I'm suspicious of the party line that Spike was intended to be killed off. I think the writing staff adopted that line at the beginning, in case Marsters didn't work out or the fans hated him, and then just ran with it. But I suspect that Joss always intended for Spike to turn into a shadow-self for Buffy
You know, I started rereading James' quotes on how he landed the role
mostly to find a quote to prove that initially Spike wasn't particularly important for Joss. But the more I read the more I get convinced that you may be right. "They had been searching for someone for a long time, and hadn't found him", "They had been looking for a 'Spike' for a long time and hadn't found him", "They looked at big names"...
Interesting.
OTOH, Joss says that his initial interest in Spike had nothing to do with Buffy.
no subject
You know, I started rereading James' quotes on how he landed the role
http://www.jamesdb.com/index.php?c=3&s=20&q=75#75
mostly to find a quote to prove that initially Spike wasn't particularly important for Joss. But the more I read the more I get convinced that you may be right. "They had been searching for someone for a long time, and hadn't found him", "They had been looking for a 'Spike' for a long time and hadn't found him", "They looked at big names"...
Interesting.
OTOH, Joss says that his initial interest in Spike had nothing to do with Buffy.
http://icafreak.livejournal.com/267794.html