Billy Flynn (Chad, DAYS) Highlight Reel

DAYS’s Billy Flynn (Chad) looks back 
on some of his most memorable storylines

Chad Framed as The Necktie Killer and the Showdown with Ben, 2015

At any point did you think Chad might be the killer? “I knew it wasn’t me. It was made clear behind the scenes. I remember it being Ben. Also, I knew it wasn’t going to be Chad because of where my character was at the time and the relationship growing with Abigail. It would have deadened any of that story.”

How did you like the way your adversarial relationship with Robert Scott Wilson (Alex/then-Ben) developed? “From my end, obviously, Chad was on the winning end. Rob and I had such a blast playing those characters opposite each other. What Rob did, that twist for him, gave him something great to play and he did it really well. He was so good in that storyline. He and I laughed a lot during that period. What Chad was and what Ben was were different. Ben had a chip on his shoulder with so much to prove. I always looked at it that he was an easy target for Chad. Chad sort of underplayed things. He used charm, wit and humor as a way to win the little battles with Ben. If you look back at all the little moments that led to Ben turning into The Necktie Killer, it all worked so perfectly together — the performances, the writing … It feels like it was a lucky storm, this magic that just kind of happened.”

Which scenes were the hardest and most emotional to play? “The cabin stuff was really intense because you were trying to get the emotion of everything. From an actor’s standpoint, I think the hardest moment was when Chad carried Abigail out of the cabin. That’s the one scene I feel didn’t connect emotionally, didn’t work out emotionally. Maybe it was how we shot it or how fast we shot it. It was the end of a really big story, and you were kind of emotionally shot.”

What do you recall about Chad and Abigail being handcuffed to the bed and Ben setting it on fire and leaving with baby Thomas? “That was back in the day when I felt like we were doing a big-budget [production]. I remember thinking, ‘This is awesome; you’re playing pretend in this really cool way.’ It felt like an epic conclusion to this big story. I remember it being hot, and the handcuffs made your hands go numb a bit. Those scenes felt really heavy and were hard to shoot. And, at the time, I wasn’t a father. I remember the weight of all of that was really hard to connect to. My one connection to it was Chad’s love for Abigail, and that I always got. That I always understood.”

Did you enjoy playing the hero in the end and rescuing Thomas? “Yeah. I miss those days when Chad was the hero. Again, it was a really well-told story. It made sense that he was the hero, but the writers didn’t have to do that. They could have gone another way. I’m really glad they didn’t.”

Abigail’s Split Personality and Affair with Stefan, 2018

What were your initial thoughts when you heard Abigail was going to have a split personality? “That was the beginning of Chad and Abigail starting to go through hard sh*t all the time. I remember Marci [Miller, ex-Abigail] was there when it happened and thinking how great she was. That was kind of my only real thought, how good she was in all of that. We encouraged each other a lot. She handled it all so well and did such a great job. I had feelings about the rape stuff. I was very protective of the character and even Marci, the stuff they were having her do. I remember thinking, ‘You have to do it justice if you’re going to do it.’ ”

As far as a most difficult scene to play, would it have been when Chad walked in and found Abigail/“Gabby” in bed with Stefan? “Those were really hard scenes. I remember thinking, ‘How do I play this?’ To see the love of your life be with [another man] and they’re not [themselves] … You’re walking in on your wife being raped, basically. It was so heavy. I was really nervous about doing those scenes. In my mind, I just kept thinking, ‘Obviously you’re rageful. You’re sad. You don’t know what to do.’ It’s like dealing with somebody that’s an addict. You’re finding them in this situation even though it’s not their fault. To find that and to see something like that … I remember feeling sick to my stomach. At the end of the scene, I started dry heaving. I had a lot of self-consciousness about those scenes because the weight of them was so huge. You don’t want to overdo [your reaction]. Every time Marci and I were in a scene together, we helped each other. We centered each other. It was the same thing with Kate [Mansi, ex-Abigail].”

What scene were you the most proud of? “It was the scene where she came out of it. It was at the police station, and she finally came back as Abigail. Marci and I had this really emotional moment together, where Chad’s love for Abigail brought her back. That was nice. That was my favorite.”
Abigail ended up institutionalized for a bit, at which point Kate Mansi stepped back into the role. Did the actress switch make things difficult? “No, it didn’t, because it was Kate. And she and I had such a good relationship already. The work we had done stood for itself. So it was a lot easier than if somebody new had come in.”

