The Tale of Two Nikki Woods’

Two actresses of different phenotypes depicted the 1970’s slain Slayer Nikki Wood. DP: Michael Gershman and Raymond Stella.

Nikki Wood, a Black Slayer with a last name, continued Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s problematic depiction of Black women. In season five, episode seven’s Fool For Love written by Douglas Petrie, Spike— Nikki’s own murderer— sheds his personal history with Buffy regarding killing the New York City based single mother. Spike feels comfortable sharing this story to a woman he’s nearly killed on various occasions. Initiative chip in the head or not, Buffy allows him to speak because she ironically enough respects the vampire, an uneasy truth to swallow. She knows her death is coming and wants to know (from the killer’s perspective) how other Slayers died. 

Nikki needed to tell her own narrative in her own words. She’s a Chosen One who has lived longer than usual for most Slayers. It’s a huge feat to balance between confronting the dual evils (racial and supernatural) of the gritty NYC landscape and raising a son Robin— the future principal of renovated Sunnydale High School. According to the Nikki Goes Down comic story, also written by Petrie, the black duster jacket she wears was her lover’s— a deceased police officer (ugh, no other profession exists?). 

After draining an Asian Slayer’s blood with Drusilla seventy plus years prior, Spike reduces Nikki as a chick he fought in an abandoned train, a playful source to take out his vampiric frustration. The blackout gives Spike the added momentum to overpower Nikki and snap her neck. He then steals her coat, proudly wearing the lengthy black duster as surely as George Washington smiled with all his slaves’ stolen teeth in his mouth. 

The first Nikki Wood (April Weeden-Washington, a stunt double) battles Spike (James Marsters) in Fool For Love. DP: Michael Gershman. 

The second version of Nikki Wood arrives in season seven, episode seventeen’s Lies My Parents Told Me written by Drew Goddard and David Fury. Production made sure she wore the same outfit as the first actress— long leather coat, oatmeal knitted sweater, and Afro wig. Before the tragic subway murder, Spike reveals that he’s been tracking Nikki for a while as they fight in a downpour. Nikki brought Robin— hiding behind a bench— to her supernatural realm, seeming to have no babysitter available.

The second Nikki Wood (former model K. D. Aubert) gets to speak, fight Spike in the rain, and act maternal in Lies My Parents Told Me. DP: Raymond Stella.

The watching young Robin (Damani Roberts) inadvertently saves his mother from certain death. DP: Raymond Stella. 

Wood’s first portrayer, April Weeden-Washington also stunt doubled for Bianca Lawson in What’s My Line Part 1 and stunted on various other series and films. In Doux Reviews, the actress reveals auditioning for the speaking role:

“I thought I was a shoo-in because I had already established the character. There weren't many lines. Then I got a phone call from casting stating that there was ‘a certain maturity’ about me now, and that I didn't get the part.”

Wow.

For a show that hired actors in their obvious late-twenties as teenagers, it’s pretty offensive that they felt that in two years, Weeden-Washington “matured too much” to resume playing the role. They preferred a lighter-skinned, lighter-eyed K. D. Aubert as Nikki, putting her in a 4C Afro textured TWA wig ala pre-Zoe Saldana’s portraying Nina Simone. Aubert also spoke whereas the unambiguous Black woman fought for her life and died on public transportation. Casting directors definitely know the difference between what they envision as the Black women who deserve a voice versus the ones who should remain silent and/or placed in limiting conditions.

Buffy may always be a pop culture staple, but it’s depiction of minority characters— especially Black women— were outdated and show blatant colorism. Thus, with history dooming to repeat itself, it was best that the intended reboot— which they hoped would star a Black Buffy— fell under the cracks. You cannot trust non-Black showrunners to tell caring, compassionate stories centering Black womanhood, not when they’re still making up deplorable fantasies riddled in harmful stereotypes. 

Nikki Wood is a prime example of that.