Whedon had always planned for one of the “Buffy” characters to die unexpectedly in the heat of battle. Unexpected deaths were a bit of a trademark on the show, from Buffy’s mother’s aneurism in season 5 to Tara’s shooting in season 6, and the final episode presented the last opportunity to knock the wind out of the audience.
“I wanted to kill somebody, and I wanted to do it brutally and suddenly and never really pay it off,” the series creator told TV Guide Online back in 2003, just after the series finale aired. “I wanted a death that was a real middle-of-the-battle death — the opposite of the Spike death, [which was] perfect, noble.”
So why was Anya chosen as the victim of this sudden death? Well, Caulfield had reportedly “made it clear that she really was not interested in coming back,” Whedon said.
“I think things with Fox weren’t great and she felt ill-used — not by the show,” he continued. “She had a good time making the show, I think. But she was ready to move on. But it was tough [killing her off]. The last shot before we wrapped her was that shot where she gets sliced. And it’s very weird to play your death and go, ‘Okay, I’m done.'”
The actress later confirmed that she left the show because of conflicts with higher-ups.
“I had a fantastic experience on ‘Buffy’ and I thought it was a great show, but in some ways I didn’t feel that character was reflective of everything I could do,” she explained in a 2006 interview. “And by the end, I felt very unappreciated by certain people. Almost everybody was great, but certain people […] By the end it was just no fun to come to work and be continually disrespected.”