Will Horton
Encyclopedia
William "Will" Horton, III is a fictional character
on the soap opera
Days of our Lives
. Will was born on screen November 16, 1995. Created by head writer James E. Reilly
, the role is originated by actors Shawn and Taylor Carpenter. Darian Weiss
briefly steps into the role from 2002-2003. Christopher Gerse
took over the role from 2003–2007, until leaving Days in 2007 after Will moves to Switzerland
with his aunt, Carrie Brady
and Uncle Austin Reed. Dylan Patton
briefly plays the role from 2009–2010 when Will returns to Salem. Patton was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in Best Younger Actor. The role was then recast with actor Chandler Massey
. He is the son of Sami Brady
and Lucas Horton
. Originally believed to be the son of Austin Reed, it was later found out that he was actually Lucas' son and Sami had lied about his paternity. Over the past decade Will has been involved in various custody disputes between his parents. He is frequently hurt by the incessant fighting between his mother and his paternal grandmother, Kate Roberts DiMera
.
Despite his turbulent upbringing, for many years Will was a quiet, eager to please little boy, but in the summer of 2002 that changed. He became a very obnoxious child. He would often talk back to his parents and call them by their first names. He also started to play rough with other children and he ended up hurting his cousin Abby on more than one occasion. Everyone worried that his unstable home life was the cause of his antics.
Eventually his childish outburst subsided, yet Will became a very unhappy young man. It didn't help that in late 2003 both his parents were suspects in the Salem Stalker's murder spree and, even though his mother denied it, Will believed Lucas, a former alcoholic, was drinking again. Both of his suspicions were soon proved untrue and, after catching his parents in a few compromising positions, Will became hopeful that his parents might get-together and he will be like "the other kids" with a father and mother who lived together. A short time later it appeared Will's dream was actually coming true when Lucas proposed to Sami. Yet, things would soon fall apart leaving Will devastated.
On the day of his parent's wedding, Lucas found his bride-to-be in bed with her ex-husband, Brandon Walker, and broke off their engagement. Although Sami declared she had been drugged, so couldn't prove it therefore her claims did little to help Will who was shattered by their breakup. Eventually, Sami was able to prove that Kate drugged her and Brandon and placed them in bed together for Lucas to find. Because of that discovery, Sami and Lucas reunited which caused Will great joy.
But, like their first try at marriage, Lucas and Sami's second attempt fell apart and once again left Will in the wake of the destruction. Kate crashed the wedding moments before they were legally married and announced Sami's latest misdeeds. That caused Lucas to call of the nuptials. Again, Will was devastated and even lashed out at his mother. Will's only reprieve was that his beloved Uncle Austin had recently returned to Salem and was there to comfort him during his latest disappointment.
Soon after his uncle's homecoming, his Aunt Carrie also returned to Salem. Much to Will's delight, she and Lucas became close and eventually married. Also to his delight, Sami and Austin were growing close once again and soon became engaged. Although his parents weren't together, Will was happy with the way things worked out as he shared a strong bond with both Carrie, now his stepmother, and Austin, his soon-to-be stepfather.
Unfortunately, on the day of Austin and Sami's wedding disaster struck. Shortly before the ceremony Sami received a call from a mysterious blackmailer and was warned that if she didn't call off her marriage to Austin the blackmailer would expose her latest scheme thus ruining her life. Reluctantly, Sami agreed to end things with Austin and again Will was left angry and embarrassed by his mother's latest failure.
In fact, he was so distraught that he ran away from home and went to Chicago. His family feared that he'd been kidnapped so E.J. arranged for Sami and Lucas to go on the news to plead for their son's safe return. Unbeknownst to him, Will chose that exact moment to return home. He nonchalantly interrupted the news coverage and wondered what all the fuss was about. Everyone was delighted by his return and that Will was no worse for wear (just hungry and out of money).
