William Pratt

William Pratt, best known by the nickname Spike, is a major supporting character featured in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel television franchises. He is played by American actor James Marsters. The character was introduced in the season two episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer entitled "School Hard". He was originally a villain on the series and became one of the quintessential "Big Bads" throughout the first few seasons. As the character grew in popularity, the show's producers veered him away from being an unrepetent evil character, turning him into a sort of anti-hero and an unofficial member of the so-called "Scooby Gang" (though he himself would never confess to having anything in common with any of them). By season four, Spike was a regularly credited cast member and remained on the show throughout it's duration. The character met an untimely end in the program's series finale "Chosen", but even death could not keep such a popular character down for long. He was later resurrected and became a regular cast member on the spin-off series Angel beginning with the season 5 premiere, "Conviction". Spike appeared in all 22 episodes of season 5 as well as 2 episodes from previous seasons where Marsters was billed as a guest-star. Although his television exploits had come to an end in 2003, the adventures of Spike continued in the pages of numerous novels and comic book series. He was featured in several of his own limited series and one-shot specials and was a recurring supporting cast member in the Angel comic book series by IDW Publishing. The character also appeared in two video games based upon the Buffy the Vampire Slayer mythos and was voiced by James Marsters in each of them.