Angel , Joss Whedon'due south Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off, ended fifteen years agone, and then what happened in the serial finale and what came next for the vampire with a soul? Angel's series finale, "Not Fade Away", kickoff aired back in May 2004, and despite the fact information technology originally wasn't supposed to terminate the show information technology works well as a fitting determination.

Throughout its five-season run, Angel proved itself a worthy companion to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, taking a darker, slightly more than adult approach and better-developing characters who had started out on Buffy, including Cordelia, Wesley, and, of course, Angel himself. The final flavor finds the team joined by Spike, fresh from saving the world in the Buffy series finale, and one time more than has the Angel Investigations team contesting the forces of evil.

Angel was surprisingly canceled during season v, meaning that storylines planned to run for longer had to be wrapped-up much sooner, and so "Non Fade Away" had to bring the battle with the Senior Partners of Wolfram & Hart to a close. Whedon had enough time to rework things into a finale, although the catastrophe itself isn't totally definitive.

Angel'south Series Finale Ends On A Cliffhanger

Angel's series finale revolves effectually the team'due south last stand against the Senior Partners, in which they must practise battle with the Circle of the Black Thorn, a subset of Wolfram & Hart who serve as the Senior Partners' instruments on World. Angel infiltrates the group, renouncing the prophecy and giving upwardly whatever chance of condign homo to convince them of his loyalty. The team so have i last day on World, with Angel telling them they're probably going to die: Angel visits his son, Connor; Gunn helps Anne at a homeless shelter; Lorne performs onstage; Wesley tends to Illyria; Fasten gets drunk and recites a poem that he commencement recited back in 1880.

The next solar day the grouping all have intendance of their targets within the Circle of the Black Thorn, each of them being killed one-by-ane, although Wesley dies equally a effect. That's non the end of the battle though, as the Senior Partners ship an army of demons down to Globe. The remaining gang - Angel, Gunn, Spike, and Illyria - ready to face them. Every bit Affections draws a sword and says "let'due south become to work", rain pouring downwardly to add together to the apocalyptic feel, "Not Fade Away" comes to an stop, and and so too does Angel.

Although Whedon refutes the idea of this existence a cliffhanger, it did certainly announced to be i at the time. There'southward an expectation to see the battle and to find out who makes information technology through alive, but instead the finale - and thus the series - ends rather abruptly, without a proper conclusion. Information technology may have been a deliberate move from Whedon, merely it left enough of viewers dislocated equally to what had happened (and was divisive at the time), especially when at that place was no Angel season 6 on the horizon.

Angel Was Supposed To Have A Season vi

Angel season 5 wasn't supposed to be the cease of the prove, with Whedon and the remainder of the cast and crew expecting that The WB network would renew it for a 6th season. When the network and so pulled the plug it came as a major surprise to those involved, with Whedon describing it equally "Healthy Guy Falls Dead From A Heart Attack." The sentiments have since been echoed by James Marsters, who played Fasten, as he told The AV Club: "...Nosotros were all thinking, 'There's no way they're going to cancel us now!... And the problem was that Joss likes to programme ahead, and this one caught him completely by surprise, then he hadn't saved any budget or built up a storyline to cease the arc of Angel."

Affections's ratings in flavour 5 were really upwards on season 4, making the lack of renewal even more of a daze, although the common reason given behind the movement is that Whedon pressed John Levin, WB's Head of Entertainment, for an early decision on the testify rather than the typical mid-May renewal. With other plans up in the air and different shows in development Levin, forced to give an answer, chose to abolish Angel.

Whedon had to rework season 5 to give information technology an ending and necktie some threads upward, although at that place have been various rumors about what his plans for Angel season 6 included. Apparent plot points would've involved Illyria either becoming more similar Fred, or Willow being able to split up the two, and Seth Green'south Oz was linked with a return to help Nina, who was going to go a more permanent fixture.

What Happens To Affections In The Comics

Joss Whedon insistsAngel's serial finale didn't end on a cliffhanger, but he did choose to proceed the story, albeit not on Goggle box. Following on from the success of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics, Whedon decided to let Affections alive on in comic book form likewise, with Angel: After The Fall picking up from the events of "Not Fade Abroad."

In Angel: After The Fall, afterwards taking a stand up against the Senior Partners, the unabridged metropolis of Los Angeles has been sent to hell. Angel, of class, continues to fight the expert fight as best he can, and partners up with a dragon who was originally sent to kill him by the Senior Partners. Spike lives nether the protection of Illyria, who has lost control of her powers and at times turns back into Fred, while Connor, Nina, and Gwen help to provide a identify to keep people rubber from demons. The worst fates befall Gunn and Wesley. The former has been turned into a vampire, who captures victims under the guise of rescue, while Wesley, fifty-fifty afterwards his expiry, remains contractually bound to Wolfram & Hart, existing in an incorporeal grade.

Information technology's afterwards revealed that Angel was turned mortal by the Senior Partners to reduce his chances of opposing them. Angel continues to fight, going upwards against the Lords of 50.A., only has to rely on glamors to appear every bit though he is nonetheless a vampire, a flim-flam that eventually runs out. Affections nearly dies, only a new demon army is sent to resurrect him, which leads to him figuring out that the Senior Partners' plans hinge on him being alive. He provokes Gunn into killing him, and because of his expiry, the Partners revert things dorsum to how they were earlier Los Angeles was sent to hell. Angel is back to beingness a vampire, Gunn is saved from condign one, and the team are treated as heroes for helping to salvage the city, with Affections then going off into the nighttime to continue helping the helpless.

What Angel's Ending Actually Means

Whether yous view Angel's catastrophe as a cliffhanger or not, and regardless of if you read the comics, the serial finale of Angel does work as a satisfying conclusion to the entire arc of the series, and in detail the character of Affections himself. We might non get to see the boxing, but that's not the point. The point is that there's going to be a battle at all: that Angel is going to fight for what's correct and to protect those who cannot protect themselves.

That'south the broad theme of Angel, show and character. It ultimately doesn't matter if he can be redeemed so far that he turns human once more; what matters is that he will continue to search for the redemption and to right wrongs. Angel will always have to fight, and he'll always practise it. In that location'll be another boxing after this i, and one later that. In life, particularly the life Angel and his friends have chosen, you don't get to simply end. "Let'southward get to piece of work" isn't a rallying cry for that battle, only a elementary summation of what they do. Angel's ending manages to give hints of a more than concrete ending, with emotional moments such equally the 1 between Angel and Connor, only it's more concerned with telling us that the battle will keep, and Angel'due south ever going to be in that location fighting it for usa. It might non be flavor 6, nor quite every bit definitive as showing them save the world, simply information technology'due south a satisfying, moving conclusion that loops back in with the entire ethos of Angel .

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About The Writer

James Hunt (865 Articles Published)

James is Screen Rant's Movies Lead Editor, having started out as a writer for the site back in 2019. A Sports Journalism graduate, James speedily realized that supporting Sunderland AFC was painful enough without writing about it, and so decided to talk a load of rubbish about movies and Television set instead. Formerly the TV editor at WhatCulture, he has a particular dear of Star Wars (The Final Jedi was bang-up), Game of Thrones (season 8 was good), and Harry Potter (J.Grand. Rowling...never mind) - y'know, all that really niche, nerdy stuff. Spending most of his days editing manufactures almost or writing on movies and shows, James likes to really go away from work and unwind by, er, watching movies and shows. He's fuelled by pint-sized cups of tea, peanut butter, more tea, and a tranquillity, constant anger (like the Hulk, simply not green, or strong, or large).

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