Forget about Black Friday shopping days! Days of Our Lives is giving fans Belle Black (Martha Madison) and a host of other characters from the .Com era of the long-running NBC series in Last Blast Reunion!
Days of Our Lives Goes To New York
In addition to Belle, past favorites returning for the app series found on the DOOL App are Shawn (Brandon Beemer), Nadia Bjorlin (Jan), Jay Johnson (Philip), Aaron Van Wagner (Jason Welles), and Susan (Lindsay Hollistar).
Mimi and Kevin will also be on hand. Those roles have been recast with, respectively, Teressa Liane and Chadwick Hopson. Also appearing in Last Blast Reunion are Chloe’s parents, Nancy (Patrika Darbo) and Craig (Kevin Spirtas).
Soap Hub chatted with Greg Meng, executive producer, DAYS, and creative director of the DOOL App about the new series. Read on for the scoop!
Soap Hub: How did the idea to bring the .Com/Last Blast gang back together for this series?
Greg Meng: When we were coming up with ideas for the DOOL App, this is one I really wanted to do because it brings together a group that, I believe, is both iconic and beloved. This brings them back to a story canvas and may inspire us to make room for them on DAYS. When they were all introduced, the plan was for them to age up on the show and, eventually, have their own families and continue to drive more stories. Ironically, not one of these characters is currently on the show.
Like Chad and Abby in Paris, this series is set outside of Salem; it’s in New York City. Can you talk about how you achieve the feel of the Big Apple?
A lot of that is in establishing shots and in the editing. Jill Underhill, who is my editor for Last Blast Reunion, loves to brings sounds, flavors and feels of whatever location we’re in.
Over the years, all of these characters have departed Salem at different times for different reasons. What research went into setting up this series properly?
I went right to [writer] Ryan Quan to track everything and see where we could go before the story was written.
You’ve assembled so many familiar faces for this series!
Yes, and we’ll be using more than the normal amount of flashbacks [in this series]. We feel that that’s what people want to see. The flashbacks will help show what’s going through the minds of each character when they all see each other again.
Flashbacks can be used to set a tone and that’s what they’ll be doing in this series. In our own lives, nobody else can understand the exact experience we’ve shared with someone else. Even if you’ve been apart from that person, you still have that connection.
Belle and Shawn are apart – might we see them reunite as these eight episodes unfold?
We’re actually planning on chapters 2 and 3…it’s our plan to continue the Last Blast Reunion.
Last Blast Reunion is was written by DAYS head writer Ron Carlivati and produced by Corday Productions. The series debuts Friday, November 29 on the DOOL App. Subsequent app-isodes will drop on Thursdays, starting next week for 7 weeks. Days of Our Lives airs weekdays on NBC. Check local listings for air times.
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