Days of Our Lives’ Billy Flynn Breaks Down Chad’s Changing Chemistry With Both Abigails, From ‘Passionate’ to ‘Evolved’

The Days actor feels lucky to work in two different worlds. 

Gwen’s long-simmering plan to blow up Chad and Abigail’s marriage came to a head this week on Days of Our Lives when she got a very drunk Chad into bed on New Year’s Eve. While headwriter Ron Carlivati gave us a preview of the fallout coming in 2021, Billy Flynn (Chad) would only tease, “You’re probably going to see some tears one way or another,” when Soaps.com recently talked with the actor. However, Flynn did have a lot more to say about the two women who have played his onscreen love interest over the past few years.

Even though Kate Mansi and Marci Miller have taken turns playing Chad’s wife since Miller was first recast as Abigail in 2016, how Flynn approaches his character doesn’t change. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t shifts in Chad and Abigail’s dynamic.

“They both have a different way of working and our chemistry is different,” he said. “So, to that, I think naturally the couple changes.”

More: Can Abagail (and viewers) ever forgive Chad?

When it comes to Chad and Miller’s version of Abby, Flynn mused, “They have like an old way of dealing with each other. They’re very familiar. It’s an evolved type of love.” Meanwhile, “With Kate, it’s kind of more passionate. Like, we have more of a fire between us.”

Attributing the differences to having worked with Mansi longer than Miller, Flynn continued, “We have more history so there’s more of a chemistry kind of thing there. Where Marci and I are like buddies.”

It isn’t lost on Flynn how fortunate he is, considering the audience could have given up on the couple due to those changes in dynamic. “Luckily, Chabby has sort of remained and elevated as a supercouple over the years despite [Mansi and Miller] switching in and out,” he said. “It’s better than just a new recast. I think I’m really lucky that I get two different worlds.”

More: Look which Days star just tied the knot

Being half of that super couple meant Flynn got his own digital companion series, along with Mansi, on the DOOL App’s Chad & Abby in Paris. The first-of-its-kind series was just one attempt Days recently made to keep things fresh for the daytime audience. A time-jump was also implemented last year and, more recently, a two-week storyline was created to make up for a block of time originally slated for the Summer Olympics, which were canceled.

While Flynn applauds Days for keeping things exciting, he’d like to see less of a need for those types of innovations.

“We assume people are losing attention with things… but I think soap fans are different. It’d be nice to see [the network] give Days a longer period so they could lay off trying to do the next big exciting thing [in an effort] to keep fans and to keep getting renewed.”

More: Season 8 preview of When Calls the Heart

“It’d be nice to give them, ‘Here’s a couple of years, go and tell some really cool story,’” he said. “I think they deserve that. I think they could do a really good job with that opportunity. That’s what I’d love to see, whether I’m on the show or not. I think it’d be nice to see them have that opportunity. To sit back and just breathe a little bit and give the audience some time to follow some long-term story.”

What do you think? Do you agree with Flynn’s assessment of Chad’s relationship with the two Abigails? Would you like to see more long-term story explored on Days? Share your thoughts in the comment section. Then, after reliving the show’s highs and lows via the below Year In Review, make sure to sign up to have your daily fix of Days of Our Lives — and all of the other daytime dramas — delivered straight to your email inbox by signing up for Soaps.com’s newsletter.