Hear James Marsters return as 'evil' Spike in “Slayers: A Buffyverse Story” podcast excerpt

Spike is back — and he's trying his hardest to convince the world he's a villain again.

EW has your exclusive sneak peek at Audible's Slayers: A Buffyverse Story, an audio original set 10 years after the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series finale and featuring the return of original stars James Marsters, Charisma Carpenter, Anthony Head, Juliet Landau, Emma Caulfield Ford, Amber Benson, James Charles Leary, and Danny Strong, as well as newcomer Laya DeLeon Hayes. In this exclusive excerpt from the premiere episode (listen above), Spike narrates and introduces the new story by revealing he's back to his evil ways.

Online USA/getty James Marsters as Spike on 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'

"Evil, evil Spike. Bad Spike — down boy," Spike says. "Got a reputation for a while as a good doggy, coming whenever the Slayer called, but those days are over. Took a lot of hard work to repair my image, but I'm back, baby: William the bloody Bloody. And the forces of darkness, well, they need old Spike, don't they?"

Spike goes on to describe how all the potential Slayers of the world getting awakened at once 10 years ago means "things are grim for the bad guys these days," but the resistance against the Slayers is going strong.

Audible's new series, co-written by Benson and Christopher Golden, begins as Spike has gone deep undercover in Los Angeles, convincing the forces of darkness that he's back to his evil ways. But when his cover is compromised by 16-year-old Indira Nunnally (Hayes), Spike finds himself on baby-slayer-sitting duty once more. While he attempts to track down a watcher for his eager new protégé, their paths collide with the veteran Slayer of a parallel reality where Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) never existed, and Cordelia Chase (Carpenter) is the one-and-only Slayer. And Cordelia needs Spike's help with a classic big bad terrorizing her world... his old flame, Drusilla (Landau).

"I'm ecstatic to be back with my dear friends for this next chapter in the Buffyverse, as we take listeners on a familiar but unexpected journey chock full of horror, passion and mischief," Marsters previously said. "I'm excited for old and new fans to experience this beloved world of vampire slaying like never before, brought to life through immersive audio storytelling."

Slayers: A Buffyverse Story premieres Thursday, Oct. 12.

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