WARNING! CONTAINS SEASON 5 SPOILER!
New Moon Rising
On trusting Tara, and letting go of Oz.
BBC
: Sadly, when this episode aired in America, actress Amber Benson received quite a rough ride from fans who felt that Tara had broken up the Willow/Oz relationship for good. Was there any fallout which made the writers want to rethink the new relationship between the two wiccas?
Doug Petrie: We were very aware of where the fans stood and it's very hard to let go of a favourite character, especially one played by Seth Green. We were aware of it but, as always, we tell the stories that we want to tell. Season five will be taking Tara even further. I think that where we are now, fans are really on board with Tara. So much so they don't even consider her an outsider any more. She really is a part of the group and it's a very tough transition to make. If you look at it, it took a year to go from Tara being this interloper. There will be a suspicion about Tara that may or may not pay off.
In terms of her being integrated within the group, you'll note I didn't say whether she was integrated in the group as one of the group or as a villain. So, what Tara is [remains] very much a mystery. She will be around in season five, but that's not to say she will be good.
BBC
: By this point in the season, the Willow/Tara romance is developing nicely. I know we have touched on this earlier but did you have any problems portraying the growing lesbian relationship onscreen?
Doug Petrie: In general this show has in incredible latitude in what we we're allowed to do. We've done things that I've never seen on network television and probably never will again.
BBC
: I suppose there's a lot of trust there now from the network?
Doug Petrie: Yes. I think one of the advantages of being broadcast on the WB is that it's a fledgling network. We're a flagship show and Joss has earned - through the quality of his good work - a lot of leeway. Joss has never abused it. We don't do things that are sensational just for the sake of publicity and scandal. Everything comes out of character and story. We have a huge amount of leeway and so far we've never abused it. To the best of my knowledge, we've never been stopped from doing anything.
Again - a teaser for season 5 - there's some stuff in season five that's as dirty as anything I've ever seen in my life! Episode six has something and episode seven has something that I can't believe we got away with, and the network says, "Go ahead," so...
BBC
: I know the writers like to set up little puzzles and teases such as the "counting down from 730" and "Little Miss Muffet" dialogue in season three. There was always that famous little scene (in Goodbye Iowa) where Tara seemingly sabotages the demon-locating spell? Was that one of those teases or were we reading too much into that?
Doug Petrie: Very much so. I think that fans really latched onto that, which is fortunate because that's a clue. Why would Tara do that? Why would Tara not want to complete a spell where demons can be found?
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