Upon his return, Will was shocked to find out that his Aunt Carrie and Uncle Austin had been having an affair, Lucas was divorcing Carrie and that she and Austin were getting back together and moving to Switzerland. Although it had been a heartbreaking string of events, Will was pleased when Lucas decided to move into Sami's apartment with him and his mother in an attempt to provide a more stable home life for him. Although Sami had begun a close friendship with E.J., whom Will despised, he was glad that his parents were living together and seemingly getting along.
Indeed, they were getting along well and they soon became engaged (again). This left Will somewhat hopeful, yet very nervous that things would go wrong (again). Much to his surprise, the wedding plans went full speed ahead and the pot was sweetened when he found out his mother was pregnant with twins! Despite Kate's newest attempt to break up his parents on their wedding day, Sami and Lucas went through with the ceremony - Will had finally gotten a family like "the other kids." His family, however, didn't have long to celebrate as the war between the Brady and DiMera families heated up and Will was caught in the crossfire.
Shortly after the wedding, Sami confessed to Lucas that she had been raped by E.J. and that the twins might not be his. Lucas promised to stand by her side no matter what, but Stefano was pressuring Sami to divorce Lucas and marry E.J. and, in exchange, he would call off the vendetta. Will pleaded with his mother to stay married to Lucas, but, when she eventually made the heartbreaking decision to marry E.J. in order to stop the violence, Will once again lashed out at his mother and didn't want anything to do with her. In order to protect him from the volatile situation with the DiMera Family as well as give him space from his mother, Will was sent to Switzerland with Carrie and Austin during the summer of 2007.
Later that fall Will returned to Salem one last time. Despite his time away from Sami, he was still angry with her for breaking up their family. He was also mad at Lucas for letting it happen. Although he had enjoyed his time in Europe, Will's stay in Salem did nothing but dredge up bitter feelings. He was moody, withdrawn, and constantly lashed out at his parents. After being picked up for underage drinking, Sami and Lucas agreed that it was best to honor Will's wishes and they sent him back to Switzerland to live with Carrie and Austin.
Will returns to Salem on February 27, 2009 and astonishes his dad by paying him a visit in the hospital where he is hospitalized. As soon as he walks in the room where his dad was admitted, he sees his parents arguing again, but as soon as his parents saw him they stop arguing and welcome him back to Salem. He decides to live with his mother Sami, sister Ali, half-brother Johnny and "adopted" sister Grace at his grandmother's house.
Will soon becomes friends with Mia McCormick. He starts spending a lot of time with her and develops a crush on her, not realizing she has not been honest with him about her past. Will and Mia enter a relationship in the following weeks of his sister Grace's death. When Mia's ex-boyfriend Chad Peterson Woods comes to town, Mia remembers the bond they have through their daughter and Will becomes suspicious of Mia and later breaks up with her because of her feelings for Chad. Mia then tells him about her pregnancy and Will apologizes for judging her and they reunite.
On September 30, 2009, Mia decides to break up with Will to keep Chad from digging around about their baby that Nicole had adopted, not realizing that her biological baby Grace died and Sydney was Sami's
biological baby. Will however is heartbroken when he found out she reunited with her ex boyfriend Chad a day after breaking up with him.
Later the truth of Sydney's maternity is revealed and Will and Mia have since reconciled. Will and Mia begin to date again briefly but Will puts an end to it when he realizes that Mia is stringing both he and Chad along at the same time.
Will has even more problems at home in 2010, resulting in several arguments with his mother Sami. Will encourages Sami to date Rafe Hernandez and is not fond of EJ DiMera. After Sydney is brought back from her kidnapping, Will takes her for a stroll in the park where he runs into Nicole Walker
. Will allows Nicole to say goodbye to Sydney, where Sydney calls Nicole "mama". Will returns home and has another fight with Sami and says that he's moving out because EJ is staying in their home. Will tells Sami that he is moving in with Grandma Kate and her husband Stefano DiMera
. Will eventually reconciles with his mother and moves back in with her. Will soon starts a relationship with Gabi Hernandez.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...
. Will was born on screen November 16, 1995. Created by head writer James E. Reilly
James E. Reilly
James E. Reilly was an American soap opera writer. Known for his work as the head writer of NBC's Days of our Lives and creator/head writer of Passions, Reilly won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series Writing as co-head writer for Guiding Light in 1993.Reilly died suddenly in October...
