Joss Whedon, creator of UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, told SCI FI Wire to expect some familiar faces and a return to an old haunt as the show kicks off its seventh season. In a series of possible spoilers for the upcoming season, Whedon said in an interview to expect the return of Glory, the god played by Claire Kramer who was apparently killed at the end of season five; Warren (Adam Busch), the evil geek killed by Willow in last season's finale; and possibly Faith (Eliza Dushku), the bad-girl Slayer last seen a few season back on Angel. The season will also begin with Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg) beginning classes in a newly rebuilt Sunnydale High School, Whedon said.

Glory "will make a guest appearance, maybe more than one," Whedon said during UPN's fall preview party on the Buffy set in Santa Monica, Calif. "We're going to see a lot of old faces. A lot of them. And it's going to be ... for a very particular reason that I will not explain to you. But it's going to be a lot of fun."

Whedon also revealed that he has been in talks with Dushku about returning as Faith to both Buffy and its spinoff series, Angel—if Dushku's schedule allows. "Well, hopefully she's going to be integral" to both shows, Whedon said. "But ... nothing has been set. ... We know we'd love to have her back, and we've been talking to her. We're sort holding off. ... [But] I really feel she has a place on both [shows], and it's different in each. She brings something to anywhere she graces the screen. She's an extraordinary actress. And we just want to work with her again. But until things are, you know, definite, we're keeping all that loose, in case, you know, she's suddenly making more movies, that inconsiderate girl."

Whedon confirmed that he and his staff will lighten Buffy up after the previous season, which many felt was very dark. Part of that will include a return to Sunnydale High, which was destroyed at the end of season three, and following Dawn as she treads in her older sister's footsteps. "It's nice," Whedon said. "Dawn is now the age Buffy was when the show began. And what's nice about that is that it gives us the opportunity to tell more high-school stories, which were the centerpiece of the show, and which we only got to do for two and a half years. I mean, they graduated at the end of year three, and the first season was a half season. And the only time I've ever truly felt sad and like I'd lost something was when they graduated, because I was like, 'Wait, wait, I went through more bad things! There's more pain I haven't talked about yet! I haven't complained enough!' And now I have that opportunity to complain to America again, and I'm looking forward to taking it." Buffy returns Sept. 24 in its regular Tuesday 8 p.m. timeslot.