Exclusive: Carson Boatman On DAYS ‘Potentially Destroying’ Johnny And Chanel

Secrets And Lies: Johnny (Carson Boatman) is in quite the pickle after cheating on Chanel (Raven Bowens).

In the realm of marital mistakes, Days of our Lives’s Johnny has made a whopper of one. Wrongly believing his wife, Chanel, had slept with her Body and Soul co-star, Alex, he retaliated by having a one-night stand with Joy. Then he angrily confronted Chanel about her “affair” only to learn it never happened, and that the secret she’d been keeping from him was actually the surprise party she’d planned for his birthday! Carson Boatman spoke with Soap Opera Digest about Johnny’s hasty actions and how his character is coping with the aftermath.

Soap Opera Digest: How would you sum up Johnny’s false assumptions about Chanel and Alex and how it all led to his tryst with Joy?

Carson Boatman: I would sum it up as, “He assumed the worst, and now things are spiraling and unraveling before his eyes.”

Digest: Johnny and Channel have always been such a loving couple. Were you surprised when you learned Johnny was going to cheat on his wife?

Boatman: I didn’t necessarily see it coming. It seemed out of character for Johnny. Although in Johnny’s mind, he kind of justified it in his own messed-up way. So it was shocking, just because of where we see things going.

Digest: Was there any part of you thinking that maybe this could turn out to be a good thing, in terms of giving your storyline a dramatic shake-up?

Boatman: I mean, look, you have to have conflict to have a successful drama. So shaking things up is key. The fans will have their opinions, and that’s what makes things interesting. It allows the fans to engage with their thoughts and feelings on Johnny’s behavior.

Digest: What do you anticipate fan reaction being?

Boatman: I feel lucky to be in an on-screen relationship that viewers are fans of. So I think it’s not going to play out favorably in the eyes of some fans to have Johnny potentially destroying his relationship with Chanel.

Digest: I feel like Johnny’s jealous side has been a throughline with the character, dating back to when Lindsay Arnold (ex-Allie) was on the show. Do you agree?

Boatman: I never saw Johnny as a jealous guy until this storyline started playing out. It was more competitive with his sister. I think this is a new character development for Johnny, and we’ll just have to see where it drives him.

Digest: DAYS introduced a new leading lady into the mix, AlexAnn Hopkins, who plays Joy. What’s it been like working opposite her?

Boatman: She’s a tremendous actress. I screen-tested with her. The test scene was her and Johnny’s actual first meeting. Johnny’s sitting in a bar feeling a little down his luck and sorry for himself. She comes in a hot mess and just offloading everything in her life to him, a complete stranger. She did a great job of capturing that whirlwind of emotion and kind of chaos. So she definitely stood out. We found out that she booked the role a week or so later.

Digest: Would you agree that Johnny is someone who has a tendency to react before he thinks things through?

Boatman: Yeah, he can definitely be led by his emotions. He’s a DiMera. And I think Sami is the same way. He’s got crazy parents. It’s a miracle he’s turned out as good as he has!

Digest: What stands out about the scenes where Johnny confronted Chanel about her “affair” and keeping it a secret from him?

Boatman: The fact that he actually did it about 45 seconds before his surprise party, and Chanel was kind of like, “What? You’re crazy.” That just set him off. He thought she was lying to him this whole time and making a fool out of him, so that was kind of the final straw. He really let her have it and said some very mean and hurtful things to Chanel. Then he walked out to the surprise party that she’d thrown for him. So it was like, no pun intended, the icing on the cake. It was just horrible. He felt like he was the worst husband ever. Foolish, dumb, childish and immature are words that come to mind.

Digest: How does Johnny come out of this debacle?

Boatman: He has immediate regret [about sleeping with Joy]. He realizes how rash he was, but hindsight’s 20/20. He wishes he could take it all back. Johnny is just so guilt-ridden. He’s living with this secret, and it weighs on him a lot.