‘Leverage: Redemption’: Christian Kane Teases ‘Angel’ Reunion With James Marsters

If you were an Angel fan back in the late ’90s and early ’00s, you knew Christian Kane as lawyer Lindsey McDonald and James Marsters as vampire Spike. And when you watch the back half of Leverage: Redemption in the fall, you’ll see them onscreen together again.

“It’s funny because I asked James to come in and do the [Leverage: Redemption] pilot with us and he was — I don’t think he’s going to be upset —  like everyone, really wary of COVID at the time,” Kane tells TV Insider of his former costar on The WB series, which ran from 1999 to 2004.

“So finally, when [this role] came up, me and [costar Noah Wyle, who also directed the episode] were talking about it… and he said, ‘Who do we got?’ He had worked with James before. Obviously, I’ve known James almost my whole life in Hollywood. And I called him and I said, ‘How do you feel?’ And he’s like, ‘I got a big bubble mask, man. I can get on a plane.’ So we flew him in and it was just so much fun.”

On the IMDb TV revival of the crime drama Leverage (which ran five seasons from 2008 to 2012), Kane reprises his role as hitter Eliot Spencer. Marsters is coming in as a guest star, playing Carl, who cons wealthy country club members to fund a dark criminal enterprise.

“It was a different sort of animosity because usually it’s Spike and Lindsey and I’m trying to kill him and stick a stake through his heart and he’s trying to bite me,” Kane quips. “And it’s really not that different. It’s just way more subtle in that episode.

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“It was really fun working with one of my oldest friends in Hollywood. People see Spike and they’re so scared of him when James himself is one of the sweetest, most talented actors. He brings so much to this character. It was just so much fun. We sat there and told war stories, played guitar together. It was really great to have him in, and I think the fans are absolutely gonna love it. They’re really gonna love seeing Spike and Lindsey go at it again, wearing different hats.”

Executive producer Dean Devlin agrees, but he’s hesitant to give away anything about the episode itself. “I think the fans are going to freak out seeing these two guys onscreen together again. It’s so much fun and of course, because of their history, they immediately have a chemistry,” he teases. “I think when people see that episode, if you are a fan of Angel, you’re gonna flip out.”

Leverage: Redemption, Part 2, Fall 2021, IMDb TV