What�s in store for Angel in season three? (Buffy season five Spoilers)

The thing about Angel is just when he thinks he�s caught up to the present, something from his past comes to haunt him. The very latest thing is that he�s over Buffy, he�s in his own world and then Buffy is killed in her world.

So he has to deal with the grief of that, and our first episode in year three is very much about that. Eventually you learn that he really has dealt with that and moved on in his life, but of course a very terrible and mildly amusing thing from his past comes back to haunt him in a big way. Much like I think happens in life, the one thing that we�ve been really focused on is not the thing that comes back to haunt us. It�s some other little thing we did, some little one night adventure or whatever.

He�s been off to Sri Lanka, [where his friends] think he�s meditating and working through his grief, when in fact he�s in a monastery where all the monks have been taken over by Sra Demons, so he ends up fighting for his life instead of having a quiet meditative time. Basically, in year three, he really puts Buffy to rest and then another shocking thing comes out of his past that will really propel this whole year [forward] in a really dramatic, but slightly fun, way.

There�s a guy from Angel�s past named Holtz who�s a fearless vampire hunter, who hunted Angel and Darla all across Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. This fellow, through a little magic, appears in the present day because he never completed the task of hunting down Angel. He is here to hunt down and kill Angel and make things right for all the terrible things that Angel did.

To me he�s a very interesting villain. Angel�s conflicted about his guy because in a way the guy is right, Angel did do terrible things. Now, whether or not he should be put to the stake is an issue, but Angel�s attitude towards this guy is, "I kind of agree with him, I did do some bad stuff."

In the course of the season there�s something very near and dear to Angel that everybody wants, including this fellow Holtz who will be the antagonist. There�s a rather big shock at the end of the first episode that will really propel us through this whole year and then another gigantic shock at the end of the year.