Chad & Abby in Paris: Chapters 1 and 2, 2019

Were you surprised to be approached about doing the initial DOOL App special? “I had left the show for a little bit. When I returned, they said, ‘We’re going to bring you back, but first we have this idea for a spin-off. You guys are in Paris, and you’re happy. It’s the precursor for what brings you back to Salem.’ I thought it was a really great idea. Kate and I got to direct a part of that, too, which was really fun. It was interesting that they did it, and it’s kind of what led to them doing BEYOND SALEM. It was the first sort of BEYOND SALEM, although I don’t know if they thought of it that way. I thought Chad and Abigail were a great choice for it. Obviously, I’m biased. It made sense with them both off the canvas and how they left the show. It was a glimpse of their life instead of just having them come back and saying, ‘Oh, yeah. We were in Paris.’ ”

What was different about the app special as opposed to doing the soap? “The way that they shot it. They wanted to make it look different and feel different. They put in the B-roll of Paris and stuff like that. It had a different look. That was when Tom Early took over as production designer. I remember thinking how great he was and that [our Parisian apartment] set looked amazing. They took a little bit more time in shooting it. There were some differences in how they went about capturing it, but other than that it was the same.”

Does anything stand out about the experience as a whole? “It was fun, and it was the first thing I shot after the little break I had. It was really good to be back, and I was in great shape. I remember that. I wish I could have taken my shirt off more [laughs].”

Did it take time to reconnect with Kate Mansi as Abigail? “No. That was easy. It’s like riding a bike. You just go right back into it.”
How was it working with Kate as a director and vice versa? “We both felt lucky that we got to do that. We tried to respect each other when the other person [was directing] because it’s different. The other person is in a leadership position. It feels weird, but you just respect what they’re doing, listen to what they say, and do what they ask.”

Abigail’s Murder, 2022

What was your reaction when you learned Abigail was going to be murdered? “I was surprised that they would kill her, especially the way that it happened. At the same time, Kate and Marci weren’t going to stay for any long periods of time. Marci was leaving. I guess they could have done a recast, but it was like, ‘Well, at least this is something new. And, hopefully afterward, I’ll have some story through this.’ So I was kind of down for it. I thought it was the right choice to try to start over.”

Which scenes were the hardest to play? “The hardest ones were finding [Abigail’s body], just the way that we were shooting it, and the dialogue. How do you come in and find that? I remember the idea that I had wasn’t what they were looking for. I was going to be a little bit more in shock. I also thought with her dying breath, if she’s still able to talk, why am I not asking her, ‘Who did this?’ Those were hard scenes to shoot, how technical it was with coming in and her lying there.”

What were the most emotional scenes? “Emotionally, the hardest ones was the stuff with the kids. When Chad was like, ‘How am I going to tell the kids?’ Because I had just become a father [in real life]. It was my first storyline back after a two-week break. My son was born, I had two weeks off, and then I jumped right into my wife being dead on DAYS. My mind was all over the place. Then I had to jump into, ‘How am I going to tell the kids their mom is gone?’ That hit me emotionally. Obviously, the morgue scene was really hard, too. You want to do it justice, but you don’t want to overdo it.”
Is there a scene that stands out from the whole storyline? “The most impactful scene was when Abigail came back. I remember Marci and I just looked at each other. I thought that was a really beautiful scene. I texted [Head Writer] Ron [Carlivati] and said, ‘This scene is really great.’ It was at the gravesite, after Chad finds out Clyde did it. It was the scene I submitted for my Emmy [nomination].”

What scenes were you the proudest of? “There were some really good scenes with John and Marlena in the beginning. The stuff I had with Cary [Christopher], who plays my son, Thomas, I really enjoyed. I wish we would have seen more between Chad and his children. I think that’s what that storyline should have been more about, but I understand that during that time it was hard to have kids on set. It was [because] of the pandemic.”
Did you feel a sense of loss regarding the end of a supercouple you’d played a huge part in? “I felt more of a sense of loss about working with Marci. I love her. That was really hard. I was kind of hoping they would bring Kate back [when Marci decided to leave], just so I could have somebody there that I was grounded to. Marci being there in those final Chad and Abigail moments and being such a good friend … You could see the love between her and me in all of our scenes. Those tears were tears about me missing her as much as they were Chad missing Abigail, especially that last scene in the graveyard. That was a good-bye scene between Billy and Marci.”

What are your thoughts on the end of Chad and Abigail? “It felt as if the show had been transitioning away from Chad and Abigail being a supercouple for a bit of time. I did a bit of my grieving about what Chad and Abigail were prior to that. Now I think you assume that they’ll bring her back [at some point]. It takes a little bit of the heaviness out. I don’t know if Marci will come back. I don’t if Kate will come back. But they bring all these people back from the dead now, so there’s a sense of maybe someday they’ll do that.”