Details of the Angel series finale - with SPOILERS.

In an interview with Sci Fi Wire, Angel writer and director Jeffrey Bell says that scheduling and story concerns were the reason we won't see Sarah Michelle Gellar in the final episode.

"Buffy is an aspect of Angel," Bell said. "It would have been great if she could have come in for one of the last couple of episodes, but not the finale. But Sarah was in Japan shooting her feature [The Grudge]."

Bell went on to explain why she couldn't be included in the final episode. Not Fade Away, "is about our people and everything we'd been through. And we'd already written about Buffy in number 20. So the ship had sailed and there wasn't a lot we could do about it.

"It would have been great to have her," Bell added. "It would have been a huge ratings boon. The fans would have loved it. But not for the finale. That's not what Angel ultimately is about. We struggled so much to get as many of our stories resolved anyway. I can't imagine having added that to the mix as well."

Not Fade Away airs on the WB on 19th May.