Andrew Wells

Andrew Wells is a fictional character in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, played by Tom Lenk. The character also appears in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, the canonical continuation of the series.

Character history

Andrew Wells is the younger brother of Tucker Wells, who summoned hellhounds to attack the Prom in the Season Three episode "The Prom". Andrew himself has skills in demon-summoning and animal control, although these were never used after Season Six; in the Buffy finale "Chosen" he credits his brother with having given him the courage to develop this talent.

At some point during Buffy's senior year in high school, he summoned "flying demon monkeys" to attack Sunnydale High's production of Romeo and Juliet, apparently for no other reason than to amuse himself. Years after the fact, both Jonathan (Danny Strong) and Warren (Adam Busch) recall the incident with amusement; since Warren, Buffy's contemporary, is known to have spent only his senior year at Sunnydale High (he attended the prom to which Tucker sent the hellhounds), his memory of the occasion proves that it occurred during his senior year, which was also Buffy's. The Scooby Gang have no memory of this whatsoever; viewers are left with the impression that the attack ranks among any number of less-memorable supernatural incidents which plagued Sunnydale. They also have no recollection of who Andrew is, until he informs them of his relation to Tucker. This becomes a running joke, as from then on, he is often referred to as "the other guy," "Tucker's brother," and so on.

Sunnydale

Andrew is introduced in Buffy's sixth season, as a member of the Trio, Buffy's self-styled "arch-nemeses". He is a crucial member of the group, since many of their endeavors rely upon his ability to summon and control various demons. Warren, the leader of the gang, is almost entirely driven by greed and lust for power; whereas Jonathan apparently joined the gang for excitement, being shocked by Warren's ruthlessness and eventually helping to save Buffy's life. Andrew occupies a sort of middle ground between these two, initially, as before, simply seeking power and amusement, but becoming more evil as the show progresses, for example, cheering "kill her!" as Warren fights Buffy. When Warren accidentally kills Tara Maclay while aiming for Buffy, Tara's vengeful girlfriend and powerful witch Willow Rosenberg hunts Warren down and skins him alive. Andrew and Jonathan then flee to Mexico to avoid a similar fate. While living in Mexico with Jonathan, Andrew is approached by the First Evil, who, in the guise of Warren, convinces him to open the Seal of Danzalthar. Returning to Sunnydale in Season Seven, Andrew murders Jonathan in an attempt to open the seal, but is soon discovered and held hostage by the Scooby Gang.

At first, the Scoobies are hostile towards Andrew, partially because he murdered Jonathan, partially because of his alliance with Warren and partially because of his annoying habits. Andrew provides much of the comic relief in Season Seven along with the advancement of major plot points. In his own episode "Storyteller", Andrew decides to document the Scoobies' adventures for future generations using a video camera. Andrew has a tendency to exaggerate, or tell his own version of the "truth," routinely relating overly-dramatic personal narratives. Although Xander, Anya, Spike, and Dawn are happy to let him interview them, Buffy is angered by his attempt to turn everything into a story and forces him to finally face up to the seriousness of his actions. After this, he becomes somewhat remorseful and repentant, joining Buffy as a comic sidekick in the fight against the First, surviving the apocalyptic battle at the end of season seven. When Anya dies in the battle, Andrew comforts Xander by lying to him that she died saving his life. Joss Whedon comments on this in his commentary for "Chosen"; "The thing that [Andrew] is sort of reviled for, making up stories, becomes the thing that he helps Xander with. Becomes the thing that he actually is good at, giving her the epic death she didn't actually get to have."

Watcher

Andrew returns in two episodes of Angel's fifth season. Now under the mentorship of Rupert Giles, who is training him as a Watcher, Andrew comes to Los Angeles to help contain psychotic Slayer Dana (cf. “Damage”). When Angel tries taking Dana back to Wolfram & Hart, Andrew asserts his authority, standing up to Angel and explaining that she belongs with them, not him, also revealing that the Scooby Gang no longer deems the Angel Investigations team trustworthy due to their association with Wolfram & Hart, Buffy herself having ordered Andrew not to leave Dana with Angel.

