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Will Horton has been killed off “Days of Our Lives” in most disrespectful way

The guy had survived a gunshot wound and went on a painful journey to come to turns with being gay. He found love, accidentally fathered a baby, married his true love and launched into a career as a writer.

Now Will Horton is dead.

I’m disgusted that such an important character would be killed off in such a dark and quick way after the journey viewers had been on with him the past five years or so.

unforgivable really.

Will Horton is a legacy character whose parents, grandparents and great-grandparents are part of the show’s fabric.

Below are some Will Horton moments with both Guy Wilson and Chandler Massey in the role:




FILE UNDER: Days of Our Lives

Comments

(All comments are reviewed before being published, and I review submissions several times per day.)

17 Remarks

  1. Chandler has been very quiet about Will’s kill-off but Guy has addressed it in an interview being very ‘respectful’ of Days’ decision (i assume as to not making waves. :-( i hope that Chandler speaks out.

    Allison Sweeney (Sami, Will’s mother) made it known that she’s not happy at all & thinks it a big mistake but saying it was not her decision and she is still coming back for the 50th.

    that leaves on GH with a gay couple and they are very seldom seen and it was recently revealed that on of them is married to a woman as he accepted Lucas’ proposal!!!

  2. I did not care for Guy’s version of Will, but it is saddening that now a better actor can never take over the role.

  3. Will & Sonny’s wedding was my favorite moment in Days history and I’ve been watching for 20 years. Now, I feel used & lied to. Will & Sonny were granted no wedding flashbacks, no final love scene, no reconciliation. Will died alone, not knowing Sonny loved him. When has that ever happened to a straight super couple? It was done because the new writers have banned gay romance & sexuality from the show.

    Also, according to Alison Sweeney, the new writers felt the audience would never accept a Will redemption. The show has redeemed rapists, murderers, traitors and baby snatchers and nearly every character has cheated. But a young gay father cannot be forgiven for a few months of self-destructive shenanigans in which no crimes were committed and no one died? His daughter will now be raised by her straight mother, who has killed directly once and indirectly was responsible for Jack & Madison dying? The message is clear: gays cannot be forgiven but now Days’s social media is plastered with pictures of Gabi and Arianna.

    Guy Wilson gave an outstanding performance today – and especially in the last few weeks as Will grieved his marriage – which we didn’t see enough of.

    Days has had one gay couple in its 50 years, and they were given a hateful, tragic ending not to appeal to fans – and sad endings can – but to appease conservative viewers they were trying to lure back for the anniversary.

    I’m appalled, and I will not be watching Days of Our Lives anymore. I do hope Christopher Sean, Freddie Smith and Guy Wilson all go on to have fabulous careers.

  4. I think it was outrageous for them to kill off Will/Guy what did it accomplish. So the homophobic conservative viewers get what they want and I’m glad Guy got out in time I’m so mad at NBC right now that I won’t be watching any of their shows. They could have let Will redeem himself and he and Paul would get together. We were hooting for Horita.

    The new writers were crap and show will get cancelled because the old people they want to come back will not be enough to keep it on air. I’m hooting for it to be cancelled.

    Guy Wilson did a great job as Will Horton.

  5. It’s too bad that some of the people who realize Will Being killed off was wrong, still bring up criticism of the actor. It’s true that actors for the role ‘changed’ very quickly during an arc for the character and viewers were deeply invested. But that constant criticism and hate is very important for all of us to take into consideration here. It had an impact. It still does. And it isn’t right! The continuous battery of insults about such are a cause to negative effects. It sets the precedence that If actors are willing to take gay roles, then they are subjecting themselves to, not only the hate and attacks from the homophobic audience, but also the vicious attacks from some of those that want the representation the most. So imagine why any actor in the future would be excited to be cast as a gay man when they have seen how harshly they will be judged and how persistently they will be horribly criticized. Some people who want representation and gay love stories the most were the most rude and relentless. Even now there will be numerous comments that have to add the criticism of an actor. Guy Wilson has taken that constant assault that has been personal and public and relentless and he had stayed positive and respectful for years now. He’s done a lot of great work, too, I spite of it all. But he way, he doesn’t write the show nor suggest Will’s actions.

