Anthony Stewart Head, the actor known for playing Rupert Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has passed away at age 72. Stewart had a long and lucrative acting career, with credits including Imagine Me & You, Repo! The Genetic Opera, Free Agents, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, Ted Lasso, and more. In 2023, he reprised his role as Giles in the audio series, Slayers: A Buffyverse Story. Head’s passing marks the third loss of a main Buffy cast member in recent years. Fans were shocked and saddened by the deaths of Michelle Trachtenberg in 2025 and Nicholas Brendon earlier this year. When they passed, we shared their best Buffy episodes, and now it is time to do the same for Head.
Throughout Buffy’s seven seasons, Giles served as Buffy’s (Sarah Michelle Gellar) Watcher and father figure. He worked as the school librarian at Sunnydale High for the first three seasons of the show. After being fired by the Watcher’s Council and losing his job due to the destruction of the high school, Giles spends Season 4 adrift, which leads to some of his best moments. In Season 5, he considered leaving Sunnydale and going back to England, but stayed after Buffy asked him to be her Watcher again. He then reopened The Magic Box and ran it alongside Anya Jenkins (Emm Caulfield). Head moved from a series regular to recurring actor in Season 6, so that he could move back to England to be closer to his family. Thankfully, he was still present throughout the show’s final two seasons.
In honor of Head, here are ten Buffy episodes for you to watch if you’re looking to honor him. Warning: Buffy spoilers ahead!
“The Puppet Show” (Season 1, Episode 9)
While Buffy the Vampire Slayer was still finding its footing in Season One, fans were enjoying the “Monster of the Week” format. In “The Puppet Show,” Giles is tasked with the unfortunate job of running Sunnydale High’s talent show. When a demon starts harvesting students’ organs, the Scooby gang meets Sid, a demon hunter who is trapped in the body of a ventriloquist dummy. It’s a fun and creepy episode that features plenty of great Giles moments.
Throughout the episode, Giles is not exactly thrilled with his new appointment. It’s delightful to watch the stuffy librarian get involved with a theatrical production against his will. Towards the end of the episode, it’s revealed that Giles is the demon’s intended final victim. It’s looking for a healthy, smart brain. The demon is pretending to be a student/magician named Marc, who attempts to take Giles’ brain using a guillotine. Of course, Buffy saves the day with the help of Sid and the Scoobies, and Giles lives to see the horrendous talent show go up in front of an audience.
“The Dark Age” (Season 2, Episode 8)
After lots of flirting, Giles begins a romance with Jenny Calendar (Robia LaMorte), Sunnydale High’s computer teacher. Things between them really start to heat up in “The Dark Age,” which is the first Giles-centric episode of the series. Unfortunately, their romance comes to a halt after the Watcher’s past comes back to haunt him.
In the episode, friends from Giles’ youth start dying. It’s slowly revealed that during his rebellious younger years, Giles and his pals used a possessing demon called Eyghon to get a thrill-seeking high. Years later, Eyghon has returned to kill those who wear his mark, a tattoo that Giles still has. After the demon possesses Jenny, she is understandably shaken and tells Giles she needs a break from their relationship.
“The Dark Age” is a deeply important look into Giles. Up until then, he had seemed like an uptight adult who had it all together. The Scooby gang realizes that he was young once, too. He made stupid, reckless mistakes, but he’s evolved into someone they can look up to.
“Passion” (Season 2, Episode 17)
“Passion” is easily one of the most devastating episodes of Buffy, and a big one for Giles. He and Jenny are on their way to reconciliation when things take a horrific turn. At this point in Season 2, Angel (David Boreanaz) has become Angelus after losing his soul. Jenny is a member of the Romani clan who initially cursed Angel with his soul, and figures out a way to do it again. Angelus learns of her plans and kills her before she can tell anyone about it.
While people die in every episode of Buffy, Jenny’s murder was the first major character death. It’s deeply heartbreaking, especially for Giles. Angelus takes killing Jenny a step further by setting up a scene for Giles to find in his house. He comes home to roses, thinking Jenny is there to surprise him. He happily walks upstairs, only to find his lover dead in his bed. In an act of rage, Giles tries to go kill Angelus himself, and Buffy has to stop him. Head does incredible work in the episode, displaying Giles’ grief.
“Band Candy” (Season 3, Episode 6)
While Giles’ most noteworthy moments of Season 2 were heavy ones, his best Season 3 episode is hilarious. “Band Candy” sees the return of Ethan Rayne (Robin Sachs), an old chum of Giles’ who worships chaos and occasionally causes trouble for Buffy. Ethan makes candy that turns the adults of Sunnydale into teenagers, and the result is a hoot.
As we learned in “The Dark Age,” Giles wasn’t exactly prim and proper as a teen. After eating the candy, he turns back into his rebellious former self and takes Buffy’s mom (Kristine Sutherland) around town to stir up trouble. Head is clearly having a blast channeling this side of Giles. Despite acting immature, fans really got a glimpse into the sexier side of Giles once he replaced the tweed for a tight t-shirt and a pack of smokes.
