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ICYMI Kyle Lowder Interview

Kyle Lowder was surprised when he was contacted about a return to DAYS. “It was really cool, actually,” he recalls. “I was in the middle of shooting The Amityville Harvest, which is a new horror franchise series of movies, and I was shooting the first installment of that back in August [2019]. It was crazy because my call time wasn’t until, like, 6 p.m. and we shot till 6 a.m. I was sleeping all day and I was up working all night, like a vampire. I woke up in the afternoon and I looked at my phone and I had, like, 10 missed calls and text messages from my rep starting from, ‘Great news. Call me back,’ all the way to, ‘Are you alive?’ So I just picked up the phone and called him and he said, ‘Dude, you’re going back to DAYS.’ And I’m like, ‘What?’ And keep in mind, and I mean this with all due respect, it’s something that wasn’t anywhere near my radar. I just felt like I had a wonderful year back there playing Rex and then moved on and then I just didn’t think it was one of those things that would ever happen again. It went from a couple of episodes to this whole little story arc, which was really, really cool. It was one of the best phone calls I got in 2019.”

Lowder said it felt like no time had passed when he returned to the set. “I absolutely love it there,” he declares. “DAYS OF OUR LIVES is one of those places where I don’t care if I’m gone for 13 years or a few months, I always just feel like I’ve never left. And I mean that in a good way,” he notes. “It’s the closest feeling to home that I’ve ever had in my professional life. Getting that call time on your call sheet you’re like, ‘I’m so excited to go see these people and to get back on those soundstages again and to be a part of this show and tell these stories again.’ It’s an indescribable feeling. To be able to love being in a place that you love to work in is such a joy and a blessing, and I definitely felt that. And as people will see, it’s short, but it’s sweet. It’s a nice little story arc that they gave me.”

Lowder admits he was happy to show a better side of his alter ego on this visit. “The way that Rex left Salem, it was tough because I believed in that character,” he explains. “I really thought that there were a lot of redeeming qualities about him. We just kind of ran out of time to tell those stories and show those redemptive qualities. And I’m so grateful to Ron [Carlivati, head writer] for this, that in this piece over the next couple of weeks I’m airing, you get to see a lot of what I really wanted Rex to show.”

Tapping into the character again wasn’t a challenge, Lowder adds. “It was great because as I was getting the scripts, I was so happy that I was like, ‘There he is!’ ” he previews. “Obviously, he’s had some transgressions and made some very poor life decisions, which everybody saw. We can all agree that those choices were not great. But like any character, it’s like, is there something within him that is pure and is good-intentioned? He really is a good guy and he’s made some really bad decisions. This time around, Sarah’s in a pickle making some questionable choices on her own. It’s nice to see Rex being the one who comes out and says, ‘Let me help you with this.’ Rex is kind of the force of levelheadedness and clear-mindedness and morality, if you will. It was nice for him to be on that side of the coin and to play that.”

And though he had to wait a long time for it to air, “For me, keeping things under wraps was easy,” shrugs the actor. “I just pretended it never happened. People were asking about it and I’m just like, ‘I don’t know.’ There were some rumors that came out from fans on social media. I just don’t engage. It’s only hard because while I’m there shooting, there’s this kind of excitement of, ‘God, I can’t wait for people to see this’ or ‘I can’t wait to tell people that Rex is coming back and you’re going to see a different side of him.’ I was excited for people to see that. But then you’re going to have to wait for eight months. You want to share the excitement, but patience is a virtue, and it’s not a virtue that I’ve ever had. I’m working on that to this day. But here we are. I’m excited about it.”

The actor says he would welcome any future return trips to Salem. “Absolutely, without a doubt,” Lowder nods. “And I really mean this. This is not some politically correct business response; this is a very personal response. I’ve said it every time. Even after my unexpected departure last time, it’s just a show that will always be near and dear to my heart. It was the first job I ever had. I was 19 years old and they gave me a shot and believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. I just have a loyalty to [Executive Producer] Ken Corday, to [Co-Executive Producer] Greg Meng, to NBC’s Bruce Evans, to DAYS OF OUR LIVES … all of it. Any time they have interest, I’m there. I just feel like I owe that. They gave me a shot and that’s something I’ll never forget.”

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