Buffy the Vampire Slayer actor James Marsters has revealed that his character Spike was nearly killed off -- for being too sexy and too popular among the show's fan base.

Marsters played the vampire Spike from Season 2 onward on Buffy, and he claims that creator Joss Whedon had always wanted vampires to be ugly rather than sexy. Although Whedon reportedly said, "'I don't like that Anne Rice crap,'" he was persuaded to turn David Boreanaz's vampire-with-a-soul Angel into Buffy's boyfriend. When Spike emerged as a love interest further down the line, Whedon threatened to kill off the fan-favorite character.

RELATED: Buffy Stuntwoman Says Whedon Said End Her Relationship with Stunt Coordinator

Speaking to Michael Rosenbaum as part of his Inside of You podcast, Marsters explained, "I came along and I wasn't designed to be a romantic character but the audience reacted that way to it. I remember [Whedon] backed me up against a wall one day and he was just like, 'I don't care how popular you are kid, you're dead, you hear me? Dead, dead.' I was just like, 'It's your football man.'"

When asked if the showrunner was joking, Marsters responded, "Hell no, he was angry at the situation I think." Pressed on whether Whedon apologized, Marsters asked, "Why should he?" The star said he would have done exactly the same, concluding, "If it had been me in his shoes, I would've killed me off just immediately."

Marsters reiterated that he could see where Whedon was coming from -- having to deal with another vampiric romantic interest when he had been against making Angel one. According to Marsters, vampires were always supposed to represent evil and not be portrayed as cool.

Thankfully, it all panned out and Spike continued to be a mainstay of Buffy right to the end of the show. The character later crossed over to the spinoff series Angel and became a major part of its fifth and final season.

RELATED: Buffy: Cordelia Was Black, But The WB Told Whedon to Make Her White

Spike's beginnings as a villain of Buffy's Season 2 could hardly foresee the way his character evolved and changed the course of the two popular shows. Likewise, Whedon's originally adamant stance that vampires should be portrayed as monsters rather than romanticized heroes doesn't seem to have affected the way fans fell fo4r his vampire characters.

Although neither Angel nor Spike ended the show in Buffy's arms, their stories were continued in the comics series published by Dark Horse and IDW.