In anticipation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's highly anticipated November sweeps musical episode, Michelle Trachtenberg — who plays the eponymous supergirl's kid sister Dawn — isn't taking voice lessons, but rather, practicing her pleading.

"I begged [series creator] Joss Whedon not to have me sing as much [as everybody else]," she tells TV Guide Online. "I'll dance, though. I love dancing, so he was checking to make sure of my ballerina skills. I'm like, 'Why, exactly?'"

Perhaps, besides tailoring Trachtenberg's rockin' role to her aptitudes, Whedon is gauging her surefootedness in case Sarah Michelle Gellar ever gives up kicking butt. "I've been asked if a spinoff or a continuation [of the show] would be of interest to me, and pretty much it is," she reveals. "It's quite exciting. I love my character, and I love the fact that Joss lets me exercise any type of acting that I want to and really show what I can do."

Until Gellar bequeaths her stakes to Trachtenberg, however, her on-screen counterpart may be just as glad that she doesn't have her sibling's ghoul troubles: This season, Dawn will deal with some scary beasts of an altogether different sort — boys. "There were some hints about that in 'The Body' episode," Trachtenberg recalls. "But all I can say is that, like any teenager, Dawn will be going through every type of emotion.

"Anything you throw at me," she adds, "I'll try to tackle."

Provided, of course, that singing isn't involved.

— Charlie Mason with Michael Ausiello