“Days of Our Lives,” Executive Producer Ken Corday reveals what’s ahead for the latest addition to the Horton family. Days cast Lamon Archey as Eli Grant!
Valerie/Eli: “Valerie’s (Vanessa Williams) son, Eli (Lamon Archey), shows up in Salem and causes quite a stir. Turns out, he has a surprising connection on the canvas. He’s a good addition to the cast,” said Corday in the latest print issue of “Soap Opera Digest.”
We at SC have learned the new character indeed has ties to a prominent family. Eli Grant is apparently Valerie’s son with David Banning (last played by Gregg Marx). David’s mom is Julie Olson Banning Anderson Williams, making Eli Grant the long-lost grandson of Julie and half-brother to Scotty Banning (last played by “General Hospital’s” Rick Hearst!) In an interview with Michael Logan in the latest print issue of “TV Guide,” La Seaforth Hayes gave the scoop on this latest twist that will play out during February Sweeps!
During a shocking event, Julie will find out she has a black (bi-racial) grandson she never knew existed. “Now that Valerie is back in town, we are finding out that she had David’s baby and she told no one. Not even David or Eli,” said Seaforth Hayes. Seaforth Hayes said back in the 70s Days tried an interracial love storyline with Julie’s son David, who fell in love with an African-American girl named Valerie. Alas, NBC got nervous, killing the storyline and sending both characters away. “We were attempting at that time to break some ground, but it’s taken this long to see a flower rising through the ground we broke.”
Surprise, Surprise!
Seaforth Hayes explained the Horton family opens its hearth and home to Eli. “There’s a lot of meaty material there and I’m doing just some risky stuff. The good thing is that Julie is entranced by Eli. And whaddaya know? He really likes Julie too.”
Eli Grant will turn out to be a FBI agent and become quite the hero, though he will do his share of romancing in Salem, according to Seaforth Hayes.
When You Wish Upon a New Daytime Writer
“I don’t know what will happen with our fresh, young writing team, but I would hope that Julie could join in on some of Eli’s adventures, like Alice Horton did with Bo Brady back in the day.” Seaforth Hayes mused, “I don’t know that the new team would see the value in that, but I certainly do!” In addition to David, Seaforth Hayes told the writers, Julie has all kinds of missing relatives, including the aforementioned son Scott Banning! Technically, since Hearst is in his 50s and was on Days from 1989-1990, there’s no way Scotty can have a 30-year-old “older brother” in Eli! But that is the magic of soaps for you!
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