Will Horton and Sonny Kiriakis are fictional characters from the American daytime drama Days of Our Lives. They are notable for the first male-male wedding in US daytime drama history, and for being Days of Our Lives first same-sex supercouple. The couple was originally portrayed by actors Chandler Massey as Will and Freddie Smith as Sonny, who brought acclaimed popularity to the pairing.
Actor Guy Wilson took over playing Will from January 2014 to October 2015 – with his tenure including the characters' engagement and wedding, and Will's death – and then Massey returned to the role in September 2017, when Will was found to be alive after all, after fan outrage at Will's death led to the show reversing it. Massey played Will again as a show regular for three years through to September 2020, when Will and Sonny exited the show together.
In September 2021, Will and Sonny featured in the spin-off show Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem, a one week limited series, in which the role of Sonny was recast with actor Zach Tinker, with Massey again as Will. Both actors re-appeared as the couple in the subsequent spin-off Days of Our Lives: A Very Salem Christmas in December 2021; and then Will and Sonny returned to the main show in March 2022, with Tinker debuting as Sonny on the parent show, and Massey appearing in a recurring capacity as Will. Will and Sonny exited again in February 2023.
On internet message boards and in the soap media, the couple is sometimes referred to by the portmanteau "WilSon" (for Will and Sonny). Will is the son of Lucas and Sami and Sonny is the son of Justin and Adrienne.
Casting and development
In 2010, Chandler Massey took over the role of legacy Days of Our Lives character Will Horton, and in June 2011 it was announced that actor Freddie Smith was joining the show as a gay character, and that the show was embarking on its first ever gay romance. By the Fall of 2011 rumors were going around that Will was gay and he was going to be in a relationship with Freddie Smith's character, Sonny Kiriakis. At the end of 2011, it was confirmed that Will was going to be gay.
Will and Sonny were soon confirmed to going to be in a relationship. Chandler Massey said, "Will admires Sonny for being comfortable in who he is and seem like he has it all together." Will and Sonny were soon put in a relationship and critics and audience liked it. Many critics have admired it for treating this couple like any other heterosexual couple.
Chandler Massey commented on the relationship of Will and Sonny and said, "As far as Sonny and Will go, I get the power couple thing between them and they have the healthiest relationship on the show, believe it or not. But life throws all these things at them and basically the only way Will can get through it is by leaning on Sonny so they'll be staying together and only grow deeper in love."
In August 2013, Days of Our Lives announced that Massey had left the show in order to pursue his education, and Days had found the "right recast" for Will This was revealed the following month to be Guy Wilson. Massey's last episode aired January 2, 2014 and Wilson's first episode aired January 8. Wilson played Will until the character was murdered, with his last appearance being October 13, 2015. Despite Days executive producer Ken Corday saying that characters who die "are dead", it was announced in May 2017 that Chandler Massey was returning to the role of Will. Massey's new episodes commenced September 15, 2017.