How to Become a Main Character

Toss your tasseled cap in the air, Sonny. You have officially graduated! Now you are a mainstream character.

This week, Sonny has gone beyond the confines of his storyline. Now that he has immersed himself in a storyline that has nothing to do with him, he can officially be called a series regular.

For the most part we have only seen Jackson Kiriakis within the walls of "Common Grounds" which is the name of his coffee shop that everyone has seemed to have forgotten. Sonny's screen-time has been dictated by what is he is doing in the "Will-gay" storyline.

Granted he talks to many character within this storyline (Will, Sami, Lucas, Kate, Gabi, Nick, EJ, Brian, Chad, Justin, Adrianne). But every time we see him, we see that his scenes at their core are dedicated to "Will's storyline."

HOWEVER, on Tuesday, March 26, 2013, Sonny Kiriakis stepped into the RATE storyline.

Rafe and Kate's relationship is a completely separate story. Now that Sonny knows their secret, he shall become the third character associated with the storyline. He is now THAT CHARACTER who finds out the secret, who is debating whether or not to tell, who will be persuaded to keep it quiet, and who will eventually be the one to unveil that secret.

Congratulations!

Because he is now a part of a storyline apart from the one he was originally brought on the show to do, he can now be recognized as part of the main cast. His character is being used for stuff outside his own story. This is a sign of a versatile character; one who will stay on for a while. He's versatile!

Sonny has surpassed other characters who were brought on to play their part in a specific story, but once their story was over, they had no use and their time on Days came to an end...
Some recent examples are: Prison Warden, Dr. Ben Walters, Madison James, Ian McAllister, Taylor Walker, Andrew...

Sonny has proven to be a sustainable character. He has earned his place in Salem. Being a Kiriakis, owning Common Grounds (again, "the coffee shop"), being the first gay character, being Will's boyfriend, and just being awesome!

Props to Freddie Smith! (who turned 25 this month)

Other characters before Sonny have done the same. They have come on the show intended for one specific storyline, but then graduated to others because they were so adaptable.

Probably the biggest success story is Rafe. Raphael Hernandez came on Days as Sami's flirty safe house guard. After the "Sydnapping" storyline ended and Sami returned, he could have disappeared. BUT the writers brought him back, gave him a job at the Salem PD, and put him together in a volatile relationship with Sami.

Rafe has gone beyond his original placement. He has been cloned. He has been with Carrie. He has been on John Black's detective team. He has been wrapped in EJole drama. Rafe was even the cause of three other characters on the show: Ariana, Gabi, and Dario.

Like Sonny, Rafe graduated into the main cast and is now one of the major hunks in Salem.

Another character who stayed on was Melanie Layton. She stayed on so long, her name changed three times!

She was originally brought on to the show as Max's half sister, Melanie Robbins- but her name was found to be Layton. After Max rescued his half-sister from Trent and her questionable lifestyle in Europe, she still had some reforming to do. Her scenes involved Max, Stephanie, Chelsea, Trent, and Maggie. Her story climaxed with Trent's murder and Nick's kidnapping.

After that, Max was to move to London. Melanie could have gone with him, but she stayed for one reason. As Max said, "Can you spell Kiriakis?"

Her following storylines gave her the names "Melanie Kiriakis" and "Melanie Jonas." Just before she left, she could have been "Melanie DiMera."

Smaller characters who did this would be people like Mia. She came to Days to give Nicole a baby, but stayed after that mess was over to move in with Maggie, have a relationship with Will, and to bring in Chad.

Cameron is a very recent one who came for Lexi's death, but stayed for Abigail...and to be a doctor (with a secret, now).

Yes, this seems to be the tradition in Salem. This is the test. The character is either good or bad, adaptable or non adaptable.

Luckily for Sonny, he's the kind of character who can be involved in other people's lives. He's not just the gay character. He's not just Will's devoted boyfriend. Now...he's the guy who knows about RATE.

ConGRADulations Sonny! I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of you.