    People wanted a recast rather than a dead Will. Really? Ask yourself who should sign up for that hate? Point is that l that anger and hate just moves us all backwards in representation rather than forwards. That the tragedy of it all.

    Murdering Will so violently was disgusting and inexcusable. It was done to appease hate most likely. One excuse given was that Will was “unredeemable.” That’s is so ridiculous! The amount of scheming Will did was so minor in comparison with majority of characters on the show. His cheating did not even come close to the average cheating. He didn’t even commit murder as many on the show have. He’s no where near the immoral character that he’s been described to be. Why was he judged more harshly than the rest of the characters around him? Because he’s gay. Penalty of brutal death needed. Another big excuse given was that Will was “written into a corner.” That is the most insane thing ever said. What? It’s a soap. Murderers become Heroes. (Or get released from prison to be a worthy straight parent/ mom.). Writers create stories to redeem characters everyday. Writers can make anything happen. There is no such thing as written into a corner on a soap. Think of Stephano, Victor …

    But DOOL chose to show that a young man who painfully came to accept his sexuality and publicly was true to that ended up punished in the most brutal and hurtful way. He was punished. Homophobic audience feels justified that the lesson was taught. (Hopefully, it wasn’t the entire intention of the story. To prove to young people they’d regret living their truth.).

    I won’t watch without Will.

  6. On certain soap sites, it became fashionable to hate on Will and there is the pervasive notion that he became “despicable” in the last part of TomSell’s writing. During the same period Justin carried on an ongoing affair and wasn’t sorry and tried to break up his son’s marriage, Kate brought Jordan’s abuser and rapist to town plus had sex with Rafe to break up Rafe and Jordan and wasn’t sorry, JJ dealt drugs, Theresa tried to kill John and Victor continued to be an unrepentant criminal and tried to have Clyde killed and then withheld evidence of Sonny’s stabbing. Will had a one night stand he regretted and engaged in some shenanigans to try and cover it up and get rid of the man chasing his husband (also his ONS cause soap opera) and also made excuses for himself. Relatively, he was far from despicable.

    There’s a reason Will was perceived to be unredeemable. He is gay. He was held to an absurd double standard.

    Yet, now huge numbers of fans realize their mistake and are horrified. This was a terrible way to end a beautiful love story and the life of a character that meant a lot to many.

    Guy Wilson and Chandler Massey will both go on to much better things.

  7. I am completely appalled by this. Will is the legaciest of legacy characters, related to two core families. Here is a young gay man whose coming out story was trumpeted by the show and often by its leading lady, who plays the grandmother who lovingly supported him, as a teachable moment for its viewers and a positive story and role model for young people struggling as Will was. And what kind of teachable moment is this? That once you come out you will never be forgiven for acting exactly as your peers (at least in a soap) do, that you will be held to a higher standard, and that if you don’t meet that standard, you deserve to be brutally killed off. Disgusting. I am finished with Days.

  8. I’m truly disgusted with the new writers of DOOL.Seems like it’s done what every other soap has done to gay characters.They can’t wait to accept the accolades and awards from the LGBT community when they have a character come out.But,suddenly after that the gay character all but disappear.They did this on As The World Turns with Luke Snyder.Luke who we saw come out and fall in love with Noah Mayer so beautifully was left standing alone at the soaps end.Oh,he had the memory of a young doctor that he fell in love with and was killed and Noah and he broke up so he also those memories could keep him warm.I’ll never forget watching the straight couples dancing and enjoying their relationships while poor Noah tearfully put on a brave face.Also,One Life To Live hurried after a great beginning with Kyle and Oliver,but gave them the bum rush to get off screen.They were still there with a mention by a few characters but remained invisible.Now,we have the gruesome and needless killing of Will Horton.I’ve heard this was done because the new regime wants to go back to core values of the show.In other words,they’re a bunch of homophobic,narrow minded bigots who just want to focus on straight couples.Sonny will come back and grieve for his husband,and then go back to France,never to be seen again.The one other gay character,Paul will probably fade in the woodwork.Unless,he finds a nice girl and live the core values of Salem.

