Actress Alyson Hannigan says she would feel like a “failure” if she did not have a lesbian following as a result of playing gay on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

In the show's fourth season, Hannigan's Willow Rosenberg fell in love with Tara Maclay (played by Amber Benson). The two remained an item until Tara's death toward the end of the sixth season.

“I was grateful to have been a part of such a wonderful relationship,” Hannigan told The Huffington Post. “The people that it's touched that I've met … it's such a gift to have been able to do that.”

“It was a beautiful relationship,” she continued. “And I was blessed to be a part of it.”

“Does it mean that you have a lesbian following now, though, as a result of it?” host Alicia Menendez asked.

“Well, I mean I hope so,” Hannigan replied. “Yeah, I hope. I would feel like a failure if I didn't.”

Hannigan currently co-stars on the CBS hit sitcom How I Met Your Mother.

(Watch the entire segment at HuffPost Live.)