Riley Finn
Encyclopedia
Riley Finn is a fictional character
created by Joss Whedon
for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Portrayed by Marc Blucas
, Riley was introduced in the 1999 season four premiere episode, "The Freshman", and Blucas was part of the series credited cast for the second part of season four and the first part of season five. Most notably, Riley is one of three long-term romantic interests for series' heroine Buffy Summers
(Sarah Michelle Gellar
).
Whedon intended Riley to be the antithesis of Buffy's boyfriend of the past three seasons, Angel (David Boreanaz
), who now headed his own spin-off show
. In stark contrast to broody, often pensive Angel, Riley is optimistic, trustworthy and reliable, and in theory presents Buffy with her first opportunity for a "normal" romantic relationship. However, Riley also leads a double life: he is both teaching assistant
at UC
Sunnydale
and a member of the Initiative, a government-sponsored special operations
team which both researches and combats the demons which roam Sunnydale. This allows him to interact with Buffy both in her civilian life and assist her with her duties as Slayer; while Buffy has supernatural powers associated with her role, Riley must rely instead on his extensive military training.
In the show's fifth season, writers experimented with making Riley a more complex character, and so depicted Riley beginning to "fray around the edges". This storyline culminated in Riley being written out of the series, in 2000. In 2002, Blucas returned for a final televised appearance in the show's sixth season, where he is seen to have moved on from Buffy and married. Subsequently, the character appears in Expanded Universe
material such as the canonical
comic book continuation to the series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight
(2007-11). In Season Eight, the precise nature of Riley's role in the storyline is unclear for much of the story; writer Jane Espenson
, however, wrote a Riley one-shot comic book focusing on Riley and his wife.
, Riley was Buffy Summers
' boyfriend for parts of Seasons Four and Five. He is first introduced during Buffy's relationship and conflict with Parker Abrams. Riley realizes his feelings for Buffy after punching Parker for an inappropriate comment he makes regarding their night together. Even though he led a double life as part of a secret government organization known as the Initiative, Buffy found some normalcy in Riley as a regular college guy and someone to whom she could relate. Initially, each kept the other from knowing their respective secret lives, but the truth came out during the events in the Emmy-nominated episode "Hush."
Buffy and Riley fought demons together and continued saving each other's lives and the world, although Riley was never quite let into Buffy's inner circle. Initially, Riley automatically assumed that all demons were evil, but discovered that demons are capable of both good and evil just as humans are after assisting in saving Oz from the Initiative complex. Having been torn between the Scooby Gang and the Initiative for some time, Riley decided to leave the Initiative upon discovering the extent of its corruption, and spent the remainder of the season in hiding within the ruins of Sunnydale High.
The Initiative was destroyed at the end of Season Four, and Riley was relieved of his military standing. He was left at loose ends, and his behavior became reckless. Over time, Riley began to see himself as below Buffy in strength, and began to push his body well past its limits. In "Out of My Mind," it was discovered that the drugs that Professor Walsh
had secretly fed him were causing Riley's pain receptors
to shut down and his heartbeat
to spike, and would eventually have killed him. Even with this knowledge, Riley initially refused medical treatment from the government out of paranoia
, though Buffy eventually convinced him to do so. Rendered a normal human by the procedure, Riley's insecurities and feelings of weakness only increased, and he became increasingly frustrated with Buffy's seeming inability to open up to and be honest with him.
Seeking thrills, and wondering what Buffy seemed to find so appealing about vampires - Buffy having allowed both Angel and Dracula
to drink from her - Riley began to let vampires feed from him, which Buffy discovered in the episode "Into the Woods" when Spike reveals Riley at the vampire's nest. His behavior, as well as Spike's manipulations and a sense that Buffy would never truly love him, led to their breakup. Riley left Sunnydale
to join another black ops army unit fighting demons elsewhere, and left the show.
