Vid den tiden slutade Joss Whedon kort sagt att det hade att göra med att injicera något liv (förlåt ironi) i det mörka och mindre väl emot Angel spin-offen.
Vi vet emellertid att han mulling om han skickar över till Angel redan före hans död i Buffy . Från en intervju från 2003 med Whedon:
WHEDON: It wasn't until the last minute that it was actually decided that he was going to be a regular on the show. When I spoke to you, a) it was true that we didn't know his status, and b) he was about to die on Buffy, so the less about him being on Angel in the press beforehand, the better.
Det faktum att det sågs som ett betygsökning är implicit i detta:
INTERVIEWER: Fair enough. But couldn't the WB hold off on announcing it?
WHEDON: There was no f---ing way. They were very excited about James. They have a shiny blond thing to show people, and they're gonna do it.
Medaljongens länk till Spikes uppståndelse verkar dock inte ha planerats från början, men det kan vara en "andra idéer" som Whedon hänvisar till nedan:
INTERVIEWER: So, how do you plan to resurrect Spike?
WHEDON: That's a conversation I'm going to be having with the Angel writers very soon.
INTERVIEWER: There's always Shanshu (the ancient prophecy introduced during Angel's first season that says once a soulful vampire fulfills his destiny, he becomes human).
WHEDON: It's not quite that simple, although a lot of people have been making reference to that. But that's an interpretation, and ultimately could become the interpretation if we decide to go that way. I have some other ideas. The trick is how to bring him back without losing the integrity of what he did... the sacrifice. If it's just, "Hey, I'm back!" then that whole moment at the end of Buffy is kind of lame now. Like Buffy returning from the dead, it's going to be something that we're going to have to earn and play the ramifications of, possibly without making it so depressing.
Om något så verkar det ha varit mycket osäkerhet om hur Spike skulle komma tillbaka till livet.
( Källa )