  9. I think it was outrageous for them to kill off Will/Guy what did it accomplish. So the homophobic conservative viewers get what they want and I’m glad Guy got out in time I’m so mad at NBC right now that I won’t be watching any of their shows. They could have let Will redeem himself and he and Paul would get together. We were rooting for Horita.

    The new writers were crap and show will get cancelled because the old people they want to come back will not be enough to keep it on air. I’m rooting for it to be cancelled.

    Guy Wilson did a great job as Will Horton.

  10. All I can say is that this is totally effed up.

  11. I’ve never watched, so I’ll just say I’m sorry for the loss for those of you who do watch. *hugs*

  12. Killing Will Horton was wrong on so many levels. What did he do that was so terrible to be considered irredeemable? He had a ONS with someone in LA and another ONS with the subject of an article he was writing (Paul Narita). Of course he regretted the cheating on his husband once Sonny was made aware of what happened, and he and Sonny were working through that. He then tried to arrange for Paul and another gay character, Derek, to go on a date together. How is that a crime? How is trying to help someone get a date an unrepentant act? I just do not see what Will did that made these writers feel the audience would be unable to “forgive” Will. Now they decided to have the character killed in a horrible gruesome way, leaving his daughter without a father, and Sonny a widower. If they wanted to get rid of the character, there were other more acceptable ways to go about it rather than resort to murder or death. They could have had Will be sent out of town on assignment, and the plane he was on crash “with no known survivors” – and after six months or so bring Will back to Salem with amnesia. Or have him be a victim of a terrorist attack in a foreign country and it is unknown whether he survived or not – and later he returns to Salem and reunited with his daughter and family – or not. Either way he did not have to die. I am a Guy WilSon fan and I wish him much success in his future career. This show was only a stepping stone in his professional career and he will continue to be successful in whatever he does because he is motivated and has other projects on the horizon. DOOL and these writers have no vision as to what makes a great story. All they know how to do is recycle old plots and stories from years past. They have no original creative ideas.

  13. I agree with the people who took the time to express there opinions about this, Days of our lives, has been around going back to 1965,I had never been a fan of this soap, but you would have think the writers of this soap could have done much better than this, It is very sad that this end this way, I am sure that both Guy Wilson and Chandler Massey will have no problem finding other work. Good luck to both gentleman

  14. It has been reported on often that soaps are dying. Well after this cold blooded,despicable,needless cruel way of killing of Will this soap needs to die as quickly as possible too. Either the Day’s writers thought this would bring their one foot on the grave and the other foot on a banana peel audience back or a ‘safe’ way for bigots and homophobe’s to cheer a gay man being brutality killed with out doing the deed themselves. Sure soap characters get killed of all the time but this was ‘overkill’ to appease a certain hateful,bigoted audience. As One Life to Live,All My Children,Guiding Light,Another World and As the World Turns proved that in order to stay on the air there has to be no dip in audience ratings or they’re history. So if all the viewers who have vowed never to watch again along with a natural dip in their ratings comes to past,well good riddance to bad rubbish. And good luck to the powers that be and the writers on this show going to another soap since there will only be 3 left on the air. Here’s hoping they enjoy their long,long,long unemployment life.

  15. It seems like it was done to appease the homophobic sector that is so out spoken against the gay interactions being represented on TV. Guy was told of the decision in March which was soon after the steamy scenes Will and Paul shared. Speculation is new writers came in at the same time many protestors were livid about the scenes. Immediately, No new scenes were written with any gay touching or even any scenes of the married gay couple to both express love. The exit of Sonny was written as cold. A quick hug. No words of love or returning. Al filmed and written once new writers took over and right after gay love scenes aired.

    But, if the gay community and the media who focus on such don’t see it as homophobic erasure and punishment then maybe it’s not. It just seems that way to me.

  16. Killing Will off was the last straw. I’m done with this show after 30 years. Cancelled my DVR series recording. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that when the new writers took over the gay characters (Paul is hardly on at all anymore) disappeared. A conservative soap? Good luck with that.

  17. If people don’t see a Kill he Gays Story to happen during LGBT History month and the murder of Matthew sheperd, you are in denial. Of course they planned it. The airdate is on scripts and call sheets. I met Guy a month after the wedding and I became an instant fan of the actor and his lovescenes with Freddie seemed more genune than what CM and FS had.

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