Now that AS THE WORLD TURNS viewers have discovered that scheming Jade Taylor is a petal off the ol' Rose, Jade's alter ego Elena Goode gives Weekly a little inside scoop on growing into her role and blooming as a Walsh-Snyder.
Soap Opera Weekly: Was the decision to make Jade really Rose's daughter a rewrite, or was this planned all along?
Elena Goode: This was not planned all along. When they were originally doing the casting, they had the idea in mind but they held off long enough to see if I was really going to gel and work out, so it was a combination of them wanting to see if this was something the audience was hoping for and if this was something I was capable of bringing to life.
Weekly: How much fun have the reveal scenes been?
Goode: I love it. I wouldn't have chosen to be any other character than Jade. I like how much trouble they're willing to get her into and I really like the freedom and the leeway that the writers take, pushing the boundaries of the choices she makes. And having so many secrets is really fun. It gives you a lot to play.
Weekly: Jade has done a lot of heinous things. Does she really deserve forgiveness?
Goode: The thing that's really slick about the writers is regardless of how much you love or hate a character, it's a soap opera. Every single character has had some sort of affair, killed someone intentionally or unintentionally, been in a coma or caused someone to be in a coma. They bring that to light as a way of justifying the forgiveness. Because Jade does come off as such a deceitful, unforgivable character, they need to pull up the background of Will to really remind the audience that everybody, every character, has done something unforgivable. Now you have to compare sins to sins. Everyone's done something wrong. That's what allows everyone to forgive Jade for her various choices. They're able to see how her position in life, and not having a mother, made her turn out to be a conniving, manipulative person.
Weekly: Not that she's always bad. She sure gave Luke a lot of advice this summer.
Goode: You have got to love that. That was the funniest thing to me (laughs). Jade should really help Luke with his love life because her stuff's so together, right?
Weekly: Where does Jade go from here?
Goode: She's a full-fledged Snyder, but the Snyders are the most ideal family out of the whole Oakdale bunch. They have it pretty together as far as the relationship between Lily and Holden. They've been a consistent couple and really a consistent family as far as their children, their morals and their values. It will be interesting, now that Jade is a Snyder, to throw her into the mix. She's going to try and gel as best she can to not lying, and to living a life that they would consider respectable. But she's always going to be Jade.
