RIP Nicholas Brendan
Mar. 21st, 2026 08:49 pmJust heard that Nicholas Brendan, who played Xander Harris on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, died on the 20th, apparently of natural causes.
To me he was always the best viewpoint character for the show, the normal guy who was doing his best to cope with the sheer insanity of living on the mouth of hell, but some people seen to think that that wasn't sufficiently cool and and that Xander should have had superpowers far beyond anyone else in the show. I'm afraid that they're missing the point; he was the closest to normal of a team that was otherwise super-powered to some extent, and the best bridge between our world and theirs, and he played the role spectacularly well. He'll be missed.
To me he was always the best viewpoint character for the show, the normal guy who was doing his best to cope with the sheer insanity of living on the mouth of hell, but some people seen to think that that wasn't sufficiently cool and and that Xander should have had superpowers far beyond anyone else in the show. I'm afraid that they're missing the point; he was the closest to normal of a team that was otherwise super-powered to some extent, and the best bridge between our world and theirs, and he played the role spectacularly well. He'll be missed.