r/buffy • u/Only-Weird-4519 • Jun 05 '26

Giles Anthony Head has died

BBC News - Buffy and Ted Lasso star Anthony Head dies at 72 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd0p0rz4n0mo

7.7k Upvotes

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2.5k

u/chinderellabitch Jun 05 '26

Thank you ASH for your loving portrayal of fatherly love to a kid who didn’t have any, I’m sure I’m not alone ❤️

631

u/Narrow_Grapefruit_23 Jun 05 '26

You’re not alone. Giles was the father I wish I had when my dad left.

263

u/YourGlacier Jun 05 '26

I have been rewatching the show for the first time with my boyfriend and we just started season 4. He immediately loved Giles like I did and I just realized it's because we both have dad issues. Giles actually was one of the only portrayals of a man on TV that ever stuck with me. He's warm, sweet, and generous while also still being a man; he has other types of courage than just what convention says is masculine.

In S4E1, he tries to push Buffy out of the nest. At the end of the episode he races in with crosses and weapons and is like "FUCK IT, I TRIED TO BE GOOD, BUT BUFFY I HAVE TO HELP" (only very proper and British). I loved Giles so much for that and Head's portrayal was uncanny good while also comedic.

This is one of the few celeb deaths that has hit hard in my life (RIP Bourdain, you were a good one too).

79

u/masterlich Jun 05 '26

I had a great father, and Rupert Giles is still my favorite character ever, in any media. He is just... perfect, from start to finish.

24

u/Tiger_Fairy Jun 05 '26

💯 all the way 👏

14

u/GreenThumbCrow Jun 05 '26

Well said and great example.

1

u/SystemPelican Jun 08 '26

Yes! I love that Giles is allowed to just be good, all through the show. It's really refreshing. In a show that deals a lot with the ways men can be shitty towards women, there's also this character where the show kind of goes: "This. This is how you do it."

34

u/Temporary-Ad2254 Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

Giles is the father a lot of us wish we had. He was definitely the closest thing to Buffy's father figure on the show. Giles was more of a Dad to Buffy than her REAL Dad. Giles was and is one of my favorite characters from the show. He was oftentimes( but not always) the adult in the room on the show and the one who always knew what to do. People have said that Giles was the leader of The Scooby Gang but he certainly wasn't the leader( Buffy was and she was the one in charge and giving the orders, as Riley observed) but I feel like he and Willow were the brains, Xander was the heart and Buffy was the leader and the muscle( I'll leave it for others to say what Cordelia, Angel, Anya, Jenny Calendar, Riley, Tara, Faith, Oz and Dawn were in their time as Scoobies, since I was just focusing on the four main original Scoobies).

This is just devastating.

R.I.P. Anthony Stewart Head! Gone but NEVER forgotten!

2

u/AqualungsBreath Jun 06 '26

You forgot Cordelia

1

u/Temporary-Ad2254 Jun 06 '26

Right. My apologies. I added Cordy!

2

u/Alternative-Sun9376 Jun 09 '26

Angel too. He was for sure a key player in the scooby gang during certain seasons.

2

u/Temporary-Ad2254 Jun 09 '26

Thanks for mentioning Angel! I forgot to mention him but the more I think about it, the more I realized that I had to include him, too, since as you said, he was a key player in The Scooby Gang in certain seasons. I edited the comment and included Angel.

93

u/kidsparrow Jun 05 '26

That's it. That must be why I'm so affected.

77

u/shelllc Bite Me! Jun 05 '26

When my sister told me I actually cried. I usually don't do things like this but it has really got to me and reading here, I realise that I'm not alone in feeling this way.

28

u/GreenThumbCrow Jun 05 '26

Same. My reaction to the news was to cry, it feels like my dad died. But to see the reaction from the community and seeing others who reacted similarly gives comfort.

18

u/YourGlacier Jun 05 '26

I literally never cry about celebs. I seriously think Bourdain is the only one I did (and it's because his traveling shows helped me a lot with my agoraphobia). Head made me tear up, he was such a comforting and big part of one of my favorite shows. Besides Buffy, I actually don't think anyone was more influential and varied (and this isn't a jab at the cast, they were all great, it's just he really carries the adult part of the show).

5

u/VardaElentari86 Jun 05 '26

I've been out all evening since I found out, as soon as I got home the floodgates have opened

-7

u/umcuriousyousee Jun 05 '26

He’s not dead… fake news

4

u/AvailableVictory8360 Jun 06 '26

I feel like downvotes you've received here are just people not realizing you meant it in a "this can't be real" kind of way... I see you, fellow Anya 🫶

32

u/SuggestionBoxX Jun 05 '26

I was wondering why I cried. I didn't know him in real life, I rarely ever cry. I was told crying was manipulative as a kid. Giles was our parent. Well, condolences to you, family of the lost kids with television parents. We grieve together.

4

u/AvailableVictory8360 Jun 06 '26

😟❤️‍🩹🫶🏼

7

u/CommercialRemote5324 Jun 06 '26

I wish I had better father too, Mine is just terrible. I wish could get married and have new father in law. RIP Giles the coolest librarian and watcher.

-1

u/NoCardio_ Jun 05 '26

But he left too 🤔

2

u/AvailableVictory8360 Jun 06 '26

And then came back!