In the special alternate-reality episode you returned for in 2018, Sam and Dante were married — and now they’re spending time together for real. What’s your take on their growing bond? “I think that [special episode] might have been some of the inspiration behind it. I don’t know where it’s going; neither of us really knows where it’s going. Fans are pretty passionate and I think they are trying to gauge, maybe, where to go with it. Keep in mind, Lulu is still in a coma and could wake up, and Sam and Jason are forever and always kind of talked about as being together, but at this point, for me as an actor, it’s just fun to do something different, and I think Kelly [Monaco, Sam] feels the same way, from talking to her. We’re having fun — that’s all I know! We’ve never really gotten to work a whole lot together, so it’s kind of new and different for both of us and I think we’re both just enjoying that fact. I’m legitimately having a good time, having laughs. At the end of the day, if it’s just a friendship, then it’s just a friendship, and if they want to take it further, I don’t know, we’ll see what happens, I guess! I feel like people are pretty into it, from what I’ve been able to judge. There are hard-core ‘Lante’ and hard-core ‘JaSam’ [fans] who are always not going to want to see their beloveds with other people, but I don’t know how realistic [that is]. It’s a show, and hopefully people will just enjoy the journey that the characters are going on, because that’s all this is, a journey. I enjoy what the show’s been doing. I hope fans do. Kelly and I are. There is no plan, as far as I know, for it to be anything or not be anything, it’s just seeing what happens. But I think, from the initial reaction, that people are digging it for the most part.”
It’s great when two established characters who haven’t had a lot of interaction get to know each other better. It’s fun to mix it up! “I think so, too, and it opens up doors for more than just the two characters. It’s more than, ‘Those two characters, are they going to be a thing or are they not going to be a thing?’ That aside, all of a sudden, you’ve got Sam and Olivia working together, you’ve got Dante and Alexis working together, you’ve got a different dynamic between Jason and Dante, potentially. There are all these other things that affect other people’s ecosystems. I think all it does is bring about new possibilities for the characters.”
If anything were to happen between Sam and Dante beyond friendship, are you prepared for Dante to get the evil eye from Steve Burton’s Jason? “Yeah, I would be! We’re good buddies so I know he’d be cool with it. I think it would be a great dynamic to have. I loved the stuff that Steve and I had back in the day when Jason went to jail for Michael because of what Dante did. That was all really great stuff, and Steve’s a great counterpuncher, where anything you throw out there, he’s like, ‘Yeah, c’mon, bring it!’ I look forward to that stuff. We’ve got a good friendship, and we’ve been around together a lot, seen each other go through a lot of ups and downs. When you’re really friends with these people, there’s nothing but love and support and that comes out in the work. I crave all that stuff with him! And I know he would be totally down to have some conflict, too.”
