Here comes some Days of Our Lives trouble? Well, maybe… Or maybe not.
Steve (Stephen Nichols) and Kayla (Mary Beth Evans) finally track down Steve’s son with the late Ava, as actor Lucas Adams debuts as Tripp on Days of Our Lives.
The Big Day
“I’m excited,” says Adams, who’s having a viewing party on the big day. “But I’m not the one that’s organizing that. My girlfriend [actress Shelby Ward] is. I have a core friend group. There’s like ten of us. We all met on a Disney show (Liv and Maddie) a couple of years ago, and we’ve been hanging out ever since.”
Good Guy or Bad?
According to Adams, his initial scenes will make viewers wonder about Tripp. “Steve and Kayla find him in Arizona,” sets up Adams. “He’s working at a restaurant. You see the manager come in with a black eye and wonder why. It turns out Tripp punched him. So you think, Oh man! This kid is kind of rough. And he’s Ava’s kid, so Steve and Kayla are thinking, ‘Is he going to be messed up like she was?’ They’re very concerned at first.”
But there’s more to the story. “The manager is kind of a pervert,” explains Adams. “You find out that he was groping one of the waitresses. He was all over her. Tripp pulled him off her and ended up punching him. You never actually see that, but it’s explained. You find out that Tripp was actually doing good and is a decent kid in the first scene or two.”
The Big Reveal
Steve and Kayla quickly take Tripp’s side, upon finding out what really went down. “Tripp is actually very confused,” notes Adams. “The manager gets in his face, and Steve gets up and decks him. Tripp’s like, ‘Okay. Who’s this guy who randomly stood up for me?’”
That’s when Steve and Kayla start explaining, and Steve reveals he is the boy’s father. “It’s very conflicting for Tripp,” says Adams. “He doesn’t know if Steve’s for real or not. Tripp has had such bad luck throughout his life that this is almost too good to be true in a way.”
What About Mom?
Although Tripp, who was given up as a baby, had been looking for his parents, “he didn’t really have the money or funds [to get very far],” recounts Adams. “He grew up in the system. He’s just been traveling from place to place. He obviously knew about his birth parents and that they were out there. He was looking, but he never came across anything that was promising.”
Tripp questions Steve about his mother. “He’s like, ‘If you’re my dad, where’s my mom?’” continues Adams. “At first, he asks Kayla if she’s his mom, and she tells him no. It’s confusing for Tripp. He’s found one parent, but not the other.”
Bound for Salem
Steve doesn’t drop the bomb that mama Ava is deceased or how it happened. (Remember Joey actually killed her, but Steve took the blame.) Instead, he and Kayla suggest Tripp come back to Salem with them to get to know his new family.
“Tripp’s not necessarily eager,” says Adams. “He’s confused about all this. Again, it’s almost like it’s too good to be true for him, because of all the bad things that have happened to him during his life. He’s like, ‘Okay. You say…continue reading on the next page —>
“Tripp’s not necessarily eager,” says Adams. “He’s confused about all this. Again, it’s almost like it’s too good to be true for him, because of all the bad things that have happened to him during his life. He’s like, ‘Okay. You say you’re my dad, but I might need some proof on this.’ It’s more like he’s excited to go back and find out if it’s true or not. And he’s curious. Tripp is always curious.”
Let It Flow
Adams admits he was nervous his first day on the job, “because I had quite a bit to say. The night before I was running the lines like crazy. I knew had to get them down,” he explains.
But working with vets Nichols and Evans helped. “They are the nicest people and easy to work with,” shares Adams. “They mainly told me not to worry about the lines; that they would come to me when I started doing the scenes. They said, ‘Let it flow.’ It really helped me get going.”
Adams has been moving along effortlessly ever since, and so has Tripp, who viewers will learn more about as the weeks unfold. “He’s a good kid who’s had a lot of bad luck and he has a lot of bad tendencies in a way,” describes Adams, acknowledging that it’s all part of the character’s difficult past. “He grew up in rough style. His foster family wasn’t the best to him, and it really reflects in his personality.”
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