FALL 2024: Glendale & Goodbye to a Legend
This year the ever-growing WebSoap Family was privileged to welcome back Jack Edington into the game with his fantastic series GLENDALE which is wrapping up SEASON ONE very soon!
With family drama and secrets galore, this English village with its quaint cottages and gossipy neighbors has given us a lot to talk about in this edition of THE PHIX SIX!
THE PHIX: Hi Jack! thank you so much for taking some time out so that we could chat about GLENDALE! First thing's first, can tell me about what inspired you to get back into the web-serial/text soap world?
JACK EDINGTON: Thank you for inviting me! I feel humbled to be following such legends as Dallas and Michael!
It was a couple of things, really. I had the basic concept of ‘Glendale’ kicking around for a few years and wanted to find a way to bring it to life. I’ve also been working on writing a novel and wanted a way of road testing a couple ideas/characters. There has always been a part of me that loves the online websoap world, and it felt like the perfect way to entertain people, get the creative juices flowing again, and also get an immediate response to ideas, characters, and stories. The feedback has been invaluable, and the support this little series has received has truly blown me away.
I was also inspired by a friend and former EpiGuide member, Bex Aaron (now under the pen name Bixby Jones). She published her debut novel (‘Soulmate, Stage Right’), and she inspired me to get back into writing and work on my own book. She also sparked a nostalgia in me that made me seek out and want to reconnect with the community that I loved and remembered from back in the day. To be back in touch with so many of the old gang has been wonderful.
THE PHIX: Tell me about Glendale the village. Its a place that feels very comfortable, homey, welcoming in all the best ways. Its also a place where the neighbors definitely like to gossip about each other and your series has some of the best dialogue out there. Do you enjoy writing all that superb conversation as much as we like reading it?
JACK: Oh, that is very kind of you to say! I actually love writing the dialogue more than anything else, and that is how I start each episode. I have the scene setting, a sentence on what is to happen, and then I write the dialogue first in a script format before going back and filling in the rest. To me, I have to have the rhythm of the conversation right first before anything else. Also, as Glendale has an AI-generated cast, it was important to have defined characters that you could envisage without relying on known actors. The conversations are the most crucial part of all that.
I’ll probably sound a bit unhinged, but I also tend to re-read the conversations back to myself in how I hear the characters speak. For example, I imagine that Kate sounds like Joanna Page from ‘Gavin and Stacey’, whereas I hear Queenie as a mix of Maggie Smith in ‘Downton Abbey’ and Hilda Ogden from ‘Coronation Street’. Whether that comes across in the writing, that’s up to the reader, but I try hard to make each character's “voice” be heard.
As for the village itself, I wanted it to have that charm and quintessential Britishness that everyone thinks of when they imagine an English village. I felt like it should be its own character in a way, and hopefully I can continue to build on that in season two.
JACK: Drama! Always the drama! That being said, when I write for Queenie, it is actually the humour I find easier. She seems to come alive, especially in the scenes where she lobs snide remarks at Betty, and I can clearly see and hear her. Maybe I was an 88-year-old woman with an estuary accent in a past life; who knows! I also plan to have Hilda bring a bit of the humour and lighter stuff in season two.
I try to make ‘Glendale’ resemble a British soap as much as I can. They’ve heavily influenced me my whole life, so the series is almost written as a homage to them. It also contains quite a few Easter eggs, if you’re a British soap obsessive like me, or you know what you’re looking for.
THE PHIX: Emma and Julia's confrontation in Episode 3 and Emma and Judith's confrontation in Episode 5 are two of my favorite interactions. SUPER intense. Can you tell us more about these women and their deeply divided relationship?
JACK: I loved writing episode 3. It was actually my favourite episode of the season. It took some time (and many re-readings) to get the flow just right, but I felt it was important that we got to know the core of both these characters early.
Judith, Julia, and Emma are three incredibly strong characters bound together by their love of Michael, their misery at his loss, and their devotion to Nick. They were the three most important women in Michael’s life, and, really, they each played a part in his death (the triggering trauma from Judith sending him to boarding school, his argument with Julia, and Emma calling him). We then also have the complicating factor of Nick and Judith and Julia’s need to keep the secret about his parentage safe, while Emma needs to expose it. Fate had other ideas on that front, and then, when the truth was out, there was nothing left to lose, and we finally saw these women breathe and step into who they truly are.
At the heart of the story, Judith is the problem. At her core, she is cold and ruthless. She doesn’t really take accountability for her actions, and when she does, she’s always quick to turn it around as someone else’s fault. Michael was her favourite, and she has always made that clear. Julia has lived her entire life in her mother’s shadow, desperate to please her and too scared to stand up to her. The same applies to Emma. Judith destroyed her and still shows no real remorse for it. When you look at Judith, there isn’t really a redeeming quality about her, and that is deliberate. She’s supposed to be vile.
