DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[Contessa Donatella]

Bless her heart, I loved Lisa Trusel, but wasn't she pregnant about a dozen times?!!

[carolineg]

Thanks! In theory, I suppose Melissa and Pete could have reunited off screen.  For some reason I thought Melissa mentioned she was married at B/H's wedding, but I could be mistaken.  Since Nathan uses the last name Horton I would assume he's not especially close to his father.  I wonder if the show intentionally left it vague in case they decided to make it Jack or Pete or someone on canvas down the line.  But much like his mother, Nathan failed to make much an impact-even though I did like him.

[dc11786]

Nathan Horton was the son that Melissa was pregnant with when she returned to town in the 1990s. It was referenced onscreen. I believe it was in July 2009 in the sequence where Maggie Horton bestowed Nathan with Tom Horton's medical bag. In the same conversation, we got the only reference that I recall to Nathan's paternity. Maggie said his father wasn't a good person and that was it. Nathan didn't seem to have any desire to explore the topic any further. Around the same time, Ken Corday was quoted in Soap Opera Digest stating that Nathan was Melissa and Pete's son, but this was never confirmed in anything that aired onscreen. 

Nathan's creation seemed to be an offshoot of the original plans for Will Horton. Before Dylan Patton was cast, the original casting call had Will Horton returning to Salem in early 2009 a bit older (he was a baseball player at Salem University). College age Will was suppose to end up in a flirtation with Melanie Layton. I suspect the original plan was to reveal Nicole was Melanie's mother and that the post-baby switch reveal would have had Sami learning this secret and keeping it in order to enact revenge on Nicole for taking Sydney. This was all clearly tossed when they decided to bring back Carly. 

As someone who was a fan of that era, I was incredibly disappointed in the decision to ditch Mark Hapka early in 2011.  While Hapka's compliants weren't wrong, the show was pretty much structured around the female leads. I thought the sequence that they gave him in late 2010 (the virus that a pre-Dario Francisco San Martin gave Melanie and Nathan) was incredibly strong. Hapka and Burnett knew how to play the angst as well as Shelley Hennig knew how to just bare it all as Stephanie a few weeks later when Nathan called off the wedding. I felt like Melanie and Nathan would have been the plan for much of 2011 with Melanie's pregnancy being what kept Nathan and Melanie at odds with each other. I was very sorry when Nathan left town to work at John Hopkins. 

Has Nathan even been mentioned since he left Salem?

[Contessa Donatella]

This was a period of time when I had been a lapsed viewer & was trying to get back into the show &  seemed to like people no one else did & I stayed confused as much as if I'd been a total newbie. None of my deep knowledge did me any good. Two questions: Who did Mark H play? Who played Nathan?

[JAS0N47]

Just got an update on the Horton House address. I noticed a few weeks back that it was listed on the sign as 2818. I brought it to the show's attention. They said they don't know why it was changed, that perhaps the 545 sign broke and it was mistakenly replaced with 2818. But they will be changing it back to 545 now, so at some point in Spring 2023, all should be right again on the Horton Front Porch!

[dc11786]

Mark Hapka played Nathan Horton.

[Contessa Donatella]

Thnx. I was hoping that was the case, just had to circle around to get there. I liked 'em both!

[Michael]

I did not know that about the original plans for Will! I remember there were rumors around that time that someone who'd been on GH might be reading for an aged Will, but he seemed WAY too old to be Sweeney's son, and then Patton showed up not too much later.

Nathan was mentioned a few times in 2011-12. For some reason, I have a memory of Maggie mentioning that he was in Japan with Melissa?!

[Contessa Donatella]

I apologize. She has only 4 chlidren.

[victoria foxton]

 

  

[victoria foxton]

@Tonksadora Donna here are some clips featuring Nathan. There aren't many one of them was a product placement for Cheerios. Days did that a lot back then. 

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Edited September 21, 2022 by victoria foxton

[Contessa Donatella]

Thnx oh-so-very much, VeeEff! I'm appreciating! It. I loved Nathan & I loved Melanie & that was basically forbidden love.

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[carolineg]

Thanks for such a detailed explanation!  I wasn't a big fan of the show at this time, but I did like Nathan/MH.  He wasn't a terribly memorable character, but he was a character I could see bringing back throughout the years.

Interesting stuff about Will and Melanie.   I always thought Mia might end up being Nicole's daughter, but perhaps I am mistaken.

Who was reading for Will from GH?  The actor that played Logan?

[Michael]

I think it was Josh Duhon, yeah.

[DynamiteKiddo]

I remember (and just confirmed on an old Daytime Confidential post lol) that in 2008, Josh Duhon, Jon Prescott (ex-Mike, ATWT), and Dylan Bruce (ex-Chris, ATWT) all auditioned for Philip if JKJ hadn’t re-signed during down to the wire contract negotiations.