Buffy The Vampire Slayer

10. Andrew Wells (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; The WB and UPN, and comics)

Barely qualifying for our list is Andrew Wells (Tom Lenk) from the Buffy and Angel TV series, as well as the current Buffy comics. The famously gay-friendly show gave us three recurring lesbian characters, the occasional gay visitor, plenty of gay-positive stories and dialogue, and surprisingly only one recurring gay (or was he bisexual?) male character in Andrew.

Heavy and persistent innuendo clearly established Andrew’s sexuality, yet despite a wealth of references to his crush on fellow villain Warren and strong gay characteristics he never quite acknowledged his own awareness of his sexuality, which was also seemingly ignored by the other characters.

The geek-turned-villain-turned-good guy scores points for delivering a lot of the best lines, turning what could have been a standard clichéd geek archetype into a three-dimensional and genuinely likeable queer sidekick. For us, the reasons for the obfuscation of Andrew’s sexuality remain one of the biggest mysteries of the show. We’re eagerly awaiting some indication of further development of his character in the ongoing comic book series.

Character Rating: 9/10

Significance Rating: 2/10

Originality Rating : 5/10