Facts You Didn't Know About Buffy The Vampire Slayer's Xander Harris

Xander Harris is one third of the original Scooby Gang from Buffy The Vampire Slayer and he was played by Nicholas Brendon. He is the loyal and un-supernatural member of the gang who always seems to get beaten up, woo-ed by demon women and somehow managed to date Cordelia Chase. Here are some little known facts about the character of Xander Harris in Buffy that you may not have heard before.

What Is Xander’s “Supernatural” power?

Xanders full name is Alexander Lavelle Harris and he is the only one in the Scooby gang do not have any supernatural abilities. Xander was always painted as the one who sees everything beyond the supernatural; this led to him losing an eye in season seven of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

So What’s The Deal With Xander’s Arguing Parents?

Xanders parents are named Anthony and Jessica Harris. His father had a problem with alcohol and his mum struggled with her mental health which meant that both of his parents were mostly absent and neglectful.

The “We Hate Cordelia Club”

Xander and his best friend Willow Rosenberg bonded over their mutual hatred of their classmate Cordelia Chase and they formed the “We Hate Cordelia Club“. They briefly dated (if you can call it that) when they were five but broke up over a stolen barbie doll.

Xander Is A Demon Magnet…

Xander Harris wasn’t very lucky in relationships and a recurring joke within Buffy the Vampire Slayer was that he was a “Demon Magnet“ as many of the women he had been on dates with turned out to be Demons.

Introducing Kelly Brendon!

Nicholas Brendan played Xander Harris and Buffy the Vampire Slayer but so did his twin brother Kelly Donovan. Kelly is Nicholas is identical twin and he acted as a standing and Xander’s double during the episode The Replacement in Season Five Episode Three. He also played Xander in several moments during the Season Five Episode 18 Intervention. Nicholas Brendan had fallen ill at the time.

Nicholas Brendon Has An Iron Man Connection

During his audition for the role of Xander Harris, Nicholas Brendan impressed the show’s creator Joss Whedon with his reading. Whedon said in an interview that “we weren’t sure, we had other people, it wasn’t a slamdunk… Nicky just tore the place apart and afterwards he was like ‘does anybody feel like Shwarma? I feel like some shawarma.” This line was later then used in the film The Avengers, also written by Joss Whedon, in the dialogue for Robert Downey Jr‘s character Iron Man.

Buffed The Vampire Slayer 

Nicholas Brendan was told by the Buffy the Vampire Slayer producers to stop working out while filming the show as they didn’t want sounder “looking to buffed“.

Was Xander Going To End Up With Buffy?

During the seventh and final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Nicholas Brendan and Sarah Michelle Geller who played Buffy Summers both liked the idea of the characters ending up together in the finale. Sarah Michelle Geller has stated that she believes Joss Whedon’s original intention was to put Xander and Buffy together.

Joss Whedon Based Xander On Himself

Buffy The Vampire Slayer is creator Joss Whedon claims that the character of Xander is most like him, “Xander, I’ve always identified as the figure I was most alike.”

Until That Day Arrives..

During the episode Welcome To The Hellmouth (which is episode one of season one) Xander Harris was described in the shooting script as “dressed with the shaggy indifference, akin to skateboarders. He is bright, funny, and will one day be suave and handsome. Till that day arrives, he will do the best he can with bright and funny.“

143 Episodes

Xander Harris is the fourth character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer to appear the most in the total of 143 episodes. Next is Buffy Summers with 146, then Willow Rosenberg with 147 and lastly David Boreanaz’s character Angel with 166 episodes. This was due to him having his own spin-off series. Interestingly, along with Buffy, Willow, Angel, and Giles is and it is one of only five characters to appear in both the season one episode one Welcome To The Hellmouth and the season 7 finale Chosen.

Xander Was Nearly Ryan Reynolds

Unbelievably the actor Ryan Reynolds was offered the role of Xander Harris before Nicholas Brendan but he passed on the role saying that “didn’t want to play a guy in high school. I’ve just come out of high school and it was… Awful.“ Danny Strong, who played the recurring character Jonathan in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, also auditioned for the role of Xander too.

Xander Was Turned Down For Angel

When Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended Nicholas Brendan offered to move to Angel the spin-off series. However, Joss Whedon didn’t feel that Xander would fit in very well into angels new life and Spike was moved over to the series instead.

More Than Xander Harris!

Nicholas Brendon was meant to be in Firefly.

Continuing In The Comics

Since the end of the televised version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the character of Xander also appeared in the majority of Buffy expanded universe material including comics, novels and video games.

Nicholas Brendon Had A Stutter

Nicholas Brendan, the actor who plays Xander Harris, had a stutter around the age of eight and that made him fearful of speaking or interacting with strangers. He states that “every day I still have to remind myself to slow down and concentrate. Constant repetition of tongue twisters was like lifting weights for me, but patience and persistence has paid off.“ Since then, Nicholas Brendan has achieved a lot of work with the Stuttering Foundation of America who approached him in 2001. He was made Honorary Chairperson for its National Stuttering Awareness Week between 2001 and 2003.

Nicholas Brendon Was A Plumber!

Before Nicholas Brendan became an actor he had many normal jobs including a plumbers assistant, a daycare counsellor, a waiter and was the production assistant on the television show Dave’s World.

Nicholas Brendon Had Quit Acting Before Being Xander

The actor Nicholas Brendan originally had high hopes to become a professional baseball player but he decided to pursue acting to overcome his stutter. He ended up giving up acting after two years because he couldn’t stand the politics of Hollywood however at the age of 25 he returned to acting and signed with the manager who offered him the audition to play Xander Harrison Buffy the Vampire Slayer three months later.

Reunited With Charisma

In 2006 Nicholas Brendan was reunited with Charisma Carpenter his Buffy co-star in the movie Relative Chaos for ABC Family TV.

Writer’s Summit

In 2014 Nicholas Brendan was part of a summit for writers of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics this also included Joss Sweden, Jane Espenson, and Drew Z. Greenberg.

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