wants to sacrifice herself to save the world, but Buffy realizes that because she is related to Dawn, her own blood can also close the portal. She realizes the meaning of the First Slayer's message — "Death is your gift" — and sacrifices her own life to save Dawn's and close the portal. Buffy's friends mourn her death and praise her with the inscription on her headstone, "She saved the world a lot." Cast and characters Main cast Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg Marc Blucas as Riley Finn Emma Caulfield as Anya Jenkins Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers James Marsters as Spike Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles Recurring cast Guest cast Julie Benz as Darla Dean Butler as Hank Summers Amelinda Embry as Katrina Silber Sharon Ferguson as First Slayer Kali Rocha as Cecily Addams Harris Yulin as Quentin Travers Crew Series creator Joss Whedon served as executive producer and showrunner, and wrote and directed three episodes including the season finale. Marti Noxon was promoted to co-executive producer and wrote three episodes, including directing two of them. Jane Espenson was promoted to producer and wrote or co-wrote five episodes. David Fury was promoted to supervising producer and wrote three episodes. Douglas Petrie was promoted to co-producer and wrote or co-wrote four episodes. New additions in the fifth season included Rebecca Rand Kirshner, who wrote three episodes and Steven S. DeKnight, who wrote two episodes. David Solomon directed the highest number of episodes in the fifth season, directing four episodes and was promoted to producer. Joss Whedon, James A. Contner (also co-producer), and David Grossman each directed three. Episodes Crossovers with Angel The fifth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer aired along with the second season of Angel. Both shows retained their timeslots on The WB Television Network, airing on Tuesdays at 8:00 PM ET and 9:00 PM ET respectively. The Buffy episode "Fool for Love" is a companion to the Angel episode "Darla". Both episodes feature multiple flashbacks to the history of Spike (James Marsters) and Darla (Julie Benz), shown from their respective viewpoints. Angel (David Boreanaz) and Drusilla (Juliet Landau) also appear in both episodes. Both episodes feature a same scene – one from the point of view of Spike and the other from Angelus, Darla, and Drusilla. Buffy recurring character Drusilla makes her first present-tense appearance