
Kendra Young, played by Bianca Lawson, is a character in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Kendra is a Slayer. She is called to be the Slayer when Buffy Summers dies at the hands of The Master in May 1997. Though Xander Harris manages to revive her, Buffy's death nevertheless activates a second Slayer, causing two to exist at the same time (a first in history).
No one in Sunnydale is aware of her existence until she surprises Buffy in "What's My Line, Part One". Kendra is fully versed in the Slayer Handbook and fighting techniques, and has been separated from her family since she was a young child in order to train for her role as the Slayer. Hence, she says she has no last name, but Joss Whedon gave her the last name "Young". Unlike Buffy, Kendra has no friends, has never been to school and is not permitted to speak to boys (although she develops a crush on Xander Harris and often stutters when he's around). Her appearance is the first time the Watchers' Council has been shown to identify potential Slayers. Her tenure as a Slayer is approximately one year; she is killed by Drusilla in "Becoming, Part One", set in May 1998. Before her death, she gives Buffy her favorite stake, which she calls "Mr. Pointy".
Kendra's Watcher was Sam Zabuto.
J. P. Williams states that from the perspective of the Watchers' Council, Kendra is the "practically perfect Slayer: solemn, respectful, and efficient". She has mastered the use of every weapon reliant on muscle power, such as swords, knives, and axes, and although she has less field experience, she possesses more textbook knowledge about slaying than Buffy (from her Watcher and the Slayer's Handbook—a book that Giles felt was pointless to give to Buffy). Unlike Buffy, Kendra wields her power "exactly as her superiors instruct". However, Kendra's tendency to unhesitatingly follow orders means she lacks moral autonomy and is easily hypnotized by Drusilla; Jana Riess argues that Kendra's death occurred because "she always obeyed without question and has not strengthened her mind and spirit by discovering her own unique path." Ironically, Kendra's initial reaction to Buffy's insistence of doing things her own way instead of following orders was to retort, "No wonder you died" ("What's My Line, Part Two").
Although her place of birth is never identified, she speaks with the accent of an individual from somewhere in the West Indies. The addition of the Jamaican accent to the character was a last-minute decision, and a dialect coach was brought in; he taught Lawson a dialect that was supposedly from a very specific, obscure region of Jamaica, and while the accent may have sounded authentic to that region, to the rest of the cast and crew (and the majority of the viewing audience), it simply sounded like a very bad impersonation of a common Jamaican accent.
After her death, Kendra was succeeded by Faith Lehane.