, the role is originated by actors Shawn and Taylor Carpenter. Darian Weiss
Darian Weiss
Darian Weiss is an American actor. Weiss's acting career began at 6 months old when he was featured during a Campbell's Soup commercial.-Early life and career:...
briefly steps into the role from 2002-2003. Christopher Gerse
Christopher Gerse
Christopher Ryan Gerse is an American actor. His first movie role was as the young version of Bruce Willis's character Jimmy 'The Tulip' Tudeski in the 2004 film The Whole Ten Yards. In the fall of 2003 Chris became a regular on the daytime TV show Days of our Lives portraying Will Roberts...
took over the role from 2003–2007, until leaving Days in 2007 after Will moves to Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
with his aunt, Carrie Brady
Carrie Brady
Caroline Anna "Carrie" Reed is a fictional character on the NBC soap opera, Days of our Lives, a long-running serial about working class life in the fictional town of Salem. Created by head writer Margaret DePriest, the role of Carrie was originated by child actress Andrea Barber, known for her...
and Uncle Austin Reed. Dylan Patton
Dylan Patton
Dylan Michael Patton is an American actor and former model. He is best known for portraying the role of Will Horton on the NBC soap opera Days of our Lives from February 27, 2009 to January 20, 2010.-Days of Our Lives:...
briefly plays the role from 2009–2010 when Will returns to Salem. Patton was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in Best Younger Actor. The role was then recast with actor Chandler Massey
Chandler Massey
Chandler Massey is an American actor. Since February 2010 he has played the role of Will Horton on NBC's Days of our Lives....
. He is the son of Sami Brady
Sami Brady
Samantha Gene "Sami" Hernandez is a fictional character on the NBC soap opera Days of our Lives. She was born onscreen on October 16, 1984, though was later SORASed to October 16, 1977. Created by head writer Margaret DePriest, Sami has been portrayed by Alison Sweeney since January 22, 1993...
and Lucas Horton
Lucas Horton
Lucas Desmond Horton is a fictional character on the American soap opera Days of our Lives. He was portrayed by Bryan Dattilo from 1992-2001, and from 2002-2010.-Storylines:...
. Originally believed to be the son of Austin Reed, it was later found out that he was actually Lucas' son and Sami had lied about his paternity. Over the past decade Will has been involved in various custody disputes between his parents. He is frequently hurt by the incessant fighting between his mother and his paternal grandmother, Kate Roberts DiMera
Kate Roberts (fiction)
Katherine Elizabeth "Kate" DiMera is a fictional character on the NBC Soap Opera Days of our Lives, matriarch of the series' DiMera family. The character of Kate Roberts is originally introduced in 1977 as Kate Winograd being portrayed by soap veteran, Elaine Princi who would vacate the role in 1979...
.
Character history
Will was born William Robert Reed on November 16, 1995. His infancy was fairly normal until 1997 when it was revealed that Austin was not his biological father. Sami had lied to everyone as well as doctored hospital records to state that Austin was his dad, but in reality Lucas was his father. Over the next several years this revelation kept Will stuck in the middle of several bitter custody battles between his parents as well as in the middle of the bad blood between Sami and his grandmother Kate.Despite his turbulent upbringing, for many years Will was a quiet, eager to please little boy, but in the summer of 2002 that changed. He became a very obnoxious child. He would often talk back to his parents and call them by their first names. He also started to play rough with other children and he ended up hurting his cousin Abby on more than one occasion. Everyone worried that his unstable home life was the cause of his antics.
Eventually his childish outburst subsided, yet Will became a very unhappy young man. It didn't help that in late 2003 both his parents were suspects in the Salem Stalker's murder spree and, even though his mother denied it, Will believed Lucas, a former alcoholic, was drinking again. Both of his suspicions were soon proved untrue and, after catching his parents in a few compromising positions, Will became hopeful that his parents might get-together and he will be like "the other kids" with a father and mother who lived together. A short time later it appeared Will's dream was actually coming true when Lucas proposed to Sami. Yet, things would soon fall apart leaving Will devastated.
