Days of Our Lives Exclusive: Headwriter Ron Carlivati Previews Chad and Abigail’s Fraught Future, Saying, ‘Maybe an Ordinary Couple Would Be Destroyed by This, But… ’
Though fans may not believe it, he’s as big a fan of the DiMeras as we are.
Shippers of Days of Our Lives’ “Chabby” have been understandably overwrought of late. Not only did master manipulator Gwen convince Chad that wife Abigail had been carrying on with his newfound brother, Jake, but the conniver also managed to use her deception to get the married man in the sack.
Yeah, she’s awfully good at being bad, that one.
But there remains hope for the DiMeras, says headwriter Ron Carlivati. Read on, and we’ll let him explain why in this excerpt from an exclusive Soaps.com interview.
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Hands off, lady!
Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI
The Blame Game
Certainly, Gwen is guilty as sin in all of this. But shouldn’t Chad have had enough faith in his missus that he didn’t act out by falling into bed with the first strumpet who crossed his path? Well, yes, admits Carlivati. And at the same time, no. “Early on, when it was just Gwen dropping little hints and him observing things between between Abigail and Jake, it was completely his fault.
“But,” he adds, “by New Year’s, Gwen outright said, ‘I saw them together. I know Abigail and Jake are having an affair.’ So, just to defend Chad a little bit, he didn’t have a real reason to believe at that point that Gwen was lying to him.”
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That being the case, it was as if Chad’s worst fears had been realized, and all bets were off. “Once she confirmed his suspicions, then he felt somewhat… I don’t know, entitled to do what he did, and obviously, he was drunk and angry and upset, and he didn’t understand how Abby could be with Jake.”
It didn’t help that Chad had been on high alert since into his and Abigail’s lives came a man who is the spitting image of his late brother. “There’s that thing under the surface where Jake looks just like Stefan,” Carlivati notes. “And so that added to Chad’s paranoia, because Stefan was in love with Abigail. So anyway, Chad made a colossal mistake.”
The question then becomes, where do they go from here? Luckily, Carlivati has the answer.
It’s Complicated… Beyond Complicated
At the moment — and in the moments soon to come — the couple is in freefall. “It’s complicated, because on top of what Chad did, he and Abigail are finding out that Gwen is completely treacherous and finding out why,” teases Carlivati. (We’ve had our own hunch about that.) “And so Abigail is going to have a lot to deal with.
“Chad made a crazy, stupid mistake and drunkenly slept with a woman once,” he continues. “But in addition, Abigail is dealing with the revelations about Gwen. So it’s hard to focus on, ‘Can she forgive Chad? What’s going to happen there?’ It’s really compounded by everything she’s finding out about Gwen.”
Chad’s worst nightmare…
Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI
One Direction: Forward
Needless to say, Chad should get comfortable in his new digs: the doghouse. “He’s not really in the greatest place here,” Carlivati acknowledges. “And especially if you look back to when Gabi had kind of gaslighted everyone and made it look like Abigail’s alter was back… Chad fell for that and had her committed and took the baby… ”
That was a big turning point. Afterwards, “he told her, ‘I will never doubt you again. I promise you I will not. This will never happen again,’” the scribe reminds. “And of course it’s happened again.”
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That seems like an insurmountable obstacle, one that could mean the end of “Chabby.” “Yeah, it’s not going to be easy,” Carlivati previews, “but I will say that this couple really does love each other and has been through so much that, yes, maybe an ordinary couple would be destroyed by this.
“But just to give a little hope out there,” he goes on, “Abigail and Chad have been through absolutely everything and have weathered it.”
Fan Club
If it sounds like Carlivati is in the DiMeras’ corner as much as, say, you or us, that’s about right. “There are going to be superfans of couples that think because I have somebody betray the other one, I don’t like this couple… or if I have a couple that’s not together, like Gabi and Jake, that I’m not in favor of this couple, which really couldn’t be further from the truth.
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“You’re going on a journey with this couple,” he continues, “and just because there are moments of betrayal or moments of infidelity in the huge course of relationships like these… ”
Eh, [bleep] happens. “And some people do get through it and get past it. So it just depends. For some people any kind of infidelity is an absolute deal-breaker, and other people… maybe for them, it’s obviously not an ideal situation, but it is something that they can possibly forgive and get past.”
What do you think, Days of Our Lives fans? Will “Chabby” manage to come out the other end of this maelstrom intact? On your way to the comments — answer simply yay or nay so we can tally your votes — stop off at the below photo gallery, which revisits the best and worst of the year gone by on not only this show but all of the soaps.
