Thursday, October 8, 2015

Alison Sweeney on Will's Exit from 'Days of our Lives': "I Think It's A Big Mistake"

Alison Sweeney opened up to Soap Opera Digest's Stephanie Sloane in a revealing new interview about her return to Days of our Lives as Sami Brady, and her feelings about the exit storyline for Sami's son, Will Horton (Guy Wilson). Sweeney returns to the soap on Monday, October 12.

[WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD]

Sami comes home after Will becomes the third victim of the Necktie Killer, Salem's latest serial murderer who has already strangled Serena Mason and Paige Larson. Viewers know that Ben Rogers (Robert Scott Wilson) is the killer but no one in Salem has figured it out yet.

"Completely honestly, I was angry," Sweeney tells Digest. "I felt betrayed and hurt they were doing it. I had a crazy reaction that I didn't want to do it and I didn't want to go be part of it because I was upset. And then I felt like I went through the five stages of grief."

Sweeney thinks killing Will, a legacy character, is "a big mistake."

"I am sorry they did it but, of course, I had to go there and mourn," explains Sweeney, normally a company person who supports the show's decisions. "I think there are other ways they could have handled it. It breaks my heart that there is no Will anymore. There have been a lot of storylines that I haven't agreed with, but I always understood the motive behind them and the value of getting the audience riled up. But this particular story point is something that I just don't agree with and I didn't from the moment they told me. And I don't understand why they did it."

RELATED:
- Guy Wilson on His 'Days of our Lives' Exit: "It Was All Purely Business"
- Nageen Mustafa After Call With 'Days of our Lives' Stars Alison Sweeney and James Scott: "This Is My Lucky Day!"
- 'Days of our Lives' Couple EJ & Sami Reunited on 'Last Week Tonight'
- Peggy McCay Continues to Shine on 'Days of our Lives' and It's Time She Received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Daytime Emmys






43 comments:

  1. I haven't enjoyed Will in a long time but I still wish they'd send him out of town instead of killing him.

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    1. If only . . . But this is a sacrificial killing for ratings. Nothing says "watch me" like desperation! Better hope it works and has staying power.

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  2. I agree. It is always a mistake to kill a legacy character - and Will is the mother of legacy characters with ties to nearly everyone in town.

    I can understand a recast, but this seems a little too extreme. On the other hand, people were complaining that the first two victims were characters with little or no connection to the core of the show.

    Hopefully, Sami's return will get Sweeney an Emmy.

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    1. I think KC killed him ofc cause after Sept 2016 he knows Days is gone anyway so it doesnt matter eho died, they will all go in less than a year.

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    2. Cancellation Bear is nipping close and he's ferocious with hunger! If Days has to stay ahead of the CB by killing off legacy characters, they'd better hope they don't stumble. One wrong move and it's all about the bear . . . and the bear eats everyone! No serial killer needed.

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  3. Will is being punished with death for lesser sins than those committed by every other (straight) character on the show. If they wanted to get rid of all the gay characters, why not simply have him ride off into the sunset with Sonny? What a slap in the face to all the fans they attracted with this storyline. They have catered to other supercouple fans -- Jarlena, Bo and Hope, Steve and Kayla -- but are basically telling those who came to the show for Will and Sonny, and romance and fun rather than death and darkness, to go jump in the lake.

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    1. With those three iconic couples, one or both of the pairing has been "dead" at least once. I think Kayla is the only one who hasn't been dead or completely written off the show before. Marlena "died" multiple ties in one year once. So there's always hope!

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    2. Yeah it will just be as Gabi's bad nightmare. Will will be looking over her claiming Gabi...it is just a dream I am right here.