Riley returned in the Season Six episode "As You Were," in which he showed up unexpectedly, tracking a demon about to hatch eggs that could wipe out Sunnydale
. However, he did not return to make up with Buffy, having recently gotten married to a fellow demon hunter named Sam (Ivana Miličević
). The battle done, Riley left Sunnydale
, never to return again. He was, however, mentioned in Season Seven when Buffy asked for the Initiative to remove the malfunctioning chip in Spike's head.
In canonical
comic book
continuation Season Eight
issue "Time of Your Life, Part IV,"
it is revealed that Riley is one of villain Twilight
's followers, as he is present in the laboratory with Warren Mears
, Amy Madison
, and Twilight, and bears his mark. Samantha Finn has thus far not appeared in Season Eight. Pretending to be Buffy's "inside man," he arranged for their rendezvous in New York City. Later, seen in "Retreat, Part II,"
Riley is with Twilight and his other followers as they try and track the Scooby Gang through their use of magic; Riley tries to convince Twilight that the results could be a mistake of the scanning technology. He is also intrigued by Twilight's remark that he "knows" Buffy. During a large battle between the Slayers and Twilight's forces, Buffy recovers an injured Riley, revealing to the other characters that Riley was a double agent for her in an attempt to figure out Twilight's plans and identity.
Riley also appears in the first issue of the follow-up series Season Nine
; the structure of "Freefall, Part I" suggests that Riley—like Spike, Xander, Willow and others—could have been Buffy's possible one-night-stand after the party she hosts at her apartment in San Francisco. Riley remains married to Sam.
, who usually displayed jealousy of the males in her life.
Whedon defended the character of Riley Finn, "The important thing for us was to find a character that was the anti-Angel and to have Buffy go through something very different, part of which was the question, 'How do I get over Angel?' That was the same thing the audience was going through. We knew it wasn't going to be easy and it was very hard trying to find somebody. But Marc [Blucas] has a quality that I love very much: he has sort of an un-David-like, firm, strong, trustworthy quality. I always think of him as Gary Cooper
." During Season Five, writer/co-executive producer, Marti Noxon, noted that they were making Riley a more tortured complex character, "He's starting to fray around the edges. That's very compelling to me - that this straight guy is starting to get a little strange."
Actor Christian Kane
also auditioned for Riley Finn. Kane went on to play the role of Lindsey McDonald
on the spin-off show Angel
. Kane says he played his audition for Riley "perhaps a little less than wholesome", which he feels resulted in Joss Whedon
later casting him as a darker character.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Riley was introduced in the show's fourth season as a recurring character and became a regular in the episode "Doomed" and continued on as a regular until season five's "Into the Woods", and appeared once afterward. He appeared in 31 episodes. His guest appearances include:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight
: Riley has also appeared in the canonical comic book continuation. He has appeared in the issues:
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
created by Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Portrayed by Marc Blucas
Marc Blucas
Marcus Paul "Marc" Blucas is an American actor, known for playing Riley Finn in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Early life:...
, Riley was introduced in the 1999 season four premiere episode, "The Freshman", and Blucas was part of the series credited cast for the second part of season four and the first part of season five. Most notably, Riley is one of three long-term romantic interests for series' heroine Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers is a fictional character from Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in the television series and subsequent comic book of the same name...
(Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze , known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar , is an American actress, singer and executive producer...
).
Whedon intended Riley to be the antithesis of Buffy's boyfriend of the past three seasons, Angel (David Boreanaz
David Boreanaz
David Boreanaz is an American actor, television producer, and director, known for his role as Angel on the supernatural drama series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and as Special Agent Seeley Booth on the television crime drama Bones....
), who now headed his own spin-off show
Angel (TV series)
Angel is an American television series, a spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffys creator, Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt, and first aired on October 5, 1999...
