An evening with the cast of “Days of Our Lives”

Well, if you’ve been watching Days of Our Lives this week then you know it is a big week for our Will Horton and his coming out process.

He has finally come out to his to parents (those scenes are in a separate post) and the drama is rich and powerful.

Last week, I attended a special evening with some of the cast of Days of Our Lives at The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills hosted by Allison Sweeney who plays Will’s mom, Samantha (Sami). Among those on the panel were Will Horton himself, Chandler Massey, as well as Deidre Hall who plays his maternal grandmother Marlena, Bryan Dattilo who plays his father Lucas, Lauren Koslow who plays his maternal grandmother Kate and Galen Gering who plays his stepfather Rafe.

Other cast members present were Lisa Rinna (Billie), Arianne Zuker (Nicole), and Kristian Alfonso (Hope).

Kristian told me before the panel began how impressed she has been with Will’s story.

“I think it is being handled beautifully. It’s life. Why shouldn’t we have gay characters? I was really really thrilled that we opened up. They have done a beautiful job writing it, Chandler has done an amazing job – everyone involved in that storyline has really stepped up to the plate. I wish I had been involved in it!”

The evening wasn’t all about Will, of course, but there was plenty of discussion about the storyline and high praise for Massey who had received his second consecutive Emmy nomination earlier that day.

“When I got the job, I watched all the stuff I could find on Will,” Massey said during the panel discussion. “I was able to come in and play a character who had some rich family history and so many family ties. … It made it easier for me to find out who he is.”

His castmates were full of praise for the young actor’s performance. Sweeney said to her TV son during the panel: “You do an amazing job. … You read the scenes and you just bring them to life. The scenes just flow when I’m working with you and it really is a privilege.

Said Hall, who returned last year after two years off of the show: “I knew before I came back to the show that I would be close to Will. … I was so pleased that [his coming out] became a multi-generational experience.”

Hall praised the writers for telling the story with “incredible sensitivity.”

“A lot of what we do in daytime is teach,” she said. “The part that I add to our scenes is sort of a dialogue for people that are going through it who get to see that this is one way to handle it and it worked for us. It’s been so beautifully done.”

Massey remained humble throughout the evening: “When you have a story that you’re telling that is so amazing and you have the amazing cast that you work with, the credit doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to the writing and the talent and the relationships they’ve built with Will. My contribution is a small part of something that I think is really important.”

Look for my interview with Bryan Dattilo later today!