"Jack [Smith, co-executive producer/ co-head writer] came up with the idea," notes Executive Producer David Shaughnessy. "And we were very clear that we wanted to keep this one under our hats because we knew it would spark interest. In fact, we took the [reveal scene] out of the script so nobody knew what we were going to do until the last minute."

Even the actors were in the dark -- for the most part. Says Greg Rikaart (Kevin), "Somebody leaked it to me before I was supposed to know, and possibly the same person leaked it to Christian [J. LeBlanc, Michael]. So, I knew and he knew, but we didn't know if the other knew," he laughs. "I was thrilled that they decided to take this turn in the story. I adore Christian's work, and getting to work with him would have been great in any context. But getting to work with him as his brother, there's a wealth of emotion to this story that we can explore."

"Even before this came out, people were saying, 'You could be brothers,' " adds LeBlanc. "[Producer] Kathy Foster mentioned that [Rikaart's] style was similar to mine when I was first on the show. So, he's obviously a little crazy [laughs]. There is a similar style as far as energy goes. And it fits in with so much of the profile of Michael. Greg is a wonderful actor, and we hung out a lot before we did those initial scenes and talked about what we thought might be a little of their history, which I usually don't do. It's huge plot-wise. The possibilities are limitless. There's so much backstory to explore, it's an embarrassment of riches."

Shaughnessy relays that fan response to the stunner has been "awesome" and promises more surprises to come. "This is not messing with history; it's reinventing it and revitalizing it," he notes. "We're looking forward to more revelations as we go."

So, just what does the future hold for the Baldwin/Fisher boys? "Guilt and twists," chuckles LeBlanc.