J. August Richards has revealed that producers have reinvented the character of Gunn for Angel's fifth season.

"The only thing that's going to be the same about my character is the name," J. told the Zap2it.com TV website.

"In a lot of ways, I'm going to be playing a brand-new character. He'll also have a different look, which I really can't give away," he added.

The change of character seems to be the result of a mystical encounter with a panther in Wolfram and Hart's spooky White Room during the Angel series four finale, Home.

"[Gunn began to ask himself], 'Am I just the muscle in this group, and how fulfilled am I by that?'" Richards says. "That was the real question, and I think the panther answered that... I imagined he was speaking to me with no words. I felt the panther told me what my place was and what my purpose was, and that was where the shift comes."

J. also spoke of his sadness that Charisma Carpenter would not be a regular character in Angel's fifth season.

"I'm going to miss Charisma. I just loved having her on the set and her energy. She's a great person. I'm just trying to stay open-minded. But, hopefully, Mercedes [McNab] and Amy [Acker] will keep the oestrogen quotient high."