Cast members of UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer gave SCI FI Wire hints about where their characters will head in the upcoming seventh season, which starts in the fall. James Marsters (Spike), Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn) and Alyson Hannigan (Willow) offered the details after a recent panel on the show at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles.

Hannigan said in an interview that she thinks Willow's greatest challenge will be "winning the fans' love back" after turning evil at the end of the season. "They probably hate me now," she said. "I just hope they forgive my evilness in the last few episodes." Hannigan said Willow's addiction to magic will remain an issue for the character. "Oh yeah, once you go that far, don't you deal with it for the rest of your life?" she asked. After Tara's tragic death, will Willow begin dating again? "Oh dear, I hope not," Hannigan said. "She's got to have time to recover." Hannigan confirmed that she will travel to London to film scenes for the season premiere. When asked if those scenes included Willow's reconciliation with Giles, whom she tried to kill in the season finale, the actress was vague. "I don't know. Hmm. What makes you think that?"

Marsters told SCI FI Wire that Spike will be a vampire with a soul, not a human, as speculated. But he added that he doesn't know if Spike will turn out to be good or evil. "I could be unleashed as the big villain, or I could be the big goody two-shoes crackerjack boy," he said. "I have no idea." But Spike's attempted rape of Buffy at the end of last season will cause a rift between him and Dawn.

"It will not be easy for Spike to come back," Trachtenberg said in an interview. "Of course there is that relationship, that foundation in there, so there is something there, and I think he is the one that Dawn has connected to the most, because he's never treated her like a child. For once, she'll handle the situation in an adult way, but she won't let him get away with it." Trachtenberg added that Dawn may fight more, as she kicked some butt in the season finale. "I know in the season finale Dawn tried to fight a little more," Trachtenberg said. "If their plan is [to add more fighting], I'm definitely looking forward to it. I've been promised heels next year, because Dawn has been wearing sneakers for the past year. So I'll have to take lessons in fighting in heels, but it's definitely something that will be fun." Dawn will also face teen dating issues. "I've heard a couple of rumors here and there that Dawn will have a couple guys coming in and out, but I don't know what other relationships we'll be building. I think that this is the year that Dawn matures and really comes into her own. She spent last year leveling the ground, and now she's able to conduct herself in a way that she has seen her sister in her more mature days."