Faith (miniseries)

The Faith miniseries, also known as Faith: Go Ask Malice, is a six-episode miniseries spin-off from Buffy.

The mini series premiered on March 5, 2013, and aired on Tuesdays at 9:00 – 10:00 p.m., ET/PT on FOX. It is also being distributed internationally on Netflix.

In the U.S., original episodes of the six-episode miniseries aired between March 5, 2013 and April 2, 2013.

The Faith miniseries provides a back story for Faith Lehane, beginning several months before she becomes the Slayer and ending with her entering Sunnydale just prior to "The New Girl". It could be said that Go Ask Malice is to Faith what The Origin is to Buffy Summers.

Plot
"Faith has always been a loner. Growing up in a broken home in South Boston, shuffled from relative to relative, her only companion was an imaginary friend named Alex, who helped her escape into a fantasy world of monsters and the supernatural, far from the real-life horrors of the waking world.

Now, taken away from her mother by social services and shipped off to a foster home, Faith learns that some nightmares are all too real, that the inventions of her childhood really do haunt the night, hungry for blood. Enter Diana Dormer, a Harvard professor and representative of the Watchers Council who has come to tell Faith of her destiny, to train her, to prepare her for what is to come: Faith is the Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness.

But she's not alone. When Alex, her childhood companion, returns in her dreams, she warns Faith that someone else is coming to her, a force so deadly and unforgiving that it has inspired fear in the underworld for a thousand generations. Its name is Malice. As memory and fantasy begin to merge, Faith's two worlds collide, with cataclysmic results. A violent battle for the Slayer's soul is staged, winner take all. This is her story. . . ."

Characters

 * Faith Lehane - The Chosen One.
 * Professor Diana Dormer – A professor of folklore and mythology at Harvard University, and Faith's first Watcher.
 * Alexandra – Faith has been seeing visions of an apparently imaginary young girl she knows from childhood as 'Alex'.
 * Clark Rutherfold (Gable) – Boyfriend of Faith's mother who is heavily involved in crime.
 * Faith's mother – A woman who has largely been absent from Faith's life.
 * Faith's father – Faith has been told by her mother that her father died when she was young.
 * Jess – Friend of Faith during her time with the Joneses and slightly beyond.
 * The Jones Family – A Christian family who take Faith under foster care. They had a son, Robert, whom they tell Faith is now dead.
 * Kakistos – An ancient vampire so old that his hands are actually cloven hooves. In ancient Greece, he commanded the Maenads, and battled the Slayer Artemia.
 * Kenny (Killian) – Drummer of a band called "Freak Wharf." He has the ability to make parts of his imagination come to life. Kenny dates Faith for several months.
 * Andra – Girlfriend of Kenny. She was killed by Mister Trick in a cemetery. Using the powers of his mind, Kenny was effectively able to bring her image back as an unusually powerful hallucination.
 * Sensei Kanno – A martial artist who trained Potential Slayers and Slayers, including Faith. He was driven by the need to take revenge against vampires who had killed his family.
 * Steve – Faith's boyfriend during early 2012.
 * Tommy – Faith's best friend during high school. Like Faith, he is a fan of Freak Wharf.
 * Vanity Collins (V) – A social worker who regularly met Faith.

Cast
Main characters: Recurring characters:
 * Faith Lehane (6 episodes)
 * Professor Diana Dormer (6 episodes)
 * Kenny Killian (5 episodes)
 * Steve (4 episodes)
 * Sensei Kanno (3 episodes)
 * Kakistos (3 episodes)
 * Vanity Collins (3 episodes)
 * Alex (3 episodes)
 * Mrs. Lehane (2 episodes)
 * George Lehane (1 episode)
 * Buffy Summers (1 episode; dream)
 * Kendra (1 episode; dream)

Writing and Behind the Scenes
The decision to do a mini series based around Faith came about when FOX wished to do a spin-off series focusing on other characters. With the Angel spin-off series in development for fall 2013. FOX and Netflix signed a 5-year deal that would allow additional shows from the Buffy brand being made.

Eric Kripke and Douglas Petrie talked about exploring Faith's backstory in an episode of season 4, originally it was to be pinned for the 16th episode "Faithless", but was cut from the script. The Faith mini series was commissioned and picked up on November 13, 2012.

Kripke said in an interview he hoped "to explore  the choices [Faith] made and the choices that were taken away from her, and to explore what it is to be the Chosen One without a support system of friends or family." He hoped to provide a context for the character's behavior and the way it developed during the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and beyond. "A lot of things about Faith's character are supposed to be assumed by the viewers - a troubled childhood, delinquency and she's a loose girl. I wanted to subvert expectations, and it's one of the reasons I did it as a diary".''

Talk of a Faith proper spin-off series was discussed, but when Angel happening. There wasn't enough room for it just yet. However the idea was seriously considered in September, 2013. But her character ended up making appearances on both Buffy and Angel.

Timeline

 * Set from December 2010 to June 2012. These months precede Faith's first appearance in the Buffy episode "The New Girl" in autumn 2012.