James Marsters stole the hearts of many fans as bad boy antihero vampire Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but he’s had a busy career since. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was one of those shows that proved so popular it instantly catapulted the careers of just about everyone who appeared on it. Especially due to the fact that Buffy fans are so loyal that many will follow an alum of the show’s cast to whatever new project they might end up doing next.
This proved very true for David Boreanaz, who went on to star in three different successful TV series after ending his run as a regular on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, although granted, one of those was a Buffy spinoff. Still, people like Sarah Michelle Gellar, Eliza Dushku, Seth Green, Alyson Hannigan, and Michelle Trachtenberg have never been at any kind of loss for work in the years since Buffy signed off. Such is the power of starring on a smash hit show.
James Marsters, who spent time both antagonizing and falling in love with the titular hero as fan-favorite Buffy the Vampire Slayer character Spike, has been no exception to the aforementioned pattern. Marsters works all the time, both in front of the camera and in voice-only roles. Here’s what he’s done since Buffy ended.
What James Marsters Has Done Since Buffy The Vampire Slayer Ended
Following the finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 2003, James Marsters immediately hopped over as Spike to the cast of spinoff Angel, appearing in all 22 episodes of that show’s own final season. In 2007, Marsters voiced iconic supervillain Lex Luthor in the animated DC movie Superman: Doomsday, and that same year, recurred as Detective Grant Mars on the long-running CBS procedural Without a Trace. In 2008, Marsters would appear three times as Captain John Hart on the Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood, and also play infamous serial killer Ted Bundy in the true crime TV miniseries The Capture of the Green River Killer.
2009 saw Marsters portray Lord Piccolo in the Dragonball Evolution live-action movie, and astronaut Buzz Aldrin in the TV movie Moonshot. After recurring as Barnabas Greeley on the Battlestar Galactica spinoff Caprica in 2010, Marsters would also finish up his long-term recurring run as Milton Fine, aka the villain Brainiac on The CW’s Smallville, which he had been playing on and off since 2005. 2011 saw a fun guest appearance by Marsters on the Supernatural episode “Shut Up, Dr. Phil,” starring alongside his Angel co-star Charisma Carpenter as a pair of married witches. In more recent years, Marsters recurred on Syfy’s Warehouse 13, the short-lived Witches of East End, and the reboot of Hawaii Five-0. His most recent TV role was as Victor Stein on Hulu’s Marvel series Runaways, which ended in December 2019 after three seasons.