. In stark contrast to broody, often pensive Angel, Riley is optimistic, trustworthy and reliable, and in theory presents Buffy with her first opportunity for a "normal" romantic relationship. However, Riley also leads a double life: he is both teaching assistant
Teaching assistant
A teaching assistant is an individual who assists a professor or teacher with instructional responsibilities. TAs include graduate teaching assistants , who are graduate students; undergraduate teaching assistants , who are undergraduate students; secondary school TAs, who are either high school...
at UC
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
Sunnydale
Sunnydale
Sunnydale, California is the fictional setting for the U.S. television drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Series creator Joss Whedon conceived the town as a representation of a generic California city, as well as a narrative parody of the all-too-serene towns typical in traditional horror...
and a member of the Initiative, a government-sponsored special operations
Special operations
Special operations are military operations that are considered "special" .Special operations are typically performed independently or in conjunction with conventional military operations. The primary goal is to achieve a political or military objective where a conventional force requirement does...
team which both researches and combats the demons which roam Sunnydale. This allows him to interact with Buffy both in her civilian life and assist her with her duties as Slayer; while Buffy has supernatural powers associated with her role, Riley must rely instead on his extensive military training.
In the show's fifth season, writers experimented with making Riley a more complex character, and so depicted Riley beginning to "fray around the edges". This storyline culminated in Riley being written out of the series, in 2000. In 2002, Blucas returned for a final televised appearance in the show's sixth season, where he is seen to have moved on from Buffy and married. Subsequently, the character appears in Expanded Universe
Expanded Universe
The term Expanded Universe is generally used to denote the 'extension' of a media franchise with other media...
material such as the canonical
Canon (fiction)
In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...
comic book continuation to the series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight is a comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics. The series serves as a canonical continuation of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and follows the events of that show's final televised season. It is produced by Joss Whedon, who wrote the...
(2007-11). In Season Eight, the precise nature of Riley's role in the storyline is unclear for much of the story; writer Jane Espenson
Jane Espenson
Jane Espenson is an American script writer and television producer who has worked on both situation comedies and serial dramas. She had a five-year stint as a writer and producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and shared a Hugo Award for her writing on the episode "Conversations with Dead People"...
, however, wrote a Riley one-shot comic book focusing on Riley and his wife.
Character history
A native of Huxley, IowaHuxley, Iowa
Huxley is a city in Story County, Iowa, United States. The population was 2,316 at the 2000 census. It is part of the 'Ames, Iowa Metropolitan Statistical Area', which is a part of the larger 'Ames-Boone, Iowa Combined Statistical Area'.-Geography:...
, Riley was Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers is a fictional character from Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in the television series and subsequent comic book of the same name...
' boyfriend for parts of Seasons Four and Five. He is first introduced during Buffy's relationship and conflict with Parker Abrams. Riley realizes his feelings for Buffy after punching Parker for an inappropriate comment he makes regarding their night together. Even though he led a double life as part of a secret government organization known as the Initiative, Buffy found some normalcy in Riley as a regular college guy and someone to whom she could relate. Initially, each kept the other from knowing their respective secret lives, but the truth came out during the events in the Emmy-nominated episode "Hush."
Buffy and Riley fought demons together and continued saving each other's lives and the world, although Riley was never quite let into Buffy's inner circle. Initially, Riley automatically assumed that all demons were evil, but discovered that demons are capable of both good and evil just as humans are after assisting in saving Oz from the Initiative complex. Having been torn between the Scooby Gang and the Initiative for some time, Riley decided to leave the Initiative upon discovering the extent of its corruption, and spent the remainder of the season in hiding within the ruins of Sunnydale High.
The Initiative was destroyed at the end of Season Four, and Riley was relieved of his military standing. He was left at loose ends, and his behavior became reckless. Over time, Riley began to see himself as below Buffy in strength, and began to push his body well past its limits. In "Out of My Mind," it was discovered that the drugs that Professor Walsh
Maggie Walsh
Professor Maggie Walsh is a fictional character in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Lindsay Crouse.-History:...
had secretly fed him were causing Riley's pain receptors
Nociceptor
A nociceptor is a sensory receptor that responds to potentially damaging stimuli by sending nerve signals to the spinal cord and brain. This process, called nociception, usually causes the perception of pain.-History:...
to shut down and his heartbeat
Cardiac cycle
The cardiac cycle is a term referring to all or any of the events related to the flow or blood pressure that occurs from the beginning of one heartbeat to the beginning of the next. The frequency of the cardiac cycle is described by the heart rate. Each beat of the heart involves five major stages...
to spike, and would eventually have killed him. Even with this knowledge, Riley initially refused medical treatment from the government out of paranoia
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
, though Buffy eventually convinced him to do so. Rendered a normal human by the procedure, Riley's insecurities and feelings of weakness only increased, and he became increasingly frustrated with Buffy's seeming inability to open up to and be honest with him.