On the day of his parent's wedding, Lucas found his bride-to-be in bed with her ex-husband, Brandon Walker, and broke off their engagement. Although Sami declared she had been drugged, so couldn't prove it therefore her claims did little to help Will who was shattered by their breakup. Eventually, Sami was able to prove that Kate drugged her and Brandon and placed them in bed together for Lucas to find. Because of that discovery, Sami and Lucas reunited which caused Will great joy.
But, like their first try at marriage, Lucas and Sami's second attempt fell apart and once again left Will in the wake of the destruction. Kate crashed the wedding moments before they were legally married and announced Sami's latest misdeeds. That caused Lucas to call of the nuptials. Again, Will was devastated and even lashed out at his mother. Will's only reprieve was that his beloved Uncle Austin had recently returned to Salem and was there to comfort him during his latest disappointment.
Soon after his uncle's homecoming, his Aunt Carrie also returned to Salem. Much to Will's delight, she and Lucas became close and eventually married. Also to his delight, Sami and Austin were growing close once again and soon became engaged. Although his parents weren't together, Will was happy with the way things worked out as he shared a strong bond with both Carrie, now his stepmother, and Austin, his soon-to-be stepfather.
Unfortunately, on the day of Austin and Sami's wedding disaster struck. Shortly before the ceremony Sami received a call from a mysterious blackmailer and was warned that if she didn't call off her marriage to Austin the blackmailer would expose her latest scheme thus ruining her life. Reluctantly, Sami agreed to end things with Austin and again Will was left angry and embarrassed by his mother's latest failure.
In fact, he was so distraught that he ran away from home and went to Chicago. His family feared that he'd been kidnapped so E.J. arranged for Sami and Lucas to go on the news to plead for their son's safe return. Unbeknownst to him, Will chose that exact moment to return home. He nonchalantly interrupted the news coverage and wondered what all the fuss was about. Everyone was delighted by his return and that Will was no worse for wear (just hungry and out of money).
Upon his return, Will was shocked to find out that his Aunt Carrie and Uncle Austin had been having an affair, Lucas was divorcing Carrie and that she and Austin were getting back together and moving to Switzerland. Although it had been a heartbreaking string of events, Will was pleased when Lucas decided to move into Sami's apartment with him and his mother in an attempt to provide a more stable home life for him. Although Sami had begun a close friendship with E.J., whom Will despised, he was glad that his parents were living together and seemingly getting along.
Indeed, they were getting along well and they soon became engaged (again). This left Will somewhat hopeful, yet very nervous that things would go wrong (again). Much to his surprise, the wedding plans went full speed ahead and the pot was sweetened when he found out his mother was pregnant with twins! Despite Kate's newest attempt to break up his parents on their wedding day, Sami and Lucas went through with the ceremony - Will had finally gotten a family like "the other kids." His family, however, didn't have long to celebrate as the war between the Brady and DiMera families heated up and Will was caught in the crossfire.
Shortly after the wedding, Sami confessed to Lucas that she had been raped by E.J. and that the twins might not be his. Lucas promised to stand by her side no matter what, but Stefano was pressuring Sami to divorce Lucas and marry E.J. and, in exchange, he would call off the vendetta. Will pleaded with his mother to stay married to Lucas, but, when she eventually made the heartbreaking decision to marry E.J. in order to stop the violence, Will once again lashed out at his mother and didn't want anything to do with her. In order to protect him from the volatile situation with the DiMera Family as well as give him space from his mother, Will was sent to Switzerland with Carrie and Austin during the summer of 2007.
Later that fall Will returned to Salem one last time. Despite his time away from Sami, he was still angry with her for breaking up their family. He was also mad at Lucas for letting it happen. Although he had enjoyed his time in Europe, Will's stay in Salem did nothing but dredge up bitter feelings. He was moody, withdrawn, and constantly lashed out at his parents. After being picked up for underage drinking, Sami and Lucas agreed that it was best to honor Will's wishes and they sent him back to Switzerland to live with Carrie and Austin.
