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A quarter century after it debuted, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode The Body is still one of the series' most resonant. After five seasons of fighting the undead, series lead Buffy has to confront mortality in an all-too-real way, when she finds her mother Joyce suddenly and devastatingly lifeless. To this day, the moment remains one of the show's most shocking, and according to Joyce Summers herself, there's a pretty clear reason why.

No one in the cast but her knew it was coming.

Of course, when we say Joyce Summers we're actually talking about actor Kristine Sutherland, who played Buffy's mom in seasons 1-5 of the show and then again in flashbacks in seasons 6 and 7. Speaking recently to Us Weekly, Sutherland recounted heading in to production for the infamous season 5, episode 16 story, and the secret she had too keep from her coworkers.

"Joss [Whedon, series creator] asked me to tell no one," Sutherland said, "So I told no one [...] Knowing that I was going to die but not exactly when, it made the whole rest of [my time filming] so bittersweet."

And by the time the cast had found out what story they were about to tell, the whole thing seems a lot more bitter than sweet.

"It felt like somebody had died," said Sutherland of filming the episode, "There was this real heaviness [...] tears were running down my face."

Us too, Kristine, although we had the luxury of not knowing it was coming. Or does that make it even worse? In any case, we certainly don't envy that day on set. 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is streaming on Hulu now. A continuation of the story, New Sunnydale, is expected in late 2026.

Sink your teeth into the Buffyverse with Popverse's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel watch order. Then, become a Watcher in your own right by learning the history of the Buffy franchise and pondering its future with Disney. It's enough to keep you up all night... provided you don't have slaying of your own to do.