Seeking thrills, and wondering what Buffy seemed to find so appealing about vampires - Buffy having allowed both Angel and Dracula
Count Dracula
Count Dracula is a fictional character, the titular antagonist of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula and archetypal vampire. Some aspects of his character have been inspired by the 15th century Romanian general and Wallachian Prince Vlad III the Impaler...
to drink from her - Riley began to let vampires feed from him, which Buffy discovered in the episode "Into the Woods" when Spike reveals Riley at the vampire's nest. His behavior, as well as Spike's manipulations and a sense that Buffy would never truly love him, led to their breakup. Riley left Sunnydale
Sunnydale
Sunnydale, California is the fictional setting for the U.S. television drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Series creator Joss Whedon conceived the town as a representation of a generic California city, as well as a narrative parody of the all-too-serene towns typical in traditional horror...
to join another black ops army unit fighting demons elsewhere, and left the show.
Riley returned in the Season Six episode "As You Were," in which he showed up unexpectedly, tracking a demon about to hatch eggs that could wipe out Sunnydale
Sunnydale
Sunnydale, California is the fictional setting for the U.S. television drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Series creator Joss Whedon conceived the town as a representation of a generic California city, as well as a narrative parody of the all-too-serene towns typical in traditional horror...
. However, he did not return to make up with Buffy, having recently gotten married to a fellow demon hunter named Sam (Ivana Miličević
Ivana Milicevic
-Early life:Miličević was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina to a Croatian family, the daughter of Tonka, a homemaker, and Damir Miličević, a slaughterhouse worker and entrepreneur. She emigrated to the United States at the age of five and was raised in Michigan...
). The battle done, Riley left Sunnydale
Sunnydale
Sunnydale, California is the fictional setting for the U.S. television drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Series creator Joss Whedon conceived the town as a representation of a generic California city, as well as a narrative parody of the all-too-serene towns typical in traditional horror...
, never to return again. He was, however, mentioned in Season Seven when Buffy asked for the Initiative to remove the malfunctioning chip in Spike's head.
In canonical
Canon (fiction)
In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
continuation Season Eight
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight is a comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics. The series serves as a canonical continuation of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and follows the events of that show's final televised season. It is produced by Joss Whedon, who wrote the...
issue "Time of Your Life, Part IV,"
Time of Your Life (Buffy comic)
"Time of Your Life" is the fourth story arc that spreads from the sixteenth to the nineteenth issue of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight series of comic books, a continuation of the television series of the same name...
it is revealed that Riley is one of villain Twilight
Twilight (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
"Twilight" is the seventh story arc of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight series of comic books, based upon the television series of the same name, and is written by novelist and comic book writer Brad Meltzer...
's followers, as he is present in the laboratory with Warren Mears
Warren Mears
Warren Mears is a fictional character portrayed by Adam Busch in the American television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as its canonical comic book series continuation.-Television:...
, Amy Madison
Amy Madison
Amy Madison is a fictional character, a witch played by Elizabeth Anne Allen in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and by Shay Astar in the Season 8 motion comics. She made appearances in every season of Buffy except Seasons Five .Amy is a witch...
, and Twilight, and bears his mark. Samantha Finn has thus far not appeared in Season Eight. Pretending to be Buffy's "inside man," he arranged for their rendezvous in New York City. Later, seen in "Retreat, Part II,"
Retreat (Buffy comic)
"Retreat" is the sixth story arc of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight series of comic books, based upon the television series of the same name, and is written by television screenwriter Jane Espenson...
