Seth Green was part of the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but at first he did not think his character held that much importance for the plot. Over time he had to change his mind, but at a certain point the moment came for Oz to exit the stage. Years after the end of that chapter in his career, Seth Green has explained the reason he chose to walk away from the popular TV series starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Oz’s exit: Seth Green revisits the decision that pushed him to leave the TV series
First appearing in the second season, Seth Green portrayed , Willow’s love interest introduced as a teenage werewolf whose role became regular starting in the third season, only to disappear during the fourth season. But why this choice?
During the podcast The McBride Rewind, Seth Green recalled that period of his career and the evolution of his character across the seasons, remembering when the creator Joss Whedon told him, after several episodes, that he wanted him as a permanent member of the cast. “He told me: ‘I have a plan to make Oz a werewolf, and here’s what I’ve been thinking.’ I thought it was really interesting.”
Yet, at a certain point, the actor decided that the time had come to explore other projects. He explained that those working on Buffy the Vampire Slayer were “paid criminally for the work we did” and that they had decided to renegotiate the terms of the deal. Meanwhile, he received several offers to act in some films but did not want to abandon the TV series: “But I had shot 22 episodes the previous season and the cast consisted of about nine main characters; and undeniably none of the things we had talked about regarding my character had come to fruition in the final season because we were telling the main story.”
Given the commitment required (the cast spent more than 12 hours a day on set, according to the actor), Seth Green had no time to do anything else and at the same time did not see room for growth for his role: “I play my part, but Oz is always kind of a guest star, right? He’s not in every episode.” At that point the actor had asked to skip some episodes of the fourth season so he could also shoot other films, but the response was disappointing: the production company would not agree. He turned to Whedon and said: “I want to be here, I want to play this role, I love it, I can’t believe I could do this, but I want to shoot these films. And then talk about six episodes out of 22. Let my character go on tour, that would make sense.” Eventually he revealed that the production “would not close that deal” and drafted a storyline to write the character off during the fourth season.
Seth Green acted from 1997 to 2000 in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In 2001 he appeared in films such as The Perfect Lovers, Rat Race and Dangerous Company. In 2005, he then created the animated series Robot Chicken.
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