DAYS’s Matthew Ashford Says ‘It Really Is My Hope to Come Back’ As Jack (Exclusive)
Jack Deveraux just hit the road again on Days of Our Lives, but Matthew Ashford is hoping that it won’t be too long before his character reappears in Salem. In fact, he says he would welcome a return to the soap on a more regular basis, and there are a couple of areas where he believes his character could easily fit into the story mix.
“It really is my hope to come back” to DAYS, says Ashford. “I’d be happy to reignite some of the old days craziness at The Spectator. I think there are a lot of new young actors who haven’t found themselves yet and the show hasn’t exactly figured out what they’re going to do with them, and it would be a great opportunity for Jack [to get involved].”
Ashford would love to see Jack step in with some of those characters. “Well, yeah. Vern got do a lot of crazy things, and I could do the same things,” shares Ashford, referring to the late Wayne Heffley, who played the editor of The Spectator. “And Jennifer doesn’t necessarily have to be there, since we have another newspaper elsewhere. We’ve got enough roots in town to do different stuff. And there’s a lot of stuff Jack could do.”
Mentor and Friend
Ashford was encouraged by Jack’s recent visit to the Salem newspaper office and his interaction with Leo Stark, played by Greg Rikaart. “I was like, ‘Oh, I like this,’ ” notes Ashford. “Leo’s never been Jack’s cup of tea, to say the least, but in spite of this, Leo’s actually starting to grow on him. So it was fun. I’ve thought it would be great for Jack to come back and be a mentor to some of the young people the same way that Vern was a mentor to Jack. Let’s redo the eighties and the nineties. Let’s find some young people who don’t know where they’re going in their life, and Jack could say, ‘What about this?’ Let them find their way and work, and if a relationship develops between them, good. Let Jack be the taskmaster. I’d be glad to be able to do that. I don’t know what the Leo thing was or where that’s [going to go], but I’d be game for that.”
There are other areas and characters that Jack could be involved with too. “Gwen is in and out,” points out Ashford, about Jack’s wayward daughter. “I hope she’ll be there more. Emily [O’Brien, Gwen] is just a wonderful addition to the show.”
And, of course, there’s also Jack’s old pal, Xander, who’s at a point in his life where he could really use a friend. “I talked to Paul [Telfer, Xander] about that,” shares Ashford. “I got in touch with him a while ago and said, ‘Look, we can make bad choices together.’ In some ways Xander’s now becoming Jack’s guilty pleasure. He’s been doing these things. I mean, between Xander and Gwen… Oh my gosh. Jack knows that Xander actually does value him. He does listen to him, but Xander has his own demons, just like Jack’s always had demons. So he’s somebody who resonates with Jack.”
The timing certainly couldn’t be better for Jack to step in and try to save his friend. “Xander’s risking losing it all right now,” reflects Ashford. “And Jack really likes his wife, Sarah. I mean, as much as Jack was ready for Xander to marry into his family to Gwen, he saw how Gwen kind of blew that up. So he doesn’t exactly blame Xander for that. But Sarah… she’s a Horton. Xander really couldn’t [do better]. That’s why Jack told him, ‘Don’t mess it up.’ He doesn’t see Xander as a lost cause.”
Thankfully, the pair’s friendship was repaired when Xander gave Jack back the half of The Spectator that he and Gwen blackmailed away from him. “The fact that Xander was able to do that spoke volumes,” observes Ashford. “There’s definitely a good guy in Xander who’s just trying to grow up. He’s trying to surpass his father [by] becoming more of a human being.”
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Soap Opera Digest does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.