Anthony Head’s “Buffy the Vampire” co-stars are mourning the actor after his sudden death at age 72.
“I’m not ok,” series star Sarah Michelle Gellar penned on Instagram Friday after the news broke.
After repeating a quote from the Season 5 finale — “Tell Giles I figured it out and I’m ok” — Gellar added, “Well I don’t have it figured out and I’m not ok.”
“But I know I’m the lucky one because I knew you. Thank you to Daisy and Emily who not only shared their dad with me, but with the world,” she finished, referencing Head’s two daughters.
Head portrayed Rupert Giles for the entire seven-season run of “Buffy” from 1997 to 2003. After being a main cast member for the show’s first five seasons, he stepped down to a recurring role for the show’s final two seasons.
Giles played a watcher, whose job was to train and mentor the chosen one, Buffy Summers — played by Gellar.
Meanwhile, James Marsters penned his own tribute on Instagram Friday, saying, “There’s a hole in the World.”
“He was an unflaggingly kind and steady presence on the set of Buffy, and the best actor in the cast. He was the best of us,” he continued.
Marsters called himself “lucky” to have both “known” and “learned from” Head.
“He left the world a better place for his presence,” the 63-year-old concluded, alongside a shot of the pair on the show. “Thank you Tony for all you gave.”
Marsters played the super villain vampire Spike alongside Head first in a recurring and guest role for Seasons 2 and 3, respectively, before joining the main cast from Season 4 to 7.
Emma Caulfield — who was fan-favorite character Anya Jenkins, a centuries-old vengeance demon, in a recurring role for Seasons 3 and 4 before joining the main cast from Season 5 through 7 — also shared her own heartbreaking Instagram post.
“This was taken on the London Underground in 2011,” the actress began beneath a selfie of the co-stars. “I went to visit my friend Tony on the set of The Iron Lady. We had lunch, hit up a record store, had dinner and drinks and laughed until our sides hurt. It was a perfect day.”
Noting that she was “lucky enough” to call Head her friend for “27 years,” Caulfield added, “He was kind and wise and a guide in troubled times. You were so loved. Impossible to caption. You are so missed. 
rest in peace with your beautiful Sarah-Emma.”
David Boreanaz, who starred as Buffy’s vampire love interest, Angel, in a Season 1 recurring role and as a main cast member for Seasons 2 and 3 before he got his own spin-off and returned only for guest appearances, re-posted Deadline’s reporting on Head’s death to his Instagram Story, writing, “RIP. He was so kind and generous of a soul.”
Eliza Dushku — who first came on the show as rebellious Slayer Faith Lehane in a Season 3 recurring role and returned for several guest spots — also penned a sweet tribute to her Stories, stating, “Tony H – for every scene & time shared, I give thanks. Rest in love and peace, kind sir. A dear one.”
Clare Kramer, who played big bad Glory in a Season 5 recurring role and returned for a guest spot in the final season, shared in a statement posted to Instagram, “Rest in Peace, Anthony. To know you was a pleasure. To work with you an honor.”
“Through Giles, you gave us bravery without fearlessness, and compassion without weakness – an exemplary performance (and one of many),” Kramer continued. “My condolences to your girls, family, and all who had the pleasure of loving you. Rest easy, Watcher. 
.”
Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia Chase in the first three seasons of “Buffy” and the first four seasons of its spinoff, “Angel,” took to Instagram to remember Head, as well.
“Tony brought life to a character who, for so many, was the father figure they needed but didn’t have at home. Fans far and wide are surely grieving, and for that, I am deeply sorry,” she said at the start of her lengthy statement.
“I was not as close to Tony as some of the others from the cast were, and it pains me that I have to say ‘were.’ Even so, I am still feeling affected by this loss, and my heart is truly with my fellow classmates who remained close to him and his family to this day. I’m holding them all in my thoughts and sending love,” she also said.
Within the past two years, the cast has also lost Michelle Trachtenberg and Nicholas Brendon.
The “Gossip Girl” alum — who played Buffy’s little sister, Dawn Summers from Seasons 5 to 7 — died at age 39 in February 2025 due to complications of diabetes.
Brendon, meanwhile, starred as one of Buffy’s best friends, Xander Harris, on all seven seasons.
The “Criminal Minds” actor died at age 39 on March 20 due to atherosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease.
Head’s death came less than six months after his longtime partner, Sarah Fisher, died at age 61. The couple was together from 1982 until her death.
On Friday, Anthony’s daughters, Emily and Daisy Head, announced that the cult classic star, who starred in shows like “Little Britain,” “Merlin” and “Ted Lasso,” had died “peacefully of complications due to pneumonia.”
“It is with heavy hearts that we announce the death of our extraordinary father, Anthony Head,” the statement began.
The actresses said being Anthony’s daughters was “an honor and a privilege,” adding they both know “how dearly” he will be missed by friends, fans and colleagues alike.
While Emily and Daisy’s “grief is far greater than the hole he has left behind,” they noted that Anthony’s “legacy will live on.”
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