Steven Bergman/AFF-USA.COM / MEGA; XJJohnson/jpistudios.com
Up To Bat: Paul Telfer’s Xander is taking some big swings lately.
Paul Telfer’s Xander Cook has come a long way from his early days as a hired gun on Days of our Lives. Now a devoted husband, father and businessman attempting to inch down the straight and narrow, the character’s dark side still lurks beneath the surface and has been raging of late. Convinced that Brady is the drunk driver that ran down his wife, Sarah, and left her paralyzed, Xander has been on a mission to exact revenge of the volatile variety. Telfer chatted with Soap Opera Digest about the storyline turn, the character’s and wavering on the edge between good guy and scoundrel and more.
Soap Opera Digest: This tragic twist has really stirred up Xander’s dark side. What are your thoughts on it?
Paul Telfer: The big issues with Xander have always been his rage and his capacity to lie to people that he loves. I feel like he’s done a lot of work on the lying, but not so much work on the rage. One of the things I like about this storyline and where it goes is that Xander feels completely justified in taking revenge on Brady, but he’s still being very selfish. He can’t help himself. He keeps ignoring Sarah’s desire to just deescalate and not cause any more pain or suffering for everyone. That’s been her perspective throughout the whole thing. She’s continually encouraged him to not overreact and lash out, that regardless of what the truth may be, it’s not an appropriate response. Even though Xander knows that, he feels that someone needs to do something, Brady must be punished, and that he should be the one to do it to satisfy his own sense of justice and vengeance. But at least this time, he’s not sneaking around behind Sarah’s back to do it.
Digest: That’s true. Xander has been very upfront with Sarah.
Telfer: He’s like, “Here’s who I am. You knew who I was when we got married. You know what I’m capable of. I’ve kept it under wraps. I’m not kidnapping grannies or little girls anymore, but when somebody hits you with a car and leaves you on the street to die, you better believe I’m going to do something about it.” Even though it’s not heroic and I wouldn’t want anybody in real life to behave that way, I do think it’s in character and does show, in a kind of perverse way, some growth. He is listening to Sarah, but then still insisting that this needs to be done. And there’s almost a little part of Sarah that you can see gets it. She’s a wonderful person, but she’s not beyond feelings of vengeance and frustration at what’s happened. So there is a tiny part of her that’s almost like, “Oh, there is someone out there who’s going to try and do something to right this wrong.” Even though she would never admit that or vocalize that, it’s still there.
Digest: Were you happy to see this dark side of Xander emerge again? Because it is part of his DNA.
Telfer: Yeah, I don’t think he’s done enough yet to be cured or rehabilitated from that kind of behavior. I mean, I know I’ve been here 10 years, but still… When I showed up, [Xander] was putting people in ovens and shooting Marlena. People don’t just magically change overnight. It’s really important to keep all that there and also that he’s not so easily forgiven. There’s still only a couple of people on the canvas that even tolerate Xander, which is why I’m continually amazed I’m still on the show honestly. He just doesn’t have much of a foundation of friendship or family to remain. Yet somehow, like a cockroach, he keeps holding on. I like that he’s overwhelmingly kind to one or two people and that’s it. Everybody else is either gray or he’s straight up malicious towards them.
Digest: Also, he has been relatively good for a while now.
Telfer: My joke around the set has been that Xander thinks because he’s been so good, he deserves to be allowed to murder someone every now and then. Just a little cheat. Just a little murder snack. A little crippling here, a little murdering there. He’s been so good that he should be allowed a little cheat meal. It’s certainly the way I look at it. I think there’s a part of the audience that sees it that way as well. They don’t want him to be completely rehabilitated and neutered. Then he’d just be a guy. Whereas if he’s someone that’s either constantly fighting against these darker impulses and succeeding, there’s some drama there to be had. But you have to have him fail every now and then as well. And if he’s failing for what he thinks is a good reason, it’s at least relatable.
Digest: Do you prefer playing him good, bad, or somewhere in that middle gray area where you never know what he’s going to do next?
Telfer: We’re kind of the first audience for these scripts [as actors]. When we first get them we’re excitedly leafing through them to see what happens as well, especially at times like this. But it’s my preference to not be able to know, “Well, Xander’s good right now, so he won’t do anything bad.” It’s always kind of a nice surprise when they let me dip back into his old bag of tricks. I loved it when they had me be the one that killed Konstantin. It’s really what I’d been asking for for a long time. I was like, “If you want him to be tough and mean, have him do it to a baddie, to a fellow bad guy” kind of thing. It’s a way of having your cake and eating it, too. But Xander can’t just be that, because then he becomes an antihero and that’s not really what he’s supposed to be, I don’t think. So this is my preference, where it’s all very context dependent. Under the right circumstances, he can be heroic. Under the right circumstances, he can be a villain. Under the wrong circumstances, he can be heroic. Under the wrong circumstances, he can be a villain. It keeps everybody on their toes, and as long as it comes from a justifiable place for the character to be feeling and wanting to do the things that he’s doing, I’m happy.