Darla is a recurring fictional character created by Joss Whedon and played by Julie Benz in the first, second, and fifth seasons of the American supernatural television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

It is revealed early on that she is a vampire, initially in league with the Master, Buffy Summers' primary antagonist in the first season.

The character appears in numerous flashback episodes, until she receives a significantly expanded role in Angel.

She sacrifices herself in order to give birth to her and Angel's human son Connor, ending her run on the series.

could keep Darla from being an important part of the story behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the spinoff series Angel."

Julie Benz originally auditioned for the role of Buffy Summers,[1][2] but that later went to Sarah Michelle Gellar, who had previously won the part of Cordelia Chase.

"[3] She later went on to say: For me, I was a new actor to Los Angeles, didn’t know the TV business very well so I was just excited to work and play a vampire.

So when they sent me the script [for my last episode of Angel]—which I basically had to sign my life away to read—I was sitting in my trailer and I just started to cry.

[3]Darla is presented in the series both as a human and as a vampire with, as Benz put it, generally "pure" intentions.

If she’s going to be living during the Boxer Rebellion time, she’s got the big Gibson Girl hair style and the beautiful kimono-style clothes."

Benz points out that in the Buffy pilot episode, Darla—attempting to dress like a high school student—exaggerates it with a "little twist", wearing a Catholic schoolgirl uniform instead.

She never thought she could get pregnant and then all of a sudden she's carrying this child and she's experiencing this soul for the first time in four hundred years.

[There's] the realisation that as soon as the baby's born the soul's going to go away, and it's the first time she really experienced true love, so she was going through a lot emotionally.

[7] In an interview with the BBC, Benz described Darla as strong: "I have an amazing stunt double, Lisa Hoyle who looks exactly like me.

As a young prostitute, she emigrates to the Virginia Colony in North America and becomes independently wealthy but also contracts a fatal case of syphilis.

The Master turns her into a vampire and renames her "Darla", meaning "dear one" in early modern English ("darling").

Darla spends four centuries killing civilians, often accompanied by Angel (until his soul is restored), before appearing in Sunnydale.

[4] Darla bites an unsuspecting Joyce Summers (Buffy's mother), making it look as if Angel did it.

[11][12] Darla's role in the franchise increased dramatically after her resurrection by the law firm Wolfram & Hart in the final episode of Angel's first season, titled "To Shanshu in L.A."[13] In the second season opener, "Judgement", Wolfram & Hart lawyers Lindsey McDonald and Lilah Morgan question Darla about her past.

In the end, Wolfram & Hart bring in Drusilla to make Darla a vampire again after her syphilis returns and she starts to die.

Ironically, she is turned back into a vampire as she accepts her fate after a failed attempt by Angel to save her.

Their one-night stand leads to an unexpected development for the both of them: Darla reappears in season 3, pregnant with Angel's child, despite the fact that vampires cannot normally conceive.

[17] Her pregnancy allows Darla to experience emotions that had previously been lost to her in the presence of the human soul of her unborn child.

He said: "As the very first character seen on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Julie Benz instantly made an impression as the vampiress Darla.

could keep Darla from being an important part of the story and mythos behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the spinoff series Angel, the latter of which allowed Benz to greatly expand her character.