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Template:Infobox Buffyverse character

Nikki Wood is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, portrayed originally by April Weeden-Washington and later by K.D. Aubert.

Biography

Nikki Wood grew up in a poor area of New York. After her parents were killed in a mugging about 1966, she lived with her grandmother. She eventually dropped out of school when she became pregnant with Robin Wood, and got a job as a waitress to help pay the rent.

She was called as the Slayer early in 1973. Her Watcher, Bernard Crowley, found her and told her of her role on February 10, 1973, the same night that her grandmother was killed by a vampire.

She had a Chinese-American boyfriend named Li, a policeman who was killed while investigating smugglers – who were importing a demon. Li may or may not be Robin's father, though it is implied Nikki does not know who Robin's father is (as she does not "take names when blowing off steam").

For most of her tenure as the Slayer, Nikki and Robin lived rent-free in a small apartment behind the projection room of The Gem movie theatre on 42nd street, because she had rescued the owner's nephew from vampires.

In 1977 she was killed by Spike, who had already killed a Chinese Slayer during the Boxer Rebellion. (Spike took a black leather duster from Nikki's body, and it became his trademark.) Crowley then retired from the Watchers' Council and raised Robin.

Casting

Nikki's first appearance, in "Fool for Love", was a fight scene with no dialogue; she was portrayed by stuntwoman April Weeden-Washington. When the character was brought back in "First Date", the casting directors preferred a younger actress, who could seem more like a vulnerable teenage mother, and hired K.D. Aubert.

Nikki thus joined Buffy Summers and the First Evil as characters in the Buffyverse that have been portrayed by more than one actor (not counting stunt doubles).

Appearances

Canon appears in bold

• Fool for Love (flashbacks)
• First Date (impersonated by the First Evil)
• Get It Done (mentioned)
• Lies My Parents Told Me (flashbacks)
• Damage (mentioned)
• "It's All About the Mission", a prose short story in Tales of the Slayer Volume IV
• Nikki Goes Down!, a graphic short story in Tales of the Slayers
• Blackout, novel
• Queen of the Slayers: Nikki and other Slayer ghosts protect Xander on the Ghost Roads
• Auld Lang Syne graphic novel, issues 2–3

References

1. Blackout
2. Blackout, chapter 3

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters
• Slayers (Buffyverse)
• Fictional African-American people
• Fictional characters introduced in 2000