Following Justice League star Ray Fisher’s allegations against him, multiple members of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast have come forward this week with their own troubling experiences of working with Joss Whedon. Charisma Carpenter, who appeared on both Buffy and Angel, was the first, sharing a detailed open letter diving into his abusive and manipulative behavior towards her on set.
Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar, has also thrown her support behind Carpenter on Instagram, and co-star Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Buffy’s teenage sister Dawn Summers on seasons 5-7, has shared an alarming fact about her own history with Whedon as well. Earlier this week, the Gossip Girl actress reposted Gellar’s statement, accusing the writer/director of “not appropriate behavior” towards her when she was a teen. She’s now updated her caption, however, to add an extra line that reads: “The last. Comment I will make on this. Was. There was a rule. Saying. He’s not allowed in a room alone with Michelle again.”
Trachtenberg doesn’t seem ready to go into further details about her experience at the moment, but her additional comment paints a worrying picture as it is. In her original caption, the star touched on how she’s “brave enough now as a 35 year old woman” to start to open up about what went on while making Buffy and her recollection follows actress Amber Benson’s – who played Tara Maclay from seasons 4-6 – assertion that there was a “toxic atmosphere” on set.
Fisher previously instigated an international investigation at Warner Bros. into Whedon’s alleged misconduct, which Carpenter has revealed she participated in. This resulted in the studio cutting their ties with him and the filmmaker being removed from HBO’s upcoming fantasy drama The Nevers, which he created. In press statements, Whedon claimed that he decided to step away, but Fisher has maintained he was fired.
Other Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast members who’ve backed up their co-stars’ words include Emma Caulfield, Claire Kramer and Eliza Dushku. Neither Joss Whedon nor his reps have responded to the situation, however.