Cordelia Is the Slayer in Audible's “Buffy ”Spinoff, “Slayers”: 'They're Gonna Hate It' (Exclusive)

The new audio series reunites Charisma Carpenter, James Marsters, Amber Benson and more

In the new Buffy the Vampire Slayer audio spinoff, Cordelia Chase steps into a crucial new role: She's the chosen one.

Several original cast members from the hit TV series return for the Audible Original series, Slayers: A Buffyverse Story, including Charisma Carpenter, who reprises her role as fan-favorite Cordelia. Only this time, she is not the quippy Scooby Gang member viewers know and love.

The series "takes place about a decade later [after the series finale of Buffy]," Juliet Landau, 58, who returns as Drusilla, says in a PEOPLE-exclusive interview clip (filmed before the SAG-AFTRA strike). "A slayer goes to visit Spike, and she's from an alternate universe. And the slayer is Cordelia."

Landau continues to explain that Cordelia seeks Spike (James Marsters) to help fight "the big bad," who is now Drusilla.

"Basically it's an alternate universe and Drusilla and Tara have become very naughty," Marsters, 61, explains.

Related: Slay, Set, Spike! See Which 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' Stars Are Returning for Bloody Good Audible Spinoff

The new story, considered an expansion of the Buffy universe, is co-written by Chris Golden and Amber Benson, who played Tara Maclay, and directed by Benson, Golden, and Kc Wayland.

"They've taken [the story] to somewhere really fresh and exciting and new as well and just given every character extraordinary arcs," Landau says.

Adds Marsters: "Oh, they're gonna hate it."

“As an actor, it’s really hard to find layered, complex things in a role. That was already on the page with Cordelia,” says Carpenter, 53, adding that it was extra exciting to play the beloved character in a “new, reimagined way.”

The new story also follows the duo of Spike and rookie slayer Indira Nunnally (Laya DeLeon Hayes) as they cross paths with parallel-reality Cordy.

For Benson, 46, and Landau, it was refreshing to join forces after years of co-existing on Buffy’s set — but never teaming up on-screen.

“Amber and I never had scenes together, and we have this really rich, amazing relationship in this,” Landau says.

Related: 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' Cast: Where Are They Now?

According to Benson, listeners should expect emotions to run high. “We cried, I can’t tell you how many times,” she says. “Everybody in here has made us cry once.”

In addition to keeping a box of tissues nearby, “don’t operate heavy machinery” while you listen, Marsters jokes.

Also reprising her Buffy role is Emma Caulfield, who says that not only returning as Anya but “finding her again” — which “took three takes” — has been “reenergizing” and “joyous.”

“It’s a rebirth and it’s wonderful,” Caulfield, 50, adds.

According to the WandaVision star, the experience has also been exhausting.

“I went home my first day, and I don’t think I have ever been so tired,” she says.

Carpenter, who also found herself “completely wiped out” after recording, adds: “This is a different medium, and it’s just as intense, if not more.”

“It’s Audible, right? So we’re recording voices but we would look at each other with dirty looks,” she continues. “The rivalry is there.”

Related: 16 Huge Stars You Totally Forgot Were on' Buffy the Vampire Slayer'

Landau — whose performance as Drusilla is “chillingly good,” per Caulfield — recalls getting “so into it” that she accidentally stepped away from her microphone entirely.

“We were doing a scene yesterday, and I got so involved in looking that they’re like, ‘You’re off-mic,’” she says.

Despite any evil glares exchanged while in-character, the Buffy actors are still a close-knit bunch two decades after the original series concluded.

“We truly are like family, and so that really translates to the work,” Landau says.

That sense of camaraderie extended to Buffyverse newcomer Hayes, 19, who fills the shoes of the original Chosen One, Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), as new slayer Indira.

“It’s been so welcoming and everyone’s been so kind,” Hayes says. “And that family aspect I felt literally on day one just made the recording process so much easier.”

Anthony Head, Danny Strong and James Charles Leary will also reprise their original Buffy roles in the action-packed spinoff series.

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Marsters, Carpenter, Caulfield, Leary, Landau, Hayes, Benson and Golden are all set to appear at a New York Comic-Con panel dedicated to Slayers: A Buffyverse Story on Oct. 13, one day after the series premieres on Audible on Oct. 12.

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