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Days Of Our Lives

Does DAYS Will and Sonny's Youth, Locale & Domestic Stability Make Them The Most Important Couple On Soaps?

By Michael Fairman

Published

12 years ago

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Courtesy/NBC

Courtesy/NBC

Days of our Lives Will (Guy Wilson) and Sonny (Freddie Smith) are now young-marrieds, seemingly financially sound, living in small town USA ( not a gay mecca such as Manhattan or Los Angeles, or San Francisco) with a solid sex life, and they basically are raising together Will’s bio-daughter Arianna.

Sans the latest storyline where Nick Fallon (Blake Berris) has just been murdered and the two young men being murder suspects , in a new Op-Ed column for Advocate.com, writer Jeremy Helligar explores why WilSon just might be the most important couple in soaps right now!

Helligar writes after comparing WilSon to other couples on DAYS:  “If you’re asking the obvious question facing any solid couple – How do they do it? – consider another: How did a show with such strong religious and moral overtones, one with a priest as a romantic lead, one in which a main character was once possessed by Satan himself, one with a leading lady (Melissa Reeves, who plays Will’s aunt Jennifer Devereaux) who faced major backlash two years ago for supporting Chick-fil-A on Twitter, become arguably TV’s greatest champion of gay romance?  …. What elevates Will and Sonny to groundbreaking status is their youth, their location (Smalltown, U.S.A., far from the coastal gay meccas of New York, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco), and that their domestic stability (and sex life!) is so front-and-center on Days, which devoted three episodes in April to a gay wedding.”

Later in the piece Helligar illustrates WilSon and the current primetime dramas that have gay characters:  “Young gays in modern dramas, though less overtly stereotypical than the ones in sitcoms (even Lafayette on True Blood has a significant masculine streak), tend to be more romantically challenged and often even more screwed up than the straight people around them. Over on Revenge, in the space of a half-season, we saw Patrick Osbourne, Virginia Grayson’s gay, long-lost son, murder two men, including his biological father. He and Mickey Milkovich on Shameless would make an excellent match if Patrick were to return from his apprenticeship in Italy and move to Chicago.

Two states down, on Nashville, gay country singer Will Lexington, whose shame over his sexuality made him suicidal, has married his beard, a fellow rising country star that he can’t get it up for in bed. Then there are the guys on Looking: They cruise in the park, cavort with gigolos, have threesomes and cheat on their boyfriends.  They make Will and Sonny, who still only have eyes for each other, look like choir boys, the monogamous romantic equivalent, some might say, of “passing for straight.” Perhaps they’d take it further and criticize their union for being too closely modeled on traditional straight relationships. That’s an argument for another op-ed, but it doesn’t make “WilSon” any less of a valid representation of another gay reality, one that might be more inviting to young people who are struggling with coming out than anything we’ve seen on Looking.”

So, do you think Will and Sonny are illustrating that they are the most stable couple in soapdom? Would you like to see them knocked down a peg and not be so saintly?  Even if one of the guys did murder Nick Fallon would it really tarnish their good guy images?  Weigh-in below!

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Gay or straight…sooner or later they will break up…without some angst in their life they will stagnate and become boring unless you can write them and make like Tom and Alice, Chris and Nancy or Mike and Nancy who did have some minor marriage difficulties but their marriages last many many years and never bored me…can Will and Sonny last as long…maybe but i doubt it…mho!!!

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The three i mention just happen to be my favorite long lasting couples: Days Mickey and Maggie are my favorite Days couple together as well even if they did remarry(didnt Tom and Alice remarry)…Doug and Julie were daytimes best supercouple(even if they remarried as well)…imb!!!(in my book)…Sonny and Will would have to last just as long but they are very interesting…why cant other couples on all the soaps be written that way…?

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I’m happy that the show has made Will and Sonny a stable couple.However eventually they will have to give Will and Sonny some problems to deal with as a couple and individuals.I’m not saying to break Will and Sonny up anytime soon but they need to be treated like any other couple.Plus the show could give them some real life issues to deal with.For example Will and Sonny could try to get a bigger place to live and run into bigotry.Plus with Gabi going Will and Sonny could run into problems raising Arianna Grace on their own.

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I think they are a great couple and I root for them but I dont think they are the most important couple on daytime . Days is in solid standing on nbc and signed thru the very least for the next 3 years . ABC is the scary villain in the room that would love to drop the dominoes for soap operas. I think the most important couple on daytime is the soon to be epic love story of Carlos and Sabrina . It has so many twists and turns and finally put a latino couple front and center

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I think the best thing that DAYS can do for gays and straights everywhere is to give Will and Sonny messed up lives like anybody else! Don’t treat them differently because they’re gay. Treat them like all soap couples. DON’T PLAY BY THE RULES OF LGBT! Play by soap rules! DAYS is a soap opera, not a soapbox!!!

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You said it best, LOL..I agree with you 100%..If Will and Sonny stay together it will spell BORINGVILLE..All couples need challenges and slings/arrows thrown their ways to make them exciting.

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I love will and sonny whatever they choose to do days is just a joy to watch for this story and for all the stories I just love days!!!!!!!!!

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Will has sworn to never be like his mom, and if he stays the course that means Sonny is the one who will stray. I hope they do it with taste. 😉

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I love Sonny and Will. This has been one of the best and most important storylines that Days has ever done. I was so glad and thrilled that they did a gay storyline. With that said, I want Sonny and Will to stay together but to keep drama going they will have to face challenges that couples face on soaps, but I want them to keep working it out as a couple .

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There is absolutely nothing realistic about Will and Sonny. They are not indicative or representative of the gay community in any way. They are written as a straight couple. When people talk about “gay stereotypes” there is really no such thing. It is not wrong or a lie to depict a flamboyant effininate gay person on television because there are a lot of them out there. I know many gay people and none of them act like Will and Sonny. It is very hard to do an apt portrayal of the gay lifestyle on daytime t.v. though. It’s a little easier on cable. But it’s a soap opera and we don’t watch for reality. We watch for fantasy and escapism. Will and Sonny are the fairy tale romance that the gay community wants to see and to that end they succeed in what they are doing. If it helps DAYS ratings I say keep the fairy tale going strong!! Even though I fast forward through all of the Wilson scenes, I feel that Days is the one show that keeps romance alive with their other couples like Eric/Nicole, JJ/Paige, Jennifer/Daniel, even Sami and EJ if you can call that a romance. I wish the other soaps would remember that romance is what soaps were about when they were HUGE in the ratings. They weren’t about nearly incestuous intermingling like Bold and Beautiful. They weren’t about violence and villains running rampant like General Hospital.

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Have to agree with Johnny on this one – they are not depicted in a realistic
manner. I take into account that it’s a soap, but they are at times a little sickeningly sweet. I realize that it’s important to show them in a positive light
and that they are role models in a way, but the writers, if they want to add some degree of realism, need to show one of them maybe catching the eye of a mysterious stranger in town or doing something not so Saintly. The fact that practically “the whole town” was in favor of their marriage is also, unfortunately, not terribly representative of Society’s overview in general, albeit it would be nice if that were true.

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I completely agree.Maybe the show could introduce one of Sonny’s exes.I’m not saying to break up Will and Sonny but maybe through his ex we learn something about Sonny’s past that we didn’t know before and it doesn’t put Sonny in the best light either.Will has done things in his past he regrets.So the same could be said about Sonny.I also have no issue with the show keeping Will and Sonny a happy couple but they still have to give them problems and let them deal with them together.

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So Noah and Luke weren’t young?

Kyle and Fish didn’t live in Smalltown, USA?

Bianca didn’t get married (even if that storyline was horribly handled)?

The fact that none of the other daytime soaps that paved the way for all the “groundbreaking” Days is apparently doing were mentioned is a bit ridiculous.

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Agreed. It’s like calling Lucas-Brad-Felix the first gay triangle on soaps. Um, no. Kyle-Fish-Nick on OLTL. I guess soap fans have short memories.

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I couldn’t agree more with this article. Although I do agree that Will and Sonny are not an accurate representation of the majority of gay couple’s or gay people in general’s lifestyle, their situation is one to aspire to. I’m 31 and have been with my same sex male partner for 10 years, we are now married and live a perfectly ‘normal’ life, we have straight friends and gay friends and most of our gay friends live quite different lifestyles to ours but my husband and I chose to live the way we live, I suppose you might call it ‘traditional’ married life and Wilson show others that they can too, not that I criticise the way others live their lives, each to their own, but it does annoy me that some people think that monogamy doesn’t exist in the gay world.

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I find this daytime couple to be nauseating. I have not grown to like nu-Will. I’m not sure why, I just don’t care for the recast. I fast forward through most of their scenes. I feel the same way about Brady and Theresa. I can’t stand Theresa; and it’s not that I love to hate her; I just hate the character. No redeeming qualities whatsoever. Daniel and Jennifer are very boring. Daniel needs a really hot, sexy woman, not Jennifer. I really can’t wait to see Eileen Davidson as Kristen Dimera to return. I absolutely adore Kristen. I also love the character of Kate Roberts. The actress is incredibly beautiful and talented. I love her raw honesty.

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I agree regarding Theresa, the writers are making her too “one dimensional” and not allowing any layers to be hinted at. What made her this way? She admits to being a bitch but we don’t know why. A flashback of a tormented childhood might give us some insight on why she’s so determined to be rotten to the core. I do notice on the show (and soaps in general) that people are either complete Saints (Jennifer) or completely bitchy and manipulative (Theresa) and few characters are a little of both.

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As a gay man, I like the portrayal of WilSon as just a normal couple-not stereotypically flamboyant like so many other shows depict gay/bisexual men. Not that there is anything wrong with that, or that flamboyant gay/bi men don’t exist (they do), but I like also seeing manly gay/bi men, or just ‘normal’ gay/bi men, like me, who aren’t really overly flamboyant or overly masculine. I do like their marriage and them raising the child. However, the show does need to add some drama/spice into their relationship. As far as the positives go, they are being treated like any straight soap couple. The same needs to happen for the negatives. Not necessarily infidelity or anything that serious that splits them up, but some shocking secret about Sonny’s past being revealed, an interloper who wants to steal away Will (or Sonny) but has no reciprocated feelings, much like Chloe last year trying to get with Daniel. I know that next week, Will finds out Sonny knew about Gabi hiring Andrew, and that is sure to bring in some drama. Maybe have a relative of Sonny’s or Will’s disapprove of their sexual orientation.

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Well as we now know there is trouble in the relationship since Will’s article came out. The fact that Sonny was able to help Will get his foot in the door for becoming a published author didn’t sit we with Will. I just hope he remembers all Sonny did for him and in fact, it was Will’s writing that got him the job, Sonny just held open a door for Will to go through. I want this couple to last. yes they will have problems but they will need to work through them like any other couple. They are an amazing couple and so sweet to watch. Will is a bit young acting at times. He is tempermental but cools when shown that he wasn’t right in what he assumed. Sonny can’t and isn’t always right but that is what makes them both so lovable…imo. So I say “Keep going guys. Remember what brought you together and let’s keep it together!”

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Days Of Our Lives

‘Days of our Lives’ Rachel Boyd on the Return of Sophia Choi as She Makes Her Way To Salem: ‘I Wanted Her to Come Back Stronger Than Ever’

Published

4 days ago

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October 9, 2026

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Sophia Boyd

Next week on all-new episodes of Days of our Lives, the Peacock streaming soap opera will pick right back up from where Kristen DiMera (Stacy Haiduk) has tracked down a very much alive, Sophia Choi (Rachel Boyd) in a diner in Kentucky. But what will happen when Sophia returns to her old stomping grounds of Salem?

In official spoilers for the week of October 12-16, look for Kristen to make a deal with the woman she supposedly killed, and by week’s end for the once-conniving Sophia to make her way back to Salem. Meanwhile, in a new interview with TV Insider heralding her return, Rachel Boyd, who did a tremendous job with Sophia’s original exit story, explains how she thinks this version of Sophia will be different than the last.

The exit story had Sophia setting out to kill Johnny DiMera (Carson Boatman) by a demand made by Kristen DiMera. Sophia failed to end Johny’s life and Kristen lured Sophia to the bridge and clunked her over the head with a rock and pushed her over the rails to the steely waters below.

Rachel and Kristen

Photo: Corday Productions

Sophia’s body was never found, but she was declared dead. At the time, Boyd thought Sophia might be ‘dead-dead’ but in soap opera’s and especially Days of our Lives, nobody really ever truly dies!

WHAT’S DIFFERENT WITH SOPHIA CHOI COME FALL OF 2026?

Reflecting on her first run, which featured many an emotional scene, Rachel recalled: “As crazy as some storylines can be, working on a soap opera is truly a boot camp in acting because you’re given one take and you have to tackle really hard circumstances.”

Those dramatic circumstances included: “Giving birth in my bedroom alone, penning a suicide note, or even attempting to murder someone by blowing him up are all things a younger version of myself would be so intimidated by,” expressed Boyd. “But I learned that preparation is everything and as long as I do the hard work before I show up to set, then I am capable of it.”

Rachel ended her first run back in December of 2025, but due to DAYS tape schedule, the character of Sophia “died” five months ago on episodes on Peacock. Once she returned to the set for her second-go round, it was all systems go. “It was more like being thrown into the deep end, which honestly worked for me. I enjoy working under pressure and with momentum.”

The actress hopes viewers will see the internal change with the character as things move forward. “I knew I wanted her to feel distinctly different,” she explained. “I’ve always tried to keep the character constantly evolving and changing as she experiences new things and responds to trauma. But now that the audience hasn’t seen her for months, I had a great opportunity to fill in those blanks for myself and come back in a whole new way.”

DAYS fans should really began to notice the change on next week’s episodes. “I wanted her to come back stronger than ever,” admits Boyd. “Now that she’s survived a near-death experience and kept herself alive and hidden for six months, this version of Sophia is going to be much more independent and a fighter. I can’t say exactly what is going to happen, but as long as Sophia’s alive, chaos will follow!”

So, are you glad that Rachel Boyd is back as Days of our Lives Sophia Choi? What do you think she will do once she gets back to Salem? Turn a new leaf or be back to her scheming ways? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

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Breaking News

2026 Daytime Emmys Gold & Silver Circle Inductees: Francesca James, Patrika Darbo and Meredith Vieira Among Those Being Honored

Published

5 days ago

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October 8, 2026

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Daytime Emmy Gold & Silver Inductees

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) announced on Thursday, October 8, the 2026 Gold & Silver Circle Inductees who will be celebrated at the 53rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards on Friday, October 30.

This year’s honor roll features industry professionals that have made contributions across daytime television, including daytime dramas, talk shows, comedy, and more.

The Gold inductees include: Meredith Vieira (former c0-host of The View, journalist and EP and CEO, Meredith Vieira Productions),Patrika Darbo (ex-Nancy, Days of our Lives and Shirley, The Bold and the Beautiful, soon to be seen reprising her role of Shirley on Y&R), three-time Daytime Emmy winner, Francesca James (ex-Kitty/Kelly, All My Children, and ex-Marcy Wade, One Life to Live, plus director and/or producer at All My Children, General Hospital, Loving, Santa Barbara et al), and finally Byron Allen (Founder, Chairman & CEO Allen Media Group).

It should be noted that Vieira made guest appearances on both All My Children and General Hospital throughout her career. On GH, she played madam Bree Flanders in 2003 and 2012. She also appeared as a wedding planner on All My Children back in 2001.

Photo: NATAS

The Silver inductees are: Stephen Brown (VP Programming and Development, Fox Television Stations)  and Rubin Ervin (Announcer/Warm-Up Host for Family Feud, The Bachelor and more).The Gold and Silver Circle Society Inductees are deemed by NATAS as “exceptional professionals who have performed distinguished service within the television industry, setting standards for achievement, mentoring, leadership and professional accolades for 50 or 25 years, respectively. They represent the best and brightest in the industry.”

In a statement, Adam Sharp, President and CEO of NATAS shared, “This year’s Gold & Silver honorees are recognized for their continued exceptional contributions to our television industry. We are proud to honor a class of honorees from diverse career paths across many daytime genres. Their impact is evident in programming every day, inspiring generations and enriching the lives of countless viewers.”

MORE ON THE 53RD ANNUAL DAYTIME EMMYS

NATAS previously announced that soap opera icon Genie Francis (Laura, General Hospital) will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award during this year’s ceremonies.

The 2026 Daytime Emmys will be held at the historic Hollywood Palladium and will stream live on the NATAS YouTube channel at YouTube.com/@theemmys and watch.TheEmmys.tv.

The annual awards have recognized outstanding achievement in television programming and crafts since 1974, honoring work in a variety of genres, including daytime dramas, talk series, entertainment news, culinary, adventure, instructional and legal/courtroom programming.

The 53rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards will be a single ceremony in 2026, produced by NATAS Productions. Adam Sharp and Lara Gates are executive producers, with Leon Knoles returning to direct for a fifth straight year. Rachel Schwartz serves as Head of Daytime, and the firm of Lutz & Carr, LLP, provides accounting services for the competition.

So, what do you think of this year’s Gold & Silver Inductees? Happy to see some of the names that will be recognized on October 30? Who in the future who has had enduring contributions to daytime television or the soap opera genre, would you like to see receive these honors in years to come? Let us know via the comment section below.

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Days Of Our Lives

‘Days of our Lives’ Star Alison Sweeney in ‘Sami Brady’s Confessions from Italy’

Published

5 days ago

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October 7, 2026

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This week on Days of our Lives, Dante Vitali (Franco LoPresti) surprises Sydney DiMera (Sydney Malakeh) when he arrives in Salem, while the woman he loves Sami Brady is over in Italy, Viewers are becoming quite suspicious of Dante, who seemed to be in collusion with Dominic Marino, leading us to try to surmise just what are Dante’s true intentions to coming to Salem? To meet Sami’s family, or so he says?

Meanwhile, Sami Brady has spoken! In a new video that dropped on Wednesday October 7 on the official Days of our Lives Instagram account, Alison Sweeney appears for what is being called as Sami Brady’s Confessions from Italy or Salem Confessionals!

In character, Sweeney talks to camera explaining Sami’s perspective on her engagement to Dante, and how she feels about him coming to Salem without her to meet the Brady clan. Sami says, “This is such a crazy time. I’m engaged, but I’m not ready to be older. It’s just been my reputation in the past. I’ve always been in such a hurry to sort of like, get it done because it hasn’t always worked out. I’m engaged to a wonderful man named Dante. He’s Italian. He’s dreamy and fabulous.  I’m enjoying all of it, like the whole thing. Being engaged, being in love, dating, it’s a new thing for me.”

Dante and Sydney

Photo: Corday Productions

DANTE’S ARRIVAL IN SALEM

Sweeney as Sami continues to explain and rationalize, “Dante, hired my daughter, Sydney, to work for him, which has been amazing. She actually likes him. She’s approved of this relationship, which I’m very happy about.  But I will be honest, I’m a little nervous because my fiancé is going to meet my family in Salem without me. I think that’s a good idea.  I’m nervous because my family, you know, knows a lot about me. But, I have told Dante everything. I mean, okay, not like literally everything, but a lot of. No, not a lot. Some, you know, enough and he doesn’t want to know the rest.”

All in all, it seems like Sami thinks she has found happiness with the guy, but she made be in for rude awakening as she brings up her manipulative past with the loves of Sami’s life. “He’s (Dante) happy and he loves me and I’m not like that anymore, so it’s fine,” explains Sami. “But I’m just saying that things might come up, um, because my family doesn’t forget either.  I’m nervous for them to just like him. I’m nervous for them to be happy for me. I want them to be happy for me, and for us ,and for them to see that this is different for me. I understand why they don’t believe that. I understand why they would be, you know, suspicious of my intentions.”

Alison Sweeney

Photo: Days Peacock IG

IT’S LOVE FOR SAMI

Sami shares she has fallen hard for Dante! “All I can say is I’m in love. It’s amazing. I recommend it.  I really hope that Dante wins over my family, and they can all be happy for me. I do hope to get married sometime and celebrate that with my family. That’s what I want. That’s honestly actually what I’ve always wanted and now I think it’s really gonna happen.”

As previously reported, Alison Sweeney will be back on-screen come June of 2027 on the Peacock streaming soap opera, when Sami returns in story along with Christie Clark (Carrie Brady), Chandler Massey (Will Horton) and Bryan Dattilo (Lucas Horton).

So, what did you think of Sami’s confessions from Italy? Do you think Sami will be duped by Dante? Will their love conquer all, or is Dante even in love with Sami? Stay tuned.

 

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