“Helpless” (Season 3, Episode 12)
Giles’ Watcher-Slayer relationship with Buffy is shaken on her 18th birthday. As a part of a mandatory test from the Watcher’s Council, he must drug her without her knowledge so she temporarily loses her powers. This is to evaluate how she handles an especially aggressive vampire using only her wits. It’s upsetting to watch, and Giles ultimately regrets the decision and tells Buffy the truth.
In the end, Buffy passes the test, but Giles does not. The Watcher’s Council believes he has a “father’s love” for her, which endangers their mission. They fire him, but he stays on as the Sunnydale librarian so he can continue helping Buffy. This is an important Giles episode because it showcases how much he cares about Buffy. While the Council may see it as a weakness, Giles’ love only makes her a stronger person and Slayer.
“Something Blue” (Season 4, Episode 9)
“Something Blue” is another comedic episode that features great work from Head. When Willow (Alyson Hannigan) casts a spell that lets her will be granted, she accidentally causes some mayhem among her friends. Giles goes temporarily blind as a result. Meanwhile, the spell causes mortal enemies, Buffy and Spike (James Marsters), to decide to get married. The whole thing is goofy, but the way Giles reacts to Buffy and Spike is uproariously funny.
One of the best moments of the episode is when Buffy asks Giles to give her away at the wedding. Giles knows Buffy is under a spell, but for a split second, he is genuinely touched by the offer. Despite being a playful moment, it really showcases just how much they mean to each other.
“A New Man” (Season 4, Episode 12)
When Buffy fans think of Giles-centric episodes, “A New Man” is typically the first one that comes to mind. During the episode, Giles is struggling with feeling left out. He isn’t being kept in the loop by Buffy and is jealous of her relationship with her new professor, Maggie Walsh (Lindsay Crouse). When his old frenemy Ethan Rayne comes back into town, Giles makes the mistake of drinking with him. When he wakes up, he has more than a hangover… he’s been turned into a Fyarl demon.
Giles’ adventure as a demon is pretty darn amusing. Luckily for him, Spike understands Fyarl demons, so Giles enlists his help. However, he also has a little fun along the way. There’s a moment when he sees Maggie walking down the street, and he decides to jump out of the car and scare her. In the end, Buffy recognizes Giles from his eyes, and they’re able to turn him back into his old self.
“Once More, with Feeling” (Season 6, Episode 7)
You can’t make any Buffy list without including “Once More with Feeling.” The musical episode is a great showcase of everyone’s skills, especially Head’s. He’s a wonderful singer, a talent he previously got to show off in Season 4. In “Once More with Feeling,” his big song is an important one for Giles.
Giles sings “Standing,” which shows him coming to terms with the fact that he needs to leave Buffy to figure out life on her own. She’d been using him as a crutch ever since she was brought back to life. Giles was allowing it to happen because he cares about her so much. During his song, he admits to himself that he’s standing in her way, and ultimately decides to leave Sunnydale. It can’t be overstated just how dreamy Head’s voice is. Listen here.
“Two To Go” / “Grave” (Season 6, Episodes 21 & 22)
After Head moved from a series regular to a recurring character in Season 6, fans knew his time with the show wasn’t over. Giles’ final episode before moving back to England was “Tabula Rasa,” the eighth episode of Season 6. He made his triumphant return at the very end of “Two to Go,” the season’s penultimate episode. While he’s barely in this one, it’s still worth putting on the list for his epic entrance.
Willow turned dark after the death of Tara (Amber Benson), and Giles returned with a boost of magic to try to stop her. Their showdown is pretty epic, even though she almost kills him. She steals his power, which was a part of his plan all along. Overloaded with magic, Willow’s emotional barriers became encumbered, leaving room for Xander (Nicholas Brendon) to get through to her and save the world.
Honorable Mentions (Seasons 1-3)
There are so many other great Giles moments throughout Buffy. Some of our favorites include the scene in “Lie To Me” when he gives Buffy a sarcastic speech about how, “No one ever dies, and… everybody lives happily ever after.” When he tells Buffy, “All you will get from me is my support… and my respect” in “Innocence” after she sleeps with Angel and he turns into Angelus.
When Giles makes fun of Americans in “Dead Man’s Party,” and when he walks into a tree at the end of “Earshot.” His vulnerable conversation with Olivia (Phina Oruche) at the end of “Hush.” The moment the Scoobies catch him singing “Behind Blue Eyes” at the coffee shop in “Where the Wild Things Are,” and when he sings again in his dream sequence in “Restless.”
Honorable Mentions (Seasons 4-7)
The time Giles wore a wizard costume during the opening of The Magic Box in “No Place Like Home.” The scene in which he demanded back pay from the Watchers’ Council in “Checkpoint.” When he did what needed to be done and killed Ben (Charlie Weber) in “The Gift.”
The moment he called Willow a “rank, arrogant amateur” in “Flooded.” When it’s revealed that he takes his glasses off to take a break from the gang in “All the Way.” All of “Tabula Rasa” when he believes Anya is his fiancée, and Spike is his son. When he helps Willow heal in “Lessons.” The moment he says “the Earth is doomed” in “Chosen,” calling back to the Season One episode, “The Harvest.” The list goes on and on.
Rest well, Anthony. Our thoughts go out to his friends and family at this difficult time.
What are some of your favorite Giles moments? Tell us in the comments.
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