From that point on, the talk was 20% "Yay, Days won!"
And 80% "OMFG, Chandler's leaving! What's gonna happen to WilSon?"
Unfortunately, the Days PR had to deal with one of the most horrific things a soap has to go through: a member of the cast leaving, and taking their character with them.
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| Guy Wilson & Freddie Smith: new WilSon promotional photo shoot |
This, I believe, was a good decision. WilSon wasn't ready to die. And ratings would have gone down so much, it would have significantly hurt the show.
Then, however, the question became: how do we continue without Chandler?
Well, there are several ways to deal with an actor leaving: Recast, Character exit, Cure exit, Character death, Invisible person, and Fading into oblivion.
These are the main strategies soaps use to keep the story going when the show loses an actor.
RECAST
The one most commonly used in the middle of a storyline is the recast. Luckily, for WilSon fans, Guy Wilson is stepping in so that the storyline can continue. I further go into Days recast in Too Faces, One Soul.
Instead of having the character leave with the actor, a recast with another similar-looking actor ensures that no gaps occur.
CHARACTER EXIT
Perhaps the most common strategy is to just have the character leave Salem. When a character decides it is the time to move or relocate to Chicago, London, or elsewhere, usually it is because their actor counterpart is leaving the show.
Carrie and Austin retreat to Switzerland whenever they leave. Billie went to London to work at a Titan branch. Steve/Patch and Kayla went to Africa. Lucas went to work in Japan. Max and Chelsea went to London. Philip went to Chicago. Chloe followed him to Chicago. Melanie went to Europe to see her mom. And most recently, Cameron joined Doctors Without Borders.
CURE EXIT
Often times, a character's storyline begins to culminate when their deadline is approaching. This could result in some kind of injury that demands the character's relocation--and thus an exit from Salem.
John Black left with Marlena for Switzerland to cure his paralysis, when the actors, Drake Hogestyn and Deidre Hall, were too expensive to keep in the cast. Carly Manning, who was suffering from a severe drug addiction, went away on a retreat cruise. And most recently, Chad DiMera left for Boston to have heart surgery and is staying there for unknown and unexplored reasons.
CHARACTER DEATH
The cleanest and yet most tragic way to deal with a character upon an actor's departure is to simply kill them off. On the hit NBC TV show, "F.R.I.E.N.D.S." Joey's character on Days of Our Lives got thrown down an elevator shaft when he badmouthed the writers. Beware the DAYS writers!
Anyway, some notable deaths were Tony DiMera who fell off the pier stairs and got impaled by a sharp pole in 2009. During the DAYSaster (thanks, Gabi) Jack and Madison both lost their lives and their stories took a drastic turn. Sadly, Lexi Carver died of a brain tumor when Renee Jones left.
Of course, the most recent example is our friend Nick Fallon. When Blake Berris left, Gabi decided to finally stand up to him and hit him in the head with a rock. Now his death will serve as a major plot point for these three murderesses. However, Nick Fallon has recently been written back on the show as alive, so the writers are using the tactic of "supposed murder" to generate some drama and then bring the character back to life.
Even if a character is "killed" in a soap, he or she can always come back. During the dry period of 2002-2004, the producers and writers created the Salem Stalker to kill off half the inhabitants of Salem, only to have them come back, alive living on Melaswen (new salem, backwards).
Marlena, Alice, Jack, Roman, and Abe were among these victims. John Black has been killed off a few times and has always come back(with or without his memory). And don't get me started on Stefano DiMera...the phoenix will always rise again.
INVISIBLE PERSON
A less common strategy is to simply have the character's storyline continue but off screen. Like Greek plays, the character stays in the story but he is never shown on screen. The best example of this is what's going on with Bo.
Bo can't die and he can't leave Salem because his character is too important and he is half of Bope. DAYS writers can't destroy the character and they can't break up a supercouple. So, the only solution is to have an invisible person. Hope often mentions Bo, and that he's on some sort of secret mission. Victor and other characters ask about him, but we never get a solid answer. He's still involved in the story because of Hope and Ciara, but he's not there physically because Peter Reckell left the cast.
FADE INTO OBLIVION
Sometimes a character is small enough that the writers don't have to make a big fuss over the end of that character. If a storyline comes to a natural conclusion and there's not a lot of drama surrounding that person, then the writers just have to stop writing for that character and he/she will soon be forgotten.
The best example is Stephanie Johnson. When Nathan left her and her conflict with Melanie ended, Shelly Henning left the cast. But Stephanie didn't have a dramatic exit storyline. She just stopped showing up on screen. No one bothered because nobody's storyline intersected with her. Her character was just able to fade into oblivion.
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When Chandler Massey announced his departure in early summer, all of these possibilities were floating around. There are so many ways the writer's could handle this. Will could go away with Gabi (when Camilla left). Will could have died, or been sent to prison. Will could have been an invisible person with Sonny as the central story character. OR Will could be recast.
Clearly, DAYS made the right decision. This storyline isn't over yet. Will doesn't have to leave even though Chandler does. WilSon must live on!
Unfortunately, we'll have to say goodbye to Chandler. But Will...we don't wanna say goodbye to him just yet.
*The section of this post that has been updated on 1/27/14 is underlined.
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