First proposed in 2002 as a spin-off for Anthony Stewart Head’s Buffy The Vampire Slayer character Rupert Giles, Joss Whedon revealed in an interview with The AV Club that the idea hasn’t died.
“The thing about Ripper—the essence of it—is that the BBC came to me at one point like, ‘It doesn’t have to be Ripper. It can just be [Anthony Stewart Head], and there’s magic, and he’s Tony, ’cause he’s awesome,'” explained Whedon. “And that’s the thing: For some reason, he keeps getting sexier every year. That’s not happening to me! I’m like, ‘What are you doing?’.
“That story was always about a mature guy who’s lived, and about the choices he’s made. So you could make that now, or you could make it 10 years from now. And I’ve tortured Tony more than any other living human with, ‘We’re definitely gonna do this!’ Because I thought we were. He’s working so much, though, I’d feel too guilty. But that’s the thing with Ripper: It doesn’t go away in my head because he’s still right for it, and he could still bring it.”
If it ever happens, what would you like to see from a Giles TV series?
