Do we like Alyson Hannigan?
Our score: 8 out of 10. No harmful words or acts turned up, a record of warmth toward queer fans and some charity work, but the record is thin, so not a 9 or 10.
Hannigan is the red-headed Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a role she played for years, and later Lily on How I Met Your Mother. She also had a run hosting the magic show Penn & Teller: Fool Us, announced in 2016 as a show the whole family could watch together. That's a long, fairly low-drama career in the public eye.
The scandal file is basically empty. In 2013 she got a temporary restraining order against a man who allegedly threatened her online, and a court ordered him to stay away. That's something done to her, so it counts for nothing against her either way.
On the harm check, nothing nasty turned up: no culture-war grifting, no conspiracy rabbit holes, no campaigning against anyone's rights. Her Buffy storyline with Tara became a landmark queer love story, and she said she was “so grateful to have been a part of such a wonderful relationship”. Asked if she had gained lesbian fans, she said she hoped so.
She was also cheeky about it years later. When fans argued Buffy's love interests, she tweeted “Actually Buffy should have dated Willow.” It's a small thing, but it shows a long-running, easy support for the character and the fans who loved her.
The good stuff is real if modest. She backed Tylenol's Smiling It Forward campaign, which raised money for the Children's Health Fund's mobile clinics, and she has partnered with Save the Children. She has also worked as a paid brand spokesperson, which is fair enough, and she says she wanted to be there for school drop-offs after HIMYM wrapped.
Nothing recent turned up on her either: no fresh controversy, just a bit of nostalgia. In 2024 she floated a HIMYM reboot idea centred on Marshall. Honest gap: the sources we could open don't cover her latest film slate or her politics in any depth.