On Days of our Lives, Philip Kiriakis (John-Paul Lavoisier) recently arrived back in Salem, and this time he wants to take over the Titan empire permanently and run it the way he thinks his late father, Victor Kiriakis (the late John Aniston) would, plus have the legacy that he sees as his birthright. This has puts him at immediate odds with his half-brother, Xander (Paul Telfer), and the story has taken off from there.
John-Paul Lavoisier re-emerged on the DAYS canvas last month reprising the role of Philip for a third time. The former One Life to Live alum (where he played Rex Balsom from 2002-2012), first played Philip from 2015–2016, then returned for a brief run in 2023, and now is back on the Peacock streaming soap opera for a much longer run in 2024 and into 2025, and possibly beyond.
In a new sit-down conversation on You Tube’s Michael Fairman Channel, Lavoisier opened up about Philip’s machinations, his upcoming love story, his memories of working with his TV dad, John Aniston, and co-star, Drake Hogestyn (John Black) who passed away back in September of this year from pancreatic cancer.
Photo: JPI
In addition, Lavoisier gives his thoughts on his DAYS co-stars from: Paul Telfer, Linsey Godfrey (Sarah), Lauren Koslow (Kate), Louise Sorel (Vivian), Abigail Klein (Stephanie) and more. Of course, any interview with Lavoisier would not be complete with discussing his time in Llanview, wrapping up Rex’s final moments and if he would be on-board for a One Life to Live reboot 3.0.
JP recalls working with the TV legend John Aniston who passed away on November 11, 2022 at the age of 89. “Anytime he invited me to come to his room to run lines, it was good,” he shared. “It’s chaotic in the hair and makeup room and in the hallways and things like that. But anytime I was gifted the time to be in his (dressing) room, and just sitting there talking man to man, telling stories with a closed door, and then we get to our lines, was good. John’s the greatest. He felt like my dad. You can’t hate John Aniston. So, any anger that Philip would ever have towards Victor, that was acting.”
Blindsided by the news when he learned of Aniston’s passing while at a social gathering, JP expressed, “Unfortunately, I was in a room with 200 people, and a stranger told me. I was speechless. It was just shocking. It just punched me in the face. I went home and I thought about it a lot. Then, of course, I was like, ‘What’s the show going to do?’ There’s such a big gap between writing and filming and shooting and all that, and airing all this stuff. But, I’m so lucky. We meet a lot of people in this life. He really is one on that short list of, ‘I’m so glad I got to know him, at least for a little bit.’ I’m just so happy with the memories.”
Photo: JPI
In an emotional moment, Lavoisier recalled his final scenes with Aniston. “The last time I worked with John (was a scene where) Philip is saying goodbye to Victor. I’ll probably get a little teary (telling this). We were having a heart to heart in a doorway and we hugged. I remember for some reason, we had to hold the hug much longer than you would normally hold a hug ever on set, and that was the final time that I saw him. The scene was something along the lines of, “I love you. I love you, too. You’ll always be my son. Thanks, dad.’ It was kind of a nice closing instead of just like seeing somebody and saying ‘Bye.'”
Photo: JPI
Lavoisier also shared memories of his time knowing Drake Hogestyn, which paralleled the experiences of so many of his co-stars. “When I had come back for Victor’s memorial, there was a scene where actors were rehearsing in the Brady Pub, and Drake looked up and he walked past everybody and came over to me and said, “Hey man. Thanks for coming and playing with us again’. He shook me and gave me like a bro hug. That was my last interaction with him. It was cool because I hadn’t been here in a while and he made me feel welcome.”
Photo: JPI
As for how Philip views Xander and if he would like there to be some kind of brotherly love, JP answered, “I think Philip wants it there to be. It’s a Ying and a Yang. I think that if Philip could wave a magic wand, he would wish Xander would be a little more like him and levelheaded. In a perfect world, Philip would like Xander, genuinely. But for the sake of story, hopefