On Days of our Lives, Javi handed his wedding ring back to Leo and left town to sit by his father’s hospital bed, which was understandable yet devastating. Dimitri’s return caused havoc with Leo and Javi’s newly minted marriage, before the papers were even signed. While Leo believed he had gotten past his ex-lover, he began to doubt the work he had done to improve himself. That slightly exposed place, where progress exists but doesn’t feel secure, is where Greg Rikaart was coming from when he talked about Leo; the way the character keeps changing without ever fully escaping himself, and what it’s like to stay with that kind of story over time.
Key Takeaways
- Javi’s departure and Dimitri’s return left Leo emotionally destabilized and questioning his progress.
- Greg Rikaart described Leo as overwhelmed, experiencing heartbreak alongside unexpected validation.
- Rikaart said the possibility of Leo backsliding remains part of the character’s reality.
- He declined to favor any one relationship, choosing to let Leo’s story remain unresolved.
Sitting in Leo’s Chaos
Greg Rikaart spoke with Soaps about where Leo was coming from, and he didn’t mince words. Leo was flooded, pulled between grief and a strange kind of relief, and that contradiction mattered more than picking a side. “A whole lot of confusion,” is what Rikaart said Leo was going through, adding, “Leo is feeling very, very heightened emotions on every end of the spectrum. I think he is really heartbroken and sad.”
Leo wasn’t just wounded by Javi’s exit; he was unsettled by the confirmation that his feelings for Dimitri had never been imaginary. “He feels somewhat redeemed,” Rikaart noted, because believing you invented a past can be worse than admitting you still feel it.
The relief didn’t solve anything. It just sat there alongside the hurt, making everything messier instead of clearer. It gave Leo something else to carry when he was already struggling to keep his footing. (What are the next steps for Leo and Javi?)
Playing the Long Game
Rikaart didn’t pretend the danger had passed. The possibility of Leo slipping wasn’t a failure of progress; it was part of the terrain. “The possibility already always exists,” he said, talking about how effort doesn’t erase instinct so much as keep it in check. The work continues, whether the circumstances cooperate or not.
Asked to choose between Leo’s possible futures, Rikaart refused. He shifted to what he likes working through, the steadiness with Javi, the spark with Dimitri, and the pull Gwen brings with her. When asked to choose, he wouldn’t. “That’s Sophie’s choice,” he said, and left it there.
What came through was patience. Rikaart trusted repetition, return, and the slow accrual of meaning over big declarations. He seemed comfortable letting Leo hover in the unresolved, believing that the story would tell him when to move. In daytime, that restraint is its own kind of resilience, and Rikaart appeared content to stay with it, letting Leo be unfinished for as long as the work required.
