What Happened To Oz On Buffy The Vampire Slayer?
From "Underworld" to "Twilight," at this point, it feels almost inevitable to have a werewolf in a vampire story. On "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," that werewolf is Seth Green's Oz, a quiet but cool musician who first shows up in Season 2. It's not long after his arrival that he starts dating Willow (Alyson Hannigan), and he learns he's becoming a werewolf and must learn to cope with his transformations. Despite his beastly side, Oz becomes a certified member of the Scoobie Gang. With this development, he goes from guest character to a full-time cast member by Season 3.
However, Green only did the first six episodes of Season 4 before leaving the series in 2000, per his IMDb profile. For fans, it was sad to see the actor go because Oz was beloved for his sarcasm and genuine heart. He came back for two episodes at the end of the season to help give closure, but then that was the end of the friendly neighborhood werewolf Oz — unless you've been keeping up with the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" comics.
Since then, Green has gotten into voice acting, created a stop-motion animation series, and directed a movie. But what happened with Oz as his time on "Buffy" came to an end?
Oz leaves to find a werewolf cure
In a 2003 interview with Salon, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" creator Joss Whedon said Oz would have had a whole Season 4 storyline about him and the female werewolf Veruca (Paige Moss), who instead only shows up in three episodes. She encourages Oz to embrace his wolfish side. While Oz feels uncontrollably drawn to her, he is unable to stop himself from sleeping with her in his wolf form. He kills Veruca to protect Willow, then decides he needs to find a way to control his transformation and sets off on a journey of self-discovery.
He spends most of this time in Tibet with monks who train him in meditation and give him herbs and charms, which help him maintain control during a full moon. However, when he suddenly comes back in the Season 4 episode "New Moon Rising," he hopes to get back together with Willow. However, he loses control upon discovering that she and Tara (Amber Benson) are romantically involved. The strong emotions are too much for him, and he wolfs out. After getting kidnapped by the Initiative and then rescued, Oz decides he'd better go — for real this time.
Oz wasn't supposed to leave forever, but a series of events led things that way. In a 2007 interview with The AV Club, Seth Green only wanted to take six episodes off to shoot the mobster movie "Knockaround Guys," but, ultimately, it was decided it'd be better for the story to write him off entirely. At the time, the actor revealed it felt like the writing was on the wall regarding an exit for Oz from "Buffy," especially because Green was getting other acting opportunities at the same time the hit show wasn't making full use of the werewolf character.
Oz returns to Tibet and has a family in the comics
As the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight" comics (via Fandom) tell it, Oz went back to Tibet to continue his journey for a cure. He and a fellow werewolf, Bayarmaa, work on making peace with their inner wolves, become partners, and have a son together. They train other werewolves how to find a spiritual connection that stops the transformation, but several of those werewolves create an oppositional pack and attack Oz and Bay.
We learn this in the "Retreat, Part Two" issue when Buffy, Willow, and the group take their submarine to Tibet to ask Oz's advice on how to suppress their magical side to protect themselves from being found by the current big bad, Twilight (via Fandom). In "Retreat, Part Three," Oz teaches Willow how to let the magic flow out of her and into the earth, instead of keeping it inside, as he does with his werewolf magic. However, Twilight's army comes to attack them, and though the other werewolves lend their help, things don't look good for Buffy's side.
Apparently, all of the suppressed magic has been going into three nature goddesses, so Buffy and Willow call on them for help in the battle. Instead of lending Buffy aid, the goddesses don't choose a side and become a chaotic problem in and of themselves. Eventually, the battle ends, and Buffy's crew all leave Tibet. Oz, Bay, and their son stay and presumably rebuild their home.