By the time Season Three of Buffy The Vampire Slayer kicks off, Angel has quite literally been to Hell and back. It seemed to be the final end for the vampire in the Season Two conclusion Becoming, as Buffy reluctantly decided to be rid of her homicidal lover once and for all. Yet, in Anne, the Slayer is tortured by Angel’s memory. And as the series progresses, so we learn that he has returned from Hell… but for what purpose?

“It’s been an intense season,” Boreanaz tells Cult Times as we chat in Los Angeles. “For the first four episodes I was kind of rebuilding it, I didn’t have much to do, but what I did have was emotionally strenuous.” The Angel we meet in Beauty and the Beasts (UK premiere this month on Sky) is nothing like the two centuries old vampire we have come to know. His torturous experiences in Hell have destroyed his mind, leaving a bestial creature that Buffy must keep in chains.

“I picture Hell as a freezing place, not a hot place,” reasons Boreanaz when describing his performance as the anguished Angel. “For me it was a cold place, and I just dug in the reservoirs of my mind and let things play out.”

“It’s been fun, and I’ve learned about this character in a different sense – where he’s going, his purpose, how strong he’s going to be, and how his world is affected,” says Boreanaz, looking back over the year.

“By the end of this season there’ll be a clearer picture as to where everybody is going in the bigger scheme. I think Joss [Whedon] is saying, ‘Look he’s leaving Buffy, but he’s not.’ These characters will cross over. At the same time he’s expanding the palette, he’s just moving them in different directions and I think in his way Joss would like to have a show that goes back and forth. It gives him the freedom to write characters differently.”

No doubt about it, Boreanaz will miss working on Buffy, but consoles himself with the knowledge that the two shows will be shot in adjacent soundstages at the same facility. So chances are the camaraderie will endure over lunches and coffee breaks. “It’ll be difficult,” he sighs. “My whole working experience is with Sarah, basically, and it’ll be hard to leave that. But I think in the long run I think it will be stronger for her and myself. The fact that these two characters will leave and somehow their love will never end...”

More from David Boreanaz on Angelus' alliance with Spike and Drusilla "there’s definitely some chemistry between the three of us..." and looking forward to Angel itself: "I think it’ll be an intense show..." in this issue