Buffy actor shares the scene he describes as the toughest of his career.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer star James Marsters revealed he filmed the toughest scene of his life while making the popular TV series.

The actor, who played bad-boy vampire Spike in the popular series from 1997-2003, had to go to a pretty dark place as his character attempted to rape the show’s lead actress, Sarah Michelle Gellar who played Buffy, in season six of the show.

“It was a hard experience for me and I still don’t like to film scenes like that. I still pass up material that would ask that of me … it’s just triggering for me personally,” Marsters told AAP

“I had a messed up childhood and I think I’ll leave it at that.”

The series tackled many issues such as sexuality and inherent misogyny and Marsters believes it still reflects our societal issues, despite being nearly 20 years old.

“I think it’s absolutely horrifying how relevant Buffy is,” he said.

Listen: The Binge deep dives into one of the most iconic shows of the last 20 years, and how it fares today. Post continues after audio.

“In a better world it would be a little more quaint but it’s not, this voice still needs to be heard and I keep hoping for more shows to be able to hit that nerve and talk that forcefully about it.”

Bearing that in mind, Marsters believes the show could return if its creator Joss Whedon wants it to, although Whedon has gone on to become one of Hollywood’s most in-demand writer/directors working on The Avengers film series.

“The secret sauce is Joss Whedon and so if he is involved it’s going to be awesome. He could choose to recast it and have Buffy stay in her 20s and it would be awesome. He could find other actors who would be fabulous again,” he said.

However, if Whedon decides to keep the original cast, Marsters will need a little CGI help.

“I think he’d need a new vampire because supposedly we don’t age or we’d probably have to spend half the budget on special effects to make my face look 20 years younger. But it could be done,” he said.

Marsters will be in Australia next month to appear at the Supanova comic convention, fitting it in around his new role on upcoming TV series Runaways.

He”ll play another villainous character in the series about a group of teen superheroes from the Marvel universe set to premiere in the US next month.

“The teenagers find that their parents are super villains and I think that I play the biggest douchebag of all the parents,” he said.

*James Marsters will be appearing at Supanova comic convention at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre on November 10-12 and the Adelaide Showground on November 18-19.

National domestic violence helpline: 1800 737 732 or 1800RESPECT. In an emergency call triple-zero.