Planning ahead for Joyce's demise

Stephen Lett: Were you shocked when you found out that your character was going to be killed off?

Kristine: Good question. I actually knew that I was going to be killed off about two years before we shot it, so I had a lot of time to digest it. I suppose it's always sad that one of us was going to die.

Kali Freely: Was that the way you wanted your character to leave the show?

Kristine: I thought that it was a brilliant move on Joss's part, although personally I would have liked to live forever.

In terms of the journey of Buffy, in the end that is one of the final transitions of maturation is when you lose a parent.

I thought in terms of the storyline that it was really terrific to explore that issue of losing a parent, of death itself, and coming to terms with. I liked the fact that in the midst of people dying from vampires and demons, here was a death that was completely beyond control, even with super powers. You can save the world but you can't save your parents.