Wesley Wyndam-Pryce (also spelled Wyndam-Price[1] and Wyndham-Price[2]) is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.

Pompous and ineffective, he fails to elicit any respect from either his Slayers or his predecessor, Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), all of whom frequently ridicule and undermine him.

He develops a crush on high school senior Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter), and their mutual flirting throughout the season culminates in a pair of awkward kisses in the finale "Graduation Day, Part Two".

[4] When Wesley fails to convince the Watchers' Council to help save the life of her vampire lover Angel (David Boreanaz), an enraged Buffy severs all ties with them.

Although still bitter towards her and doubtful of her chances at redemption, Wesley proves his loyalty to Angel by betraying his former colleagues at the Watchers' Council to protect Faith.

In the second season (2000–2001), Wesley embarks on a romantic relationship with a woman named Virginia Bryce after helping to prevent her father from sacrificing her to a demon.

Alienated from Angel Investigations, a recovered Wesley forms his own team to fight evil, but maintains an interest in his former friends' affairs.

He also begins a sexual relationship with Wolfram & Hart lawyer Lilah Morgan (Stephanie Romanov), who tries to convince him to join the firm.

In the fourth season (2002–2003), Angel is rescued and revived by Wesley after being sunk to the bottom of the ocean by his now-adolescent son Connor (Vincent Kartheiser).

Wesley eventually returns to the team full-time to help them battle the Beast, making difficult decisions such as seeking the aid of Angel's evil alter ego Angelus and breaking Faith out of prison.

In the season finale, following the defeat of Jasmine, Wesley joins the rest of Angel Investigations in taking over Wolfram & Hart in the hopes that they can turn it into a power for good.

Roger Wyndam-Pryce (Roy Dotrice) is revealed to have sinister intentions when he tries to steal Angel's free will and threatens to murder Fred; Wesley responds by shooting him dead, only to discover he was not actually his father, but a cyborg copy.

[5] He retaliates by killing Knox, the man responsible for raising Illyria, and stabbing Gunn after discovering he played an indirect role in Fred's death.

[6] Descending into alcoholism, Wesley holds onto Illyria as the only thing he has left of Fred, helping her understand the human world she is unfamiliar with.

Wesley visibly feels guilty after remembering how he betrayed his friends by taking Connor from Angel and realizes his own role in causing Fred's death, and later apologizes to Gunn for stabbing him.

Towards the end of the season, Angel proposes an attack against the Circle of the Black Thorn, a powerful group of demons under the employ of the Wolfram & Hart's Senior Partners.

He spends his dying moments with Illyria at his side, finally agreeing to let the demon take the form of Fred, thus allowing Wesley, in some way, to say goodbye to the woman he loved.

Angel: After the Fall (2007-2011), a canonical comic book continuation of the television series, reveals that Wesley was unable to move on after his death due to the standard perpetuity clause in his Wolfram & Hart contract.

Denisof claims that Wesley was originally supposed to "come in, irritate Giles and Buffy for a couple shows, and then be gloriously terminated".

Joss Whedon struggled to find a place for Wesley in the series where he wouldn't clash with Giles, and eventually approached Denisof with the offer of appearing in spin-off show Angel.

Considering what kind of person it would be who would have dedicated his life to this peculiar task of being a Watcher, and what would be the unique characteristics of somebody who had made those decisions, and then was taken out of that environment and put into Sunnydale.

"[12] Nonetheless, Denisof believes that in this period, his character "was so anxious to be a tough rogue demon hunter but was clearly a kind of soft puppy dog.

[14] Discussing Wesley's betrayal of his friends to protect Angel's baby, Denisof explains, It isn't that he's purely bad or purely good, we're discovering a deeper and more complicated area of the character where good and bad aren't as clear, where Wesley does something motivated, he thinks, for the good of all – i.e. saving Connor and relieving Angel of the responsibility of murdering his son – and in doing so creates the situation in which the baby could be kidnapped, Angel loses his son and Wesley has his throat slit for the trouble.

Whilst the character spent less time with his old friends, Denisof was "more or less isolated from the [main cast], barring one or two scenes of mild confrontation when they would come to visit me and we'd chew each other out.

The shooting [of the cyborg Wesley believed to be his father] was an exhilarating moment in which there was the most dangerous person in his life on every level, and there is a woman he is obsessed with.

Wesley is centered in his intellect and is more uncertain in his emotional life, but in that moment, he becomes pure instinct because he has to choose between the woman he loves and his father.