There are plenty of marital breakups on soaps, but Days of our Lives is charting new waters with Craig and Nancy’s latest conflict — the good doctor is not involved with another woman but rather another man. Kevin Spirtas, who plays Craig Wesley, talked to Soap Hub about his new storyline.
Kevin Spirtas on Craig Coming Out
In 2018, Kevin Spirtas and late former DAYS writer Michael Slade produced the digital drama After Forever, which told the tale of a gay man, played by Spirtas, attempting to move forward with his life after the death of his lover, played by Party of Five’s Mitchell Anderson. “I ran into Ron [Carlivati, DAYS head writer] at the 2019 Daytime Emmys,” Spirtas recalls. “He came up to me and said, ‘Congratulations. You should be very proud of yourself. I’m a big fan of the show.’ A little voice said to me, ‘I wonder if Craig will come back [to DAYS] someday as gay?'”
Fast-forward to late last summer when DAYS casting director Marnie Saitta reached out to Spirtas to check his availability to return to Salem. “Marnie said to me, ‘It’s [for] a really great storyline,'” Spirtas says. “I burst out, ‘Is Craig going to come out?’ She laughed and said, ‘How did you know?'”
An Impactful Storyline
Coming out as gay after living life as a heterosexual married father may be new to DAYS, but Spirtas says he’s familiar with the dynamic in real-life. “I do know people who have experienced this scenario,” he says. “I know someone in my family who has experienced this. There’s truth to it.”
When the characters of Craig and his wife Nancy Wesley (Patrika Darbo) first arrived in Salem back in the late 1990s, their plan was for him to become Salem University Hospital’s Chief of Staff. How does Spirtas keep a throughline with his character from his early days on the show to now? “In the world of soap operas, because it’s always new, the page comes to you, and you say, ‘Oh, I didn’t know that was happening,'” Spirtas says. “[But] there has to be some recognition, some acknowledgment of the way someone’s behaving. [The writers] kind of handle that in the story that’s coming up now. Craig even says, ‘I was a different man back then.'”
Kevin Spirtas On Craig Loving Nancy
While it’s always great to see the Wesleys back on the screen, DAYS fans lament that Craig and Nancy’s marriage won’t ever be the same and that he hasn’t been completely honest with her. “The way they wrote this is that [Craig realizing he’s gay] is not a surprise to Craig, but it is a surprise to Craig,” Spirtas says. “Craig doesn’t not love Nancy. He never meant to go out and maliciously hurt her.”
Kevin Spirtas fully understands the passion fans have for Craig and Nancy. While they were, at times, diabolical as they tried to bring down Dr. Mike Horton, it was clear there was a strong bond between them. “They were in high school together,” Spirtas says. “They set out to conquer life together. That’s why they had so much fun. They loved each other, appreciated each other. I [do] think a lot of people are actually going to be disturbed about Craig and Nancy being pulled apart.”
Days of our Lives (DOOL) airs weekdays on NBC. Check your local listings for airtimes. For more about what’s coming up in Salem, check out all the latest that’s been posted on DAYS spoilers, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.
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