Days of Our Lives Exclusive: Even as Robert Scott Wilson Exits, He Looks Forward to the Future — ‘Ben Can Go Anywhere’ [Video]
Sunday, July 10th, 2022
“I’ve had one of the best experiences in daytime.”
Hard as it is to believe, when Days of Our Lives sent Ben and Ciara into the sunset last week, that really was farewell for the couple… at least for now. If there’s a bright side, however, it’s that we get to sort of ween ourselves off the pair thanks to the fact that portrayers Robert Scott Wilson and Victoria Konefal will both be appearing on the Peacock spinoff, Beyond Salem.
“We get to work with some new people, some old people that we’ve all kind of had rapport with,” he told us on the Daytime Emmys red carpet. (You can check out the entire interview below.) “There’s an opportunity for it to garnish new viewers, and hopefully bring back older viewers… it’s just a really great opportunity.”
More: Sneak peek pics from Beyond Salem
As for what happens once the five-episodes of Beyond Salem‘s second chapter wrap, that remains to be seen. Because while Wilson will be returning to the mothership at some point, it’s not known exactly when… let alone who he’ll be playing. And there is, of course, always the possibility that Ben might one day return, with or without his beloved wife.
“Ben can go anywhere,” laughed the actor. “He’s a wild boy, and I love that guy! We’ve been the good guy, the bad guy, the guy in the grey. I’m really, really grateful. I’ve had one of the best experiences in daytime playing Ben.”
Should Ben return, might viewers get another glimpse of the demons which drove him to become a serial killer? “I would never put it past them. I mean, I’m never shocked or surprised with what comes down the pipeline in my scripts!”
Relive Ben’s time in Salem — the good, the bad and the undeniably ugly — with our picture-filled gallery.
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Image: Howard Wise/JPI
1/22
<p>No sooner had Ben (then Justin Gaston) arrived in town than sister Jordan, fearing that her new acquaintances would <em>gasp</em> at how checkered their past was, suggested that he pull a U-ey and leave the way he had come in. There was just one problem…</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
2/22
<p>Club TBD waiter Ben (soon Robert Scott Wilson) was far too smitten with Abigail Deveraux (then Kate Mansi) to move any farther away from her than… well, <em>this</em>. Further complicating matters was her continued pull to ex-boyfriend Chad DiMera.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
3/22
<p>There was, um, one <em>other</em> thing going on, too: Ben, it turned out, was the Necktie Killer, a serial murderer who’d sent to the grave both Serena Mason and Paige Larson. As his grip on reality grew ever looser, he even attempted to off Abigail and Chad.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
4/22
<p>In 2016, Abigail decided that turnabout was fair play. So when Ben broke out of his sanitarium and into the DiMera mansion, she stabbed him, knocked him out and tried to set him on fire the very same way he had her and Chad.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI (3)
5/22
<p>In 2017, Ben crashed the double wedding of his victim Will Horton’s widower Sonny Kiriakis and Paul Narita, and Chad and Abigail (then Marci Miller). But not to make trouble and get an unpleasant facial from the bride — to reveal that Will wasn’t really, much less most sincerely, dead.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
6/22
<p>After being sprung from prison in 2018, Ben proved himself a changed man by tending to Ciara Brady after the cool rider was injured in a motorcycle crash. So impressed was she, she not only stood up for him after the cabin went up in flames, she moved him in.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
7/22
<p>“Who <em>wouldn’t</em> want a reformed serial killer in the bedroom next door?” reasoned Ciara as she settled Ben into the apartment that she shared with niece Claire Brady and her own pursuer, Tripp Dalton. “Us,” shrieked Tripp and Claire, using their inner voices while outwardly plotting against their new roomie.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
8/22
<p>Ben and Ciara were really just beginning to enjoy their love for one another and Chinese takeout when he was remanded to Death Row for the murder of his sister. He hadn’t done it, though, despite his history of weaponizing neckwear. Jordan had actually been throttled by babydaddy Evan Frears (aka Christian Maddox).</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
9/22
<p>Eventually, Ben rescued Ciara so many times that her skeptical mother, Hope, stopped glaring at them like this anytime they embraced. That made the young lovers’ next move clear: First General Tsao’s chicken — OK, fine, <em>and</em> some fried rice — then…</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
10/22
<p>What <em>should</em> have been the happiest day of Ben and Ciara’s lives was utterly upended when, as soon as they’d exchanged “I dos,” their nuptials — and potentially their futures — were blown to smithereens by none other than…</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
11/22
<p>Paige’s mother sought vengeance by abducting Ben and brainwashing him to throttle Ciara in such a way that he had to wear only his undies for episode after glorious episode.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
12/22
<p>Eventually, of course, Ben and Ciara were reunited. It would have been a, ahem, “Cin” <em>not</em> to put them back together. Alas, the newlyweds were separated again when the bride was kidnapped by yet <em>another</em> someone with a vendetta against the Necktie Killer.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
13/22
<p>Though Ciara was passed from one abductor to another, even worse one (Evan Frears!), she and Ben managed to get together <em>again</em> through a combination of detective work and yelling into thin air. We don’t judge, people; whatever works.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
14/22
<p>Ciara emerged from her ordeal with partial amnesia and skipped town with former beau Theo. While a heartbroken Ben looked in Claire’s direction, he was looking for a shoulder to cry on more than lips to kiss. </p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
15/22
<p>Since Ben would sooner have made an airplane of Ciara’s divorce papers than sign them, she had their marriage annulled. In turn, he kidnapped her to keep her from tying the knot with Theo.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
16/22
<p>At the cabin where first they fell for one another, Ben wooed his hostage… er, <em>true love</em>, who eventually regained her memory with the help of a particularly prophetic fortune cookie.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
17/22
<p>No sooner had Ben and Ciara remarried than his therapist, Marlena Evans, convinced them that having a baby was a fine idea. Little did they realize that the doc had been repossessed by Satan!</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
18/22
<p>Once not only baby Bo but Salem was safe from the devil, Ben and Ciara decided to get the hell outta there — by boarding the <em>Living in Cin</em> and sailing around the world.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
19/22
<p>Wait, is that… ? No. It couldn’t be. Ben doesn’t wear glasses any more than he does shirts. This familiar face — and those familiar abs — belong to Wilson’s new character, ladies’ man Alex Kiriakis.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
20/22
<p>… to make “Challie” fans forget that, after Alex had daytime’s first three-way with girlfriends Chanel Dupree and Allie Horton, the latter went back for another round and wound up blowing her romance to smithereens.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
21/22
<p>Eh, not quite. Though Alex had the rarest of rare feelings for Stephanie Johnson — genuine ones! — he made so many missteps during their courtship that the only place she ended up <em>wanting</em> him to walk… was away.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
22/22