Will returns to Salem on February 27, 2009 and astonishes his dad by paying him a visit in the hospital where he is hospitalized. As soon as he walks in the room where his dad was admitted, he sees his parents arguing again, but as soon as his parents saw him they stop arguing and welcome him back to Salem. He decides to live with his mother Sami, sister Ali, half-brother Johnny and "adopted" sister Grace at his grandmother's house.
Will soon becomes friends with Mia McCormick. He starts spending a lot of time with her and develops a crush on her, not realizing she has not been honest with him about her past. Will and Mia enter a relationship in the following weeks of his sister Grace's death. When Mia's ex-boyfriend Chad Peterson Woods comes to town, Mia remembers the bond they have through their daughter and Will becomes suspicious of Mia and later breaks up with her because of her feelings for Chad. Mia then tells him about her pregnancy and Will apologizes for judging her and they reunite.
On September 30, 2009, Mia decides to break up with Will to keep Chad from digging around about their baby that Nicole had adopted, not realizing that her biological baby Grace died and Sydney was Sami's
Sami Brady
Samantha Gene "Sami" Hernandez is a fictional character on the NBC soap opera Days of our Lives. She was born onscreen on October 16, 1984, though was later SORASed to October 16, 1977. Created by head writer Margaret DePriest, Sami has been portrayed by Alison Sweeney since January 22, 1993...
biological baby. Will however is heartbroken when he found out she reunited with her ex boyfriend Chad a day after breaking up with him.
Later the truth of Sydney's maternity is revealed and Will and Mia have since reconciled. Will and Mia begin to date again briefly but Will puts an end to it when he realizes that Mia is stringing both he and Chad along at the same time.
Will has even more problems at home in 2010, resulting in several arguments with his mother Sami. Will encourages Sami to date Rafe Hernandez and is not fond of EJ DiMera. After Sydney is brought back from her kidnapping, Will takes her for a stroll in the park where he runs into Nicole Walker
Nicole Walker
Nicole DiMera is a fictional character on the NBC soap opera, Days of our Lives, a long running series about working-class life in the fictional town of Salem. She was introduced in 1998 by head writer Sally Sussman Morina, and executive producer Ken Corday...
. Will allows Nicole to say goodbye to Sydney, where Sydney calls Nicole "mama". Will returns home and has another fight with Sami and says that he's moving out because EJ is staying in their home. Will tells Sami that he is moving in with Grandma Kate and her husband Stefano DiMera
Stefano DiMera
Stefano DiMera is a fictional character, a villain on the American soap opera Days of our Lives. Created by head writer Pat Falken Smith, he is portrayed by Joseph Mascolo...
. Will eventually reconciles with his mother and moves back in with her. Will soon starts a relationship with Gabi Hernandez.
See also
- Horton Family
- Brady Family
- Lucas HortonLucas HortonLucas Desmond Horton is a fictional character on the American soap opera Days of our Lives. He was portrayed by Bryan Dattilo from 1992-2001, and from 2002-2010.-Storylines:...
- Sami BradySami BradySamantha Gene "Sami" Hernandez is a fictional character on the NBC soap opera Days of our Lives. She was born onscreen on October 16, 1984, though was later SORASed to October 16, 1977. Created by head writer Margaret DePriest, Sami has been portrayed by Alison Sweeney since January 22, 1993...
- Chandler MasseyChandler MasseyChandler Massey is an American actor. Since February 2010 he has played the role of Will Horton on NBC's Days of our Lives....
- Dylan PattonDylan PattonDylan Michael Patton is an American actor and former model. He is best known for portraying the role of Will Horton on the NBC soap opera Days of our Lives from February 27, 2009 to January 20, 2010.-Days of Our Lives:...
- Christopher GerseChristopher GerseChristopher Ryan Gerse is an American actor. His first movie role was as the young version of Bruce Willis's character Jimmy 'The Tulip' Tudeski in the 2004 film The Whole Ten Yards. In the fall of 2003 Chris became a regular on the daytime TV show Days of our Lives portraying Will Roberts...