"If Angel had come back next year, it would have been post-apocalyptic. I don't mean like Dark Angel with just a bunch of industrial buildings, I mean Mad Max Road Warrior. Season six would have been hugely post-apocalyptic, with Angel as the Road Warrior. That was the idea for the next season, so with that in mind we knew the end of season five was heading into something huge and global and monumental. In the finale, they basically start a war and it's a war that will have huge good and evil implications of almost Biblical proportions. It would have been very different next year, and a little more sci-fi, I guess." - David Fury

Source: Dreamwatch #118

MAN!! How awesomely hardcore would that have been?

Thanks for posting this. Now I'm glad the show ended when it did.

Rob

Wow, I actually would have started watching again.

The setting of Dark Angel was the only good thing about it, and this would have been beyond that

me too

An Angel season 6 with Gunn and Angel being the only two ORIGINAL cast members. I can't imagine how that would work. Who would become the other cast regulars? Eve? Nina? Gwen? Conner?

Gunn wasn't an original cast member. In fact, Season 5 started with only Angel being an original cast member.

Harmony is still alive, so she could be a regular. Also Spike and Illyria. I'd imagine they'd slowly introduce some new regulars, such as they have done with nearly every season of Angel.

Well, the idea was that Gunn would die, then someone would be resurrected mid-season, I thought, and that could have been either Gunn or Wes. Either way, there would have still been Illyria, Spike, more than likely Connor, and beyond that, Illyria was planned to split into two entities, one of which could have been Fred... Combine that storyline with this new Mad Max setting, and it would have made for an amazing season. They might have even been able to shoot in Arizona!

If the TV-Movies do get approved, I wonder what effect they would have on the expected plot the writers intended. I sincerely doubt they would try something as potentially risky as this for a handful of two-hour movies... Seeing what might have been, and what probably will be if the movies ever see the light of day.

Going to be hard to watch any eventual follow-ups to the series after learning what was planned. Sounds like it would have had a very similar vibe to Season 1, without the extreme similarities we saw in S1 to BTVS and a truckload more of the darkness Angel embodied later on. At the very least, I think it's fair to expect the WB is going to want a more Season 5 look (IE: Spike, Spike and more Spike), which is quite a shame.

Well, David B has made it known, he'll return to Angel if the bar is raised higher, which means a feature film, I doubt tv movies will happen. If they could make a trilogy of 3 2 hour films, that would be the length of 8 episodes of season six, it would be the best bet.

Hopefully talks start after Joss finishes senerity.

Does this mean The Humungus would've been the Big Bad?

that pretty much explains the existence of illyria for me. they wanted to keep fred on the show but couldn't figure out how she could survive in this environment.

probably why they got rid lorne too then.

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've read some stuff Joss wanted, but post-apocalyptic Angel would be too sweet. That, my friends, would be one badass season.

Like SeanValen, hopefully some news on this after Serenity wraps, which by the way, starts shooting this week, June 3rd.

If nothing is said by 2006-(unfortunately) forget about it.

Gunn was introduced in season one and Wesley joined them only 10 episodes in. That is enough to be labeled original cast member to me. Harmoney is alive, but Angel would kill her if he ever saw her again. When you think about it, the series finale of Angel was a sad one. Half the cast leaves the show, and whats left of the main heros go fighting to their "deaths" at the very end. Even though a post-apocalyptic enviroment in a Season 6 would be perfect for the show... I just don't know what the hell to look forward to. Pretty much all the characters you followed from the beginning are now either gone or dead. But what really pisses me off was the whole Shanshu deal. Why bother when our main hero, Angel, has nothing to gain? His one damn reward for busting his ass day in and day out gets taken away. Joss Whedon really loves to torture this guy. Can't he catch a damn break once and awhile? Kinda hard to root for this guy when he keeps getting f***ed over.

Me three!

"Serenity"

Boreanaz should certainly not write something off so quickly. His filmwork is hardly something to book the rest of his career on (did anyone else see Valentine or I'm with Lucy?). Friggin' take the show for what it IS, dude. Ride the wave like the original Star Trek cast and live comfortably. Sometimes I wonder about what these "stars" are thinking. Yeesh....

You know, this Mad Max post apocolyptic things sounds really dumb. I can understand, metaphorically speaking, being thrown from paradise (W&H), and being back down on the streets, and under them. But if you end up with half the world destroyed, etc., then that is overkill even for the Buffyverse - so much so that I would say it really wouldn't be the Buffyverse. It just wouldn't have that same feel.

I agree that a season 6 with reaping the consequences would be awsome, but only to a certain extent. Don't cross that "this is too sci-fi" line.

This is really all a bit moot, but I agree. Part of the charm of the Buffyverse was that it was all happening under our noses, invisible to the common person. Doing anything TOO post-apocolyptic would be a bit much.

Sounds like an awesome season, but how could you do this without wondering whatever happened to Buffy and the Scoobies. Did they all die in the Apocalypse? That would annoy me, and I would feel like I was watching the beginning of Alien 3.

Anyone know when in the hell Season 4 will be out on DVD in the US?

Wasn't it Angel who said "if nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do." Sometimes the fight is its own reward, and even if he doesn't become human, at least he has the afterlife to look forward to.

I don't know when season 4 will be out, but if you analyzing the release date for the first three seasons, it might give you some clue:

season 1 - Feb 11, 03
season 2 - Sep 2, 03
season 3 - Feb 10, 04
(dates taken from amazon.com)

It looks like they release a season every 6 months or so. So next one probably out around Sep 04?

It fits in with the Fray comic. A shame it didn't happen.