Joss Whedon, creator of UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, revealed plot spoilers for the upcoming seventh season of the series during a panel discussion at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles June 18. The fall season premiere begins with the grand reopening of Sunnydale High School, which was destroyed a couple of seasons back, Whedon told the audience.

"The reopening of the high school is where we're starting, and it represents a lot of what we're talking about in terms of getting back to the very first mission statement of the show, which was the joy of female power: Having it, using it, sharing it," Whedon said.

Willow (Alyson Hannigan) will have to pay for skinning Warren at the end of this season, the show's sixth, Whedon added. "There are consequences for everything," he said. "Not to the point where she'll spend all day crying, 'I'm so sad, why, why?' But she will have to deal with this. We don't let people get away with things, unless there's a reason. Giles, the year before, killed a person, but nobody found out."

In a separate interview, Whedon reaffirmed for SCI FI Wire that Amber Benson, who played Tara, will return next year, though her character died at the end of this season. But when asked to elaborate that Benson would return, but not as Tara, Whedon replied, "I'm not saying a word about that."

Whedon did tell SCI FI Wire that Willow's addiction to magic and Spike's (James Marsters) attempted rape would figure in the new season, despite an intention to lighten the tone from this year's dark themes. "We'll deal with issues, but we won't be hitting the incredibly depressing reality of being grown up quite so hard," he said. "Those things will still be issues, because Spike is still in the mix, and he did try to rape Buffy. Willow has been addicted, and both of those people have to be in the mix, so we'll deal with the things, and things are still going to be scary, depressing and confusing for our characters. It's going to be tough for them, but at the same time, they're going to reclaim that essential notion of the beauty of power and of their mission and not get so caught up in the questions."

Whedon added that he wants Anthony Stewart Head to appear as Giles in more episodes this season than last, and that he hopes to bring back Jonathan (Danny Strong) and Andrew (Thomas Lenk), the remaining duo of villains from this season. "We're looking for them to [return], because they make us laugh," he said.

One thing that won't be back is Buffy's (Sarah Michelle Gellar) job at the Doublemeat Palace. "Doublemeat Palace was the only thing we ever did to make advertisers pull out," Whedon said. "They did not like us making fun of fast food. Sarah's very upset about not getting to wear the hat anymore."