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  4. Days "days" are numbered. It will not be around after.2017 if it even makes it that far

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    1. If the ratings don't rise and hold steady, Days days are numbered! Any short-term bump from killing off a legacy character will not save them. It takes more than that. The ratings need to rise and maintain the increase, So far, Days has been unable to do this. There isn't much time left, pretty much the remainder of 2015. NBC will make a final decision on Days' fate by springtime if not before. Days will then end around Sept 2016. The decision has to be made then in order to give the show a proper ending (and not go into a new season), but the writers may be alerted prior to any announcement to start winding down the show and give fans a (hopefully) decent ending. Days future looks bleak at this point, but still there is a chance (maybe slim as of right now) it could survive. A serial killer SL is not really JG's forte, so it's kind of lackluster and not that involving. Maybe he thinks killing Will will change that. I doubt it. I think DH doubts it, too. I wonder if she'll be the writer who really writes the Days ending?

      I hope I explained this correctly. If not, enlighten me.

      BTW Right now NBC could put up a test pattern and get ratings as high or higher than Days! Not kidding.

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    2. Wow! That does sound dire: I should have said NBC will make a decision to either renew or cancel Days in early 2016.

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  5. They are not killing him off because he's gay. If anything it is because nobody really accepted Guy as Will. Also, "Legacy Characters" die all the time. What about Jack? Should they have done a recast? Maybe, but ultimately, this story has made Days unmissable again. If killing of Will is part of that, then I say, fine...do what it takes to make my show great again!

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    1. It doesn't matter to Will Horton fans, though. Some viewers have only ever watched Days for Will and/or Sonny. They won't all stick around to see Nicole talking to herself or to watch Dr. Dan die of a terminal personality disorder! I don't care for GW, but he does have a fanbase of young viewers who love him.

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  6. Though it makes me sad to see Will die as he helped me come to terms with my own sexuality, to make this storyline effective, they needed to kill a character that was close to home. It makes me sad to see him go, but at the same time the writers ruined him. I wish they would kill off someone else, but I don't want to see anyone leave. It just saddens me because he has been so important to the show. Also he is one of the last characters with the last name Horton. The show needs more Hortons. Either way, even though I am sad to see him go, the story has to have an impact. I really wish this spoiler was kept under wraps though so it could be a real shock tomorrow.

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  7. I agree with AS. Days has been off my DVR all week. I will not watch Will be killed and there's NO 50th Anniversary Celebration for me without Sami's firstborn! I'm NEVER going to watch Days again!

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    1. ur the only loser in that decision

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    2. Nope. It's my choice and I'm owning it! I feel like I've been wasting an hour a day on this show. I stopped watching already. I don't miss it. After a decade, Nicole is pretty much where she was when I started watching, along with most of the others: Stefano, Victor, etc. It was like a decade of spinning in circles. Now I'm done.

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    3. Not the ONLY loser at all. Days is losing a viewer, a long-term viewer, and I'm getting an hour back each day! I feel so blessed! I should have stopped watching when Chandler Massey left. I haven't enjoyed Days since he dropped off my screen!

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  8. Totally agree with alison on this one, this is just sooooo wrong

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  10. If Days is cancelled, this will be looked back on as the final big mistake that heralded the end and alienated fans. Like GL killing Tammy (then they made things even worse with the new production model a few months after), and AW killing off Frankie Frame. Glad Alison Sweeney spoke out.

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    1. I have that feeling too. When I heard the news, I thought of AW's Frankie. I also thought killing Tammy was a huge mistake when it happened, but GL was already damaged by the killing of Maureen Bauer. Most of the cancelled soaps were killed by bad choices. Look at the hoot Y&R has become under Prelps!

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    2. Ugh. Tammy was an annoying simp. The things that were wrong with GL were wrong well before she arrived and well after she departed.

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    3. My post said as much and more about GL's problems and going back aways (the 90s and Maureen Bauer as an example). Still, Tammy was very popular with some viewers. She was hardly the most annoying character: Think Marina! She was uber-annoying. GL was killed by the people working behind the scenes, IMO, the writer, producer, director, etc. GL wasn't esp compelling throughout the final years. Killing Tammy did give Jonathan a great performance, but it did zip for the ratings and may have harmed the show. Hard to tell because it was so lowly rated.Days better hope killing Will does something good for Days long-term. I wish the writers could come up with some besides sacrificing popular characters (not necess. actors) for ratings! C'mon there has to be a better way. It should be all about death, it should really be all about humanity. We connect to that, death is a disconnect. Literally.

