 Brendon recognized that Xander was based on Joss Whedon when he had attended high school, accounting for why Xander "gets all the good lines".Charisma Carpenter had originally planned to read for the role of Buffy, but was late for her audition and instead tried out for Cordelia.Although she had only fifteen minutes to prepare for the character, the producers were "really responsive" to Carpenter's audition, and she left feeling confident she had gotten the part.