Riley is with Twilight and his other followers as they try and track the Scooby Gang through their use of magic; Riley tries to convince Twilight that the results could be a mistake of the scanning technology. He is also intrigued by Twilight's remark that he "knows" Buffy. During a large battle between the Slayers and Twilight's forces, Buffy recovers an injured Riley, revealing to the other characters that Riley was a double agent for her in an attempt to figure out Twilight's plans and identity.
Riley also appears in the first issue of the follow-up series Season Nine
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine is the sequel to the Season Eight comic book series, a canonical continuation of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer...
; the structure of "Freefall, Part I" suggests that Riley—like Spike, Xander, Willow and others—could have been Buffy's possible one-night-stand after the party she hosts at her apartment in San Francisco. Riley remains married to Sam.
Writing and acting
Marc Blucas was asked how the character was described to him during the audition process, he replied that "They said that Riley is a nice, charming guy, and there's going to be some kind of dichotomy, some kind of double role going on. But that was never really specified." In contrast to both Angel and Spike, Riley held out the possibility of normality in Buffy's life. He is also notable in that he is the only boyfriend of Buffy who was accepted by and developed a friendship with Xander HarrisXander Harris
Alexander LaVelle "Xander" Harris is a fictional character in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as in numerous items in the series Expanded Universe, such as comic books, tie-in novels and video games...
, who usually displayed jealousy of the males in her life.
Whedon defended the character of Riley Finn, "The important thing for us was to find a character that was the anti-Angel and to have Buffy go through something very different, part of which was the question, 'How do I get over Angel?' That was the same thing the audience was going through. We knew it wasn't going to be easy and it was very hard trying to find somebody. But Marc [Blucas] has a quality that I love very much: he has sort of an un-David-like, firm, strong, trustworthy quality. I always think of him as Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
." During Season Five, writer/co-executive producer, Marti Noxon, noted that they were making Riley a more tortured complex character, "He's starting to fray around the edges. That's very compelling to me - that this straight guy is starting to get a little strange."
Actor Christian Kane
Christian Kane
Christian Kane is an American actor and singer/songwriter of Native American descent. He currently stars as Eliot Spencer on the TNT series Leverage. He is best known for his roles in the television shows Angel and Into the West, and the movies Just Married and Secondhand Lions.He is the lead...
also auditioned for Riley Finn. Kane went on to play the role of Lindsey McDonald
Lindsey McDonald
Lindsey McDonald is a fictional character from the television series Angel. He first appeared in the series' first episode, "City of," and featured prominently in the story arcs of seasons one, two, and five. Lindsey is the only character besides Angel himself to appear in both the first and last...
on the spin-off show Angel
Angel (TV series)
Angel is an American television series, a spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffys creator, Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt, and first aired on October 5, 1999...
. Kane says he played his audition for Riley "perhaps a little less than wholesome", which he feels resulted in Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
later casting him as a darker character.
Canonical appearances
Riley has appeared in:Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Riley was introduced in the show's fourth season as a recurring character and became a regular in the episode "Doomed" and continued on as a regular until season five's "Into the Woods", and appeared once afterward. He appeared in 31 episodes. His guest appearances include:
- Season 4: "The Freshman", "Fear, Itself", "Beer Bad", "Wild at Heart", "The InitiativeThe InitiativeThe Initiative is a fictional secret government organization in the television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.-Origins:...
", "Pangs", "Something Blue", "Hush" - Season 6: "As You Were"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight is a comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics. The series serves as a canonical continuation of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and follows the events of that show's final televised season. It is produced by Joss Whedon, who wrote the...
: Riley has also appeared in the canonical comic book continuation. He has appeared in the issues:
- "Time of Your Life, Part IVTime of Your Life (Buffy comic)"Time of Your Life" is the fourth story arc that spreads from the sixteenth to the nineteenth issue of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight series of comic books, a continuation of the television series of the same name...
", "Retreat, Part IIRetreat (Buffy comic)"Retreat" is the sixth story arc of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight series of comic books, based upon the television series of the same name, and is written by television screenwriter Jane Espenson...
", "Turbulence", "Riley: Commitment through Distance, Virtue through Sin"