Throughout the season, I’ve tried to write Julia as being conflicted. She has been conditioned to believe the worst in Emma and immediately sees her as a threat. But as time has gone on, she’s come to see that, really, Emma is really just like her—a victim of Judith’s lies and manipulation. She also can’t ignore the default setting of distrust, so there’s been this push and pull of her wanting to destroy Emma to protect her family whilst also having a heart and seeing the good in her, and hopefully the readers have picked up on that. We’ve also seen Julia deal with the revelations that Judith paid Emma when Nick was born and also paid Natalie’s blackmail demand. Bit by bit, I’ve tried to show Julia come to the realization that her mother isn’t a good person and is really the root of her problems. This is amplified in the finale.
Emma has suffered from Judith’s actions her whole life, whether it be with addiction, mental health issues, or self-sabotage. Emma is flawed because of Judith’s manipulations, but I’ve tried not to make that define her. At her core, she is good. She makes bad decisions, but she is accountable for her actions, and as the season has progressed, she’s found her voice.
Whether there is a path forward for these three, you’ll find out in time. The finale in particular is a pivotal moment in Judith and Julia’s relationship. Anyone who knows my writing knows I love to foreshadow or recall the past, so have a re-read and you might piece it together.
THE PHIX: Episode 19 was INCREDIBLE. The Accident answered a lot of questions and also added a lot more layers to Michael's story including something dark about James & Jennifer. Can you tell us about writing those dark moments, where you go in your mind as a writer?
JACK: Thank you! That means a lot. We had heard so much about Michael, and he was this thread that linked so many of the stories and characters together, but we really knew nothing about him. I felt it was important to see what actually happened on that momentous day and for the reader to be aware of a lot of things that the residents of Glendale aren't—James being the obvious answer.
To get into that headspace, I find music helps me. When writing the part where Michael dies, I was listening to ‘Looking Back on Life’ by Blair Mowat. It is a beautiful piece of instrumental music from the TV series ‘Nolly’, and it really gets me in the right mindset. Same with ‘Nimrod’ by Edward Elgar; I had that playing while I wrote the scenes where Kate says goodbye to Tom. Both songs seem to have such a visceral impact on me that writing anything dark or emotional seems much easier in that moment.
I also want the readers to feel something. I’d be disappointed if people just skimmed over it and moved on to the next scene. I always hope people feel something from my writing—be it a smile or a crumpling of their mouth in sadness. I want that gut punch moment. I know I enjoy reading things that make me feel something, so I hope I do the same.
THE PHIX: Finally, there is BIG Finale coming up, without giving too much away, what can we expect for Season2 and WHEN can we expect it?
JACK: Yes! It is a finale that definitely moves all the pieces into place for the second season. Some secrets are revealed to the villagers, there’s some departures and arrivals, and there’s a few twists along the way. The final scene also mirrors the opening scenes of the first episode.
I’ve tentatively given myself a return date of March. I’ve mapped out the majority of season two and plan to sit down later this month to start writing and building up a bank of episodes. I have the special 20th anniversary/goodbye to ‘Spencer Street’ coming out in November for a short run, so once that is out the way I’ll be able to return my attention to ‘Glendale’. But for now, I’m working towards March.
What can I tell you about Season 2? Well, the action will pick up 6 months on from the finale, and life in Glendale has changed for a few villagers. There’s a wedding, there’ll be a new villain, and we’ll also see family units built up around Betty and Queenie. I’m also working on a very big story that is twofold—who is it and who did it—and, a bit like ‘EastEnders’, in a flash everything changes.
THE PHIX: Thank you so much Jack!
You can catch up on GLENDALE by clicking right HERE.
 |
| Drake Hogestyn as JOHN BLACK |
Hogestyn had a knack for bringing not only the brawn to his character John, who after all was a mercenary at one point in his many lives, but he could also pack a punch emotionally that not many heroes could do believably. Drake's mysterious John Black was not only tall dark and handsome, he was also emotionally connected to the women that he loved and the children he adored.
His character history is WILD. He was first introduced as John Black then he was revealed to be the thought to be dead Roman Brady with a new face (thanks to Stefano DiMera of course, his long, long, LONG time nemesis). He lived as Roman for a long time too until of course the real Roman came back. Then Back to John. Then we discovered John was really Forest Alamain with a new name. Then he wasn't. It was a lot, but Drake never let that confusing, backtracking and ret-conning shake his performances. We believed EVERY SINGLE REVAMP and loved him all the more.
Days of our Lives has lost a lot of iconic characters in the last few years, but losing Drake will forever change the show in a way that will be long lasting. We'll miss him, both of them, really. Forever.
Here are my favorite love triangles. The below offer up some of my favorite ways soap writers tangled up a famous pair in a really messy and sometimes chaotic romantic whirlwind.
BY CLICKING THE IMAGES BELOW!
