffy in season 7, but it all became crystal clear later on when she reveiled recently that she had very good reasons because of the way Joss wanted her to come back as evil. Amber was simply protecting her fans (and the memory of the character).

TaraLivesOn | June 06, 14:47 CET

I think she made the wrong decision. She could have made S7 a lot more interesting. Unfortunately the most vocal fans got what they wanted. For an actor to say "I'm not playing that because the fans won't like it" I think is taking the easy way out.

Caroline | June 06, 15:18 CET

I remember at the time that compensation was an issue as well. It seemed to me that she wasn't going to be paid what she thought she should, which is as good a reason as any, to me. That, combined with her reservations about where the character was going to be taken, may have been enough.

brother_grady | June 06, 17:43 CET

I've never seen a single mention from Joss or Amber about money issues? Can you give a quote/reference? It would be interesting to see the pay differences between the main actresses and Amber (and vs. like Seth Green before he left)

TaraLivesOn | June 06, 20:04 CET

I have to say that the phrase 'Tara came back as evil' is misleading. The First uses Tara's image to do evil which is completely different. I mean we don't say Spike or Buffy went evil this season because the First was using there image.

Unitas | June 06, 20:15 CET

This is the comment I was referring to, "TaraLivesOn," from TV Guide Online, on October 30, 2002:

"According to series creator Joss Whedon, Benson — who was slated to be brought back to life as a different character — failed to reach a deal with producer 20th Century Fox.

"It was a question of negotiations, as it sometimes is," he tells TV Guide Online. "It's sad, because I love Amber. But that's between her and Fox." Adds Benson's rep: "She's very proud of her work on the show, but ultimately, we couldn't work out the right deal."

To be fair, it doesn't explicitly say anything about money, but when contract negotiations break down, to me compensation differences are a distinct possibility. Don't mean to impugn anyone, though.

brother_grady | June 06, 21:29 CET

Why is it that "Amber Benson won't return because she'll have to play the First Evil pretending to be Tara, and she doesn't want to hurt her fans" strikes me as "Amber Benson thinks Tara's fans are as dumb as posts"?

LudditeRobot | June 07, 04:45 CET

I think y'all are reading the wrong things into it. From what I've been able to glean, it looks to me that not only did Benson want more compensation for her return, but she also wanted partial artistic control over *how* Tara's character would be used. For example, she didn't want to pose as "The First" posing as Tara. If Tara was to return, Benson wanted it to be AS Tara. Something Whedon obviously had no interest in doing.

So maybe money was an issue, but more specifically it was that the actor wanted to be able to tell the writers what to do, which I doubt the writing staff would stomach. This may happen in an unofficial capacity, and may even be something that some of the principal regulars have writ into their contract (some kind of veto clause where SMG could ask for rewrites for example, if she didn't like dialogue presented to her) OR it could be something that none of the writers give to the actors.

Bottom line: Whedon wanted Amber Benson to return in a capacity that she didn't feel comfortable doing. I don't think she meant to insult the fans when she said no. I don't think she meant to insult anyone, but she was asking for more creative control of her character than any writer in their right mind would allow. So it just wasn't meant to be.

No reason to assume she meant us ill will, LudditeRobot. Benson doesn't think we're dumb as posts. She did what she thought was right and that is respectable. Ultimately the story just got told without her, and I for one think it was all the better for it.

Henslowe: Mr. Fennyman, allow me to explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.
Fennyman: So what do we do?
Henslowe: Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well.
Fennyman: How?
Henslowe: I don't know. It's a mystery.
- Shakespeare In Love

ZachsMind | June 07, 05:42 CET

How about this theory: hardcore Tara fans were outraged enough when the character was killed. How do you think that contingent would react to Benson returning as Tara only as the greatest evil on Earth?

Perhaps Amber's choice and statements following were just a way of avoiding that particular mine field.

jack knight | June 07, 06:13 CET

Excellent quote, ZachsMind. I often feel that in our need to disect everything BTVS that we lose sight of what you point out, the impossibilty of the quality that we get.

Unitas | June 07, 07:03 CET

Well this much I do know, Amber and Joss are actual friends and the musical came about if only because her and others would sing at his house during little weekend parties, etc. (remember that Amber also knows Alyson even before Joss). But business is business and I do recall reading in some article that "last minute negotiations with Amber's agent failed" (this was for the Conversations with Dead People segment).

If it was about money, then the agent was really not acting in Amber's best interest and shame on them. If it was about creative control (not to come back as evil) then I can live with that because in the end the actress that played Cassie did a great job instead.

I have seen an alternate script if Amber had been there and its very very chilling at the end when Tara starts acting like the first. Joss would have gotten what he wanted, a really dark moment because we love and trust Tara's character but her true fans would have really had some serious saddness over that equaling her death.

I am not sure if this is genuine or not but see what I mean:
http://studiesinwords.de/shooting/conversations.html

And in her recent (post-Buffy) interview, Amber said this (taking the blame but for the evil issue, not money):
But it was horrible how she died, and the first time there had ever been anything really violent like that on Buffy . I don’t think it was that [producer] Joss [Whedon] was conscious of the lesbian death stereotype when he did was he did. He always told us that Willow and Tara were based on friends of his and his wife’s. He actually wanted me to come back, but as a bad Tara. It was my choice not to do that. It would have hurt too many people.

for my 2 cents, I would not want to see an evil Tara, so she is right

TaraLivesOn | June 07, 08:15 CET

I wouldn't want to see an evil Tara either, but Buffy doesn't give me what I want but what I need.

aaronsw | June 07, 09:48 CET

The script is genuine and it's great. Pure Noxon (she wrote the W/T scenes). CWDP is a brillant episodes but it's never been the same for me after I read the original scenes.

Unitas | June 07, 10:56 CET

I think Evil Tara would have given a truthful emotional jolt that this Season lacked, and if I were unspoiled would have really meant something to the show.

brother_grady | June 09, 16:54 CET