Exclusive: DAYS's Billy Flynn Weighs In On 'Complicated' Abigail Return

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Touch Me, Feel Me: (From l.) Are Jack (Matthew Ashford), Chad (Billy Flynn), Jennifer (Cady McClain) and AnnaLynne McCord's character poised to be one big, happy family?

After "Abigail’s" positive DNA test results and Jennifer’s hesitance to embrace the young woman as her daughter, Chad is left feeling a roller coaster of emotions on Days of our Lives . Meanwhile, actor Billy Flynn, who portrays Chad, found himself in a quandary regarding his performance.

Mixed Emotions

“It’s complicated,” begins Flynn. “It was originally written that Chad was going to be all-in — that he thought that it was Abigail and Jack was the skeptical one. That just never made sense to me, especially because of the connection [that Chad and Abigail] had. So the way I played it was that Chad was all-in believing that it was her, but when he finally sees her, it's not the person he was chasing. If it is Abigail, he’s not getting back the Abigail he went looking for. So that's the mindset I went into it with.”

Flynn presented his interpretation of things to co-star Matthew Ashford, who plays Abigail’s father, Jack. “We kind of talked about it, and we actually switched it a bit,” explains Flynn. “Jack was the one who was like, ‘My daughter!' Because a father's love for his daughter could be a lot more blinding. So Jack was skeptical leading up to [the DNA test] and then made the switch, whereas Chad was all-in and then made the switch to be skeptical."

Flynn points out that there are plenty of reasons for Chad to have doubts. “He knows the way Abigail moves,” Flynn says. “Even if somebody looks different, there are going to be [other similarities]. Chad's searching for that. He's looking for something that doesn't seem to be there – a tic, the way she moves, the way she touches her hair. Those things aren't going to change. I tried to at least [convey] that. Again, it was tough because originally Chad was supposed to be all-in [accepting her as Abigail], so it had to be in my performance that [Chad] became skeptical.”

After Jack and Jennifer return to Boston to give Abigail some space, Chad opens up to Julie about his feelings; specifically, the fact that his returned-from-the-dead wife has no memories of their life together . “Chad’s like, ‘Okay, if it is Abigail, maybe these memories will come back to her and I hope they do, because God forbid this person doesn't remember how in love we are,’ ” explains Flynn. “But also, ‘What if it isn't? And what if I'm going to look stupid?’ Those are all things that Chad confides in Julie about – 'Please don't let Abigail forget the first moment we kissed or the first time we said, ‘I love you’ or the moments we had with our kids.' "

As viewers know, Chad has reason to be concerned, since Abigail made that cryptic phone call to someone reporting that Jack and Jennifer left Salem. However, since he’s in the dark, Chad tries to adjust the circumstances he’s living with. He finds Abigail in their old bedroom at the DiMera mansion, and she tells him she wants to stay there because it might trigger something. Later, Abigail finally has a memory and reveals it to Chad.

But it's not quite the total recall that Chad has his heart set on. Flynn describes Chad's reaction as "like, 'Why would you remember that out of everything?' " But, notes the actor, “It’s written that he has hope. So it’s like, 'This is great. You remember something, but I want you to remember this other stuff.’ Chad's a hopeful romantic person, and he’s also looking for things to believe, too.”