In 1999, Angel began as a spin-off to the massively successful Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, giving Buffy's love interest turned villain turned love interest once again his time in the spotlight. The show would gradually build up a fantastic ensemble cast. Many characters crossed over from Buffy, continuing and often concluding their arcs on the spin-off. Angel would also introduce a host of beloved new characters to the Buffyverse.
From lounge singing demons to evil lawyers, Angel's characters are varied and well written. Over its five-season run, the show gave fans plenty of characters to love, admire, and often mourn.
10 Faith Lehane
Originally appearing in season 3 of Buffy, Faith is a slayer who broke bad. Her long, complicated history in the universe includes working with the demonic mayor of Sunnydale. Faith appears in the first season of Angel, being hired by Wolfram & Hart to kill the titular vampire, but she eventually turns to him for guidance on how to seek redemption. Angel convinces Faith to turn herself into the police and go to prison in order to seek reformation. She returns to the show in season 4, breaking out of prison to help return Angel back to normal, who had been changed to Angelus.
Redemption is a central theme of Angel and Faith is one of the best examples of this type of story in the Buffyverse. While her screen time is much more significant in Buffy, Faith's time on Angel is critical to her character arc.
9 Allen Doyle
Doyle appears in the first season of Angel as the liaison to the ethereal "Powers That Be." He experiences psychic visions leading him to those in need. He also has a romantic subplot with Cordellia Chase, cut short by his untimely death. Before sacrificing his life, Doyle transferred his powers to Cordellia, drastically changing her life.
While Doyle's time on the show is brief, his presence lingers. Both Cordellia and Angel often invoke his name throughout the series as the ultimate example of a hero.
8 Spike
Initially appearing as a villain in Buffy, Spike has a long history with Angel, having spent centuries together along with Drusilla and Darla. While he had several smaller appearances in the early seasons of Angel, Spike made the biggest impact on the final season as he became a series regular. Spike's arc on Buffy ended with him regaining his soul, becoming a hero, and seemingly sacrificing himself. When he's unintentionally resurrected by Angel, the two become reluctant partners.
Spike works as the perfect foil to Angel. Both are ensouled vampires trying to be heroes in very different ways, each able to point out each other's shortcomings, and both hopelessly in love with Buffy. Spike's presence helped give the final season a jolt of energy.
7 Angel
As the shows titular hero, Angel is on a quest for redemption. As a brooding malcontent with a dark past he can't escape, Angel is the archetypical hero of his own detective story. Over the course of the show, he learns important lessons about what it means to be a hero, particularly the importance of human connection, and the value of selflessness.
While he's a solid protagonist and his arc is a good central thread for the show, Angel's broody self-obsession makes him the shows resident wet blanket, a point the series often self referentially pokes fun at.
6 Lorne
Lorne is introduced as the lounge singing owner of Caritas, a karaoke bar that serves as a neutral ground for demons and humans. He can read people's fortunes by hearing them sing, a skill he often utilizes to help Angel.
Eventually, Lorne guides Angel and his companions to his home dimension, where it's discovered that Lorne was an outcast from his own people who value military prowess and bravery above all else and find Lorne's talent's disgraceful. Despite his obsession with fame and fortune, Lorne is often the show's moral compass. Lorne's compassion, charm, and sense of humor make him a beloved addition to the show.
5 Lilah Morgan
Lilah is a lawyer for the demonic law firm Wolfram & Hart, and a consistent villain throughout the series. Relying on her wits, charm, and perseverance, Lilah is one of the most effective villains in the series despite being a normal human. However, it's her relationship with Wesley which cements her place as one of the show's best characters.
This gave Lilah's character more dimensions than the numerous other Wolfram & Hart minions, making her eventual tragic fate surprisingly heartbreaking. Angel has many great villains, but Lilah is both one of its most compelling and long enduring.
4 Fred Burkle
Fred was a scientist who found herself transported and trapped in the demon dimension called Pylea, where she survived alone for years. When she is saved by Angel, Fred becomes a valuable member of the team, often offering scientific solutions to supernatural problems.
Fred's arc centers around her dealing with the trauma she experienced in Pylea and rebuilding her identity. Eventually, she would be subsumed by the goddess Illyria, an interesting character mostly developed in the comics. Fred's awkward charm, emotionally charged arc and Amy Aker's stellar performance make Fred a beloved character.
3 Wesley Wyndam-Pryce
Wesley had a brief stint on Buffy as an ineffective Watcher tasked with managing Buffy and Faith. He appears in Angel as a lone demon hunter. His time on Angel sees him develop from a bumbling dolt to a legitimate hero. Wesley becomes an effective demon hunter and the character with the strongest moral convictions, doing what he believes is best for the world even when it means turning against his friends.
While Wesley remains consistently flawed, he has some of the most significant growth throughout the series.
2 Charles Gunn
Gunn appears as the leader of a group of demon hunters who work to protect their neighborhood from a gang of vampires. Brash, community-minded, and young, Gunn is a very different vision of a demon hunter than Angel, a point of comparison the show gets a lot of mileage from.
Gunn's origin as the protector of a predominantly black neighborhood is a poignant commentary both on how America consistently fails to protect those communities, and how the Buffyverse has also consistently failed its characters of color. J. August Richards brings a youthful energy to his performance that makes Gunn instantly lovable.
1 Cordelia Chase
Like Angel himself, Cordelia has been a part of the Buffyverse since the first episode of Buffy, where she was introduced as the archetypical mean girl of Buffy's high school. Over her three seasons in Buffy, Cordelia becomes more empathetic and selfless and this growth continues throughout Angel. After Doyle's death, she gains his psychic visions. Even after learning these visions are killing her, Cordelia continues to use them to help those in need, establishing herself as a true hero.
Cordelia's transformation from a vapid teen bully to a literal embodiment of goodness makes her a great character. Her ability to retain the self-confidence and brashness central to her character through that transformation makes her one of TV's all-time greatest characters.