"The only thing I was told was that “you’re a soulless vampire who cares about nothing and no one.” [...] And I remember they said that, and I was like, “You got it. Yes, boss.” And they turn away and I’m like, no way I’m playing it that way. I am not going to play it like I don’t care about anybody, because if I play it like that, the audience is not going to connect to me and they’re going to kill me off a lot sooner. They said it was going to be between five and ten episodes. And I just knew that if I played it their way, it would be five. [...] And so, I found the love. I think that the way to connect with an audience is you find where the love is. It doesn’t have to be puppy-dog love — “Oh, I love you forever.” It can be love betrayed, love twisted, love denied, love frustrated — that’s fine. But love has to be in there. I mean, there was a love of hunting in Spike, and I played that, but mostly it was a love for you." — James Marsters, interviewed by Juliet Landau on her podcast “RE-VAMPED with Juliet Landau.”