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    4. Correction:It should NOT be all about death.

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  11. I was looking forward to what must feel like the fifth reboot in the last five years. But I already lost interest to be honest. This serial killer storyline could have been great. DAYS has done fantastic stories similar to the current one in the past. But the Necktie killer story has been not very surprising, feels written into a corner and has not much that viewers can look forward to. It's a storyline that will only be remembered by the fact that it killed a legacy character & that it might be the beginning of the end for DAYS.

    If you starting a reboot like this you either have THE master plan or you are just failing. Big time!
    Killing Will Horton is a big fail. You can't put it any other way. Guy Wilson might not have been popular in the role, but killing off a character that has been at the center of so many storylines, who is the first born child to longtime lead Sami Brady ... it's just a mistake.

    I'm grateful that Alison Sweeney spoke out here. She has always been a team player. For her to speak out pretty much shows how big of a deal this will be.
    Ali had this reunion clip with James Scott on HBO ... maybe this should be the end of DAYS for me.

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  12. I realize it is just a character but since Guy Wilson took over the role I haven't liked Will. He became selfish, a cheater and just plain unlikable. Could Chandler Massey play him this way? Probably, but I think the fans will forever blame the change in actors. Still, he could have gone away. No good reason to kill him off

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    1. But the character was wonderful when written well. Just needed a decent recast.

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  14. What couldn't he have been in an irreversible comma? Then Samantha could have taken him away and both been off camera and there would always be that posiblilty that he might come out of the coma. At this point if someone dies on a soap I really, really want them to stay dead.

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    1. I think you mean coma. Let's hope Days doesn't find itself in an irreversible "comma"!

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    2. An irreversible semi-colon would be even worse!

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  15. Someone important has to die or the serial killer will just be murdering fringe characters that were unpopular. I used to like Will, but the actor has ruined that for me. DAYS has more legacy characters than any of the soaps. Sami has plenty more kids to SORAS, and Joey will probably be the new young gay character on the show. And Paul is still around.

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  16. For how long? I'm expecting the writers to slowly write Paul out or have him realize he's not gay after all. Being Sami's eldest child, there was something special about Will Horton (not the actor, necessarily). Personally I don't think a snowball's that Joey will be gay or any of the newbie teen set. I'll be proven wrong gladly. I just have a feeling, and I'm only wrong on Tuesday! What's today?! Just kidding, sort of, but I do have a sinking feeling about the longevity of Days and that scares me. I've only had these feeling a few times before: GL, ATWT, OLTV and AMC! I predicted Passions would be given a chance on another network, BTW!

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  19. These double posts are killing me and I'm only clicking once. If only Days could get viewers this easily!

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  20. Gabi is going to wake up on day and (a re-casted)Will is standing over her "Gabi...it was only a dream...the last year of Days was just a really bad dream". The "kids" which next month grow from 7 to 17, suddenly become their cute kids selves again Steffano is dead, not dead, dead and not dead again . Ej awakes to find he remembers everything (except his accent that the recast did not bring over) In lue of a gaycouple, JJ and Abby each have had sex change operations and look exactly like their other former selves
    ...

    Tune in soon for further developments

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  21. Gabi is going to wake up on day and (a re-casted)Will is standing over her "Gabi...it was only a dream...the last year of Days was just a really bad dream". The "kids" which next month grow from 7 to 17, suddenly become their cute kids selves again Steffano is dead, not dead, dead and not dead again . Ej awakes to find he remembers everything (except his accent that the recast did not bring over) In lue of a gaycouple, JJ and Abby each have had sex change operations and look exactly like their other former selves
    ...

    Tune in soon for further developments

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  22. Part the big SONY EMAIL LEAK several months ago concerned Days. According to the leaked emails (which were reported everywhere including (I believe, but may be wrong) We Love Soaps). Days will be cancelled in September of 2016 & they have already signed a syndication deal.

    Goodbye Days #HateWins

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