In Italy, Andrew reappears in the “Angel” episode “The Girl in Question”, explaining to Spike and Angel that Buffy is now dating the Immortal, a longtime rival of Angel and Spike. It is later retconned in the “Buffy” Season Eight comics that Andrew had fabricated the notion of Buffy dating the Immortal, both as a measure of protective misdirection and as a way of pranking Angel and Spike due to their history with the Immortal. In the Season Eight comics, Xander refers to Andrew as the leader of a Slayer cell in Southern Italy. He is seen giving a group of Slayers a lecture about why Slayers never use guns, which had somehow progressed into a commentary on Lando Calrissian. He is transferred a difficult Slayer named Simone into his care from Rona, but Simone eventually goes rogue.

In “Wolves at the Gate, Part I” Willow flies Andrew to the Scottish castle where Buffy, Xander, Dawn and the other slayers operate. He is among the group that walks in and catches Buffy and fellow slayer Satsu in bed together. Assisting the team against a shrewd cabal of Japanese vampires, he instructs Dawn on how to destroy a mecha version of herself. Later, in “Predators and Prey”, Andrew and Buffy team up to hunt down his former charge and rogue Slayer, Simone. Andrew is responsible for recreating an extinct species, the Ragna Demon, through recombinant DNA experiments. The Ragna falls into the hands of Simone's rogue squad. Although Buffy and Andrew are unsuccessful at capturing or killing Simone, Buffy reminds Andrew that he is “part of the family” and so forgives him for his mistakes.

Following Harmony Kendall’s reality show, in the new anti-Slayer, pro-vampire social order (“Harmonic Divergence”), Andrew is on the run from humans and demons alike. While underground in “Retreat, Part I”, he encounters Twilight’s minion and former best friend Warren, who is now skinless. Warren claims to have been dumped by Amy and left for dead, and takes credit for the First’s actions under his disguise. When demons attack, Andrew figures out the distraction ploy, fights back and escapes with his Slayers. From there, they head to Scotland to reunite with Buffy’s squad. Suspecting a traitor in their midst, Andrew willingly reverts to his annoying ‘film documentarian’ persona as a way to spy on the group. He discovers the spy is a local feline (Amy, magically disguised). When Twilight's forces eventually attack, Andrew is captured along with Giles and Faith.

In “Twilight”, Andrew finds himself hostage in Twilight's headquarters. Andrew attempts to attack Twilight with a composite Captain America and Iron Man armor, but is rebuffed. After Twilight—revealed to be Angel—and Buffy play their part in an age-old prophecy and bring about the birth of a new universe, extra-dimensional demons begin flooding the current one. Warren and Andrew squabble over ownership of the armor until Andrew is severely wounded by one of the demons; Warren protects him using the Iron Man repulsor gloves. Buffy and Angel then return and save the Earth, temporarily. Andrew survives his injuries and works with the others to protect the universe from the threat posed by the sentience of the new universe. For his part, Andrew is left knocked senseless in the ruins of Sunnydale.

Life in San Francisco

Months after the Twilight crisis is averted, in Buffy Season 9 Andrew Wells has gathered a team again and formed an ad-hoc disaster relief for former Slayers. He attends 'house-warming' party for Buffy's new life in San Francisco. In "Apart (of Me)" it is revealed Andrew misinterpreted Spike's request that he look into and protect Buffy from threats. At the party Andrew drugged Buffy's drink and then switched her mind into a robotic body that accidentally made Buffy think she was pregnant. He placed a dim-witted robotic mind into Buffy's human body and sent her to live an ideal life in the suburbs. Both Buffy and Spike are furious with him. Rogue Slayer Simone Doffler captured Buffy's real body and is confused when it seems so weak and is able to convince it to join with her against the real Buffy, Spike, Andrew, and Spike's crew of space insects. Buffy's real body is recovered after Simone kills several insects and escapes. Andrew transfers Buffy's mind back into her human body however, she is still angry with him. Andrew next appears in "Welcome to the Team" when Xander calls him and Andrew is unable to diagnose what is wrong with a comatose Dawn. Xander and Andrew break Dawn out of the hospital and take her back to Andrew's apartment where an attempt to transfer her mind into a robot fails. In "The Core", Willow returns to San Francisco and is able to buy Dawn time and wake her up. Buffy, Willow and Xander head to the Deeper Well in England in hopes to find enough magic to save Dawn. Andrew is present when Spike returns to San Francisco to comfort a rapidly fading Dawn even as everyone's memories of her grow weaker and she eventually vanishes from sight. Andrew celebrates with everyone after Willow uses magic and Buffy's blood to restore Dawn.

In Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Ten, the gang discovers that the events which restored magic to the world have brought about a world with very different rules of magic, including different rules governing the powers and abilities of newly sired vampires. They learn that Buffy's Vampyr handbook, which formerly contained an overview of the rules of magic, had been emptied of content, and is being written as the new rules of magic settle down. The book poses incredible dangers, as anything written in it can be automatically imposed on the universe as a new rule of magic. Fearing its misuse, Willow magically protects the gang's various apartments, but while doing so the book is stolen by Andrew, who takes it to the ruins of Sunnydale, where the gang fears he will impulsively attempt to resurrect Warren. Instead, however, he has already collected the remains of the friend he killed, Jonathan Levinson, and is shown at the graveside of Tara Maclay working on a resurrection spell. Willow is able to stop Andrew from making a terrible mistake and help him get over his guilt and feel like he is really part of the gang. He vows to stop his pattern of behaving recklessly without obtaining consent from those he tries to help. Following this incident, he moves to Oakland, where he is shown asking a digital ghost of Jonathan for his permission to resurrect him. In the next arc, "Love Dares You", Andrew drinks a potion at an Oakland coven which turns him into an idealised form of himself. He develops temporary super strength and a hulking physique, but the spell's purpose was really to give Andrew self-confidence to admit who he really is; he realises he is gay and kisses Clive, a man he has been attracted to, and suddenly becomes skinny, regular Andrew again. Xander offers him support for coming out, but Andrew is too overwhelmed and runs away.

Sexuality

Andrew is occasionally hinted to be gay in the series. However, in the Angel episode "The Girl in Question", Andrew is shown leaving for the opera with two attractive women, commenting that "people change". In January 2008, gay men's website AfterElton.com awarded Andrew the status as the tenth best gay or bisexual character in modern science fiction, despite commenting upon the textual ambiguity of Andrew's sexual orientation. This prompted creator Joss Whedon to more formally comment on Andrew's sexuality, on Whedonesque.com.

"It has to be said: the Andrew scene in 'The Girl in Question' was a victim of me dropping the ball. I specifically said there should be a party of men AND women, all glamorous and Italian, waiting for Andrew. I wasn't there when it was shot, and didn't have the time/money/energy to change it after the fact, though it made me crazy. Andrew's sexuality is always on the cusp of self-awareness because Andrew is stunted emotionally and because it's hilarious." [...] "The 'people change' thing is a hold-over from the fact that the scene was originally written for Dawn (but Michelle turned us down). The idea was, there's little Dawn, then in the last scene there's hot grown-up Dawn going out on the town, a heavy visual support of people changing (since Spike and Angel always see her as older brothers do)."

In November 2008, Tom Lenk came out as gay in The Advocate magazine. Joss Whedon was interviewed for the article, and revealed that it was decided that the character of Andrew was to be gay when they decided to cast Lenk in the role.

"Tom has a bit of a fey thing going on in his persona that, you know, you can't really deny. When I first looked at his audition tape, I said 'OK, he, uh, he seems kinda gay. Do we want to make that decision [about the character]? There's no reason why he couldn't be, so, great, let's pick the funniest actor.' [...] The character became very charming in his complete lack of awareness about, among other things, his own sexuality."

Appearances

Andrew has been in 41 canonical Buffyverse appearances.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer 

Andrew appeared as a guest in 26 episodes:

• Season 6 (2001, 2002) - "Flooded"; "Life Serial"; "Smashed"; "Gone"; "Dead Things"; "Normal Again"; "Entropy"; "Seeing Red"; "Villains"; "Two to Go"; "Grave"
• Season 7 (2002, 2003) - "Conversations with Dead People"; "Never Leave Me"; "Bring on the Night"; "Showtime"; "Potential"; "The Killer in Me"; "First Date"; "Get It Done"; "Storyteller"; "Lies My Parents Told Me"; "Dirty Girls"; "Empty Places"; "Touched"; "End of Days"; "Chosen"

Angel 

Andrew has appeared as a guest in 2 episodes.

• Season 5 (2003, 2004) - "Damage"; "The Girl in Question"

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight

Andrew has appeared in thirteen issues so far:

• "The Long Way Home, Parts II and III"
• "The Chain"
• "Wolves at the Gate, Parts I-IV"
• "Harmonic Divergence" or "Predators and Prey, Part I"
• "Predators and Prey" or "Predators and Prey, Part III"
• "Living Doll" or "Predators and Prey, Part V"
• "Retreat, Parts I-V"
• "Turbulence"
• "Twilight, Parts I-IV"