Long running daytime soap opera Days of Lives is dropping it’s prominent gay couple from the show with the actor’s contracts not being renewed.
Actors Freddie Smith and Chandler Massey thanked fans for their years of support and they revealed they’d been let go by producers.
“Chandler and I were released from our contracts, so we will not be filming any more episodes after this week,” Smith said on his YouTube channel.
“I’m making this video about seven or eight days after we found out,” Smith explained. “So I’ve had time to process … We went through an emotional roller-coaster over the past eight days of really taking everything into consideration.
“It was not our choice. Chandler and I were looking forward to staying on and signing a contract and keeping the storyline going.” Smith told his fans.
On Twitter actor Chris Massey said he wished it wasn’t coming to an end.
“Wish it weren’t coming to an end, but I will be forever grateful to everyone who went on this journey with us.” he tweeted.
Massey began playing the character of teenager Will Horton in 2010. He was the sixth actor to play the character, the show often replaces the actor playing a certain character.
He portrayed Will’s coming out experiences and finding love with Sonny Kiriakis played by Smith, who was the show’s first significant gay character.
In 2014 actor Guy Wilson replaced Massey in the role, and the on-screen couple featured in the show’s first same-sex wedding. The character of Will Horton was murdered in 2015, and fans saw him strangled to death and his body lying in a morgue.
But anything’s possible in the world of Days of Our Lives, and in 2017 the character was brought back to life through an elaborate plot line, and Massey returned to the role.
Days of Our Lives has now been running for 55 years, making it the longest running scripted television show in the world. Late last year it was announced that the show would be going on a hiatus, and all actors were released from their contracts.
While production quickly started again, many of the actors contracts have not been renewed. The show films in episodes six months in advance, so Will and Sonny will still be on screens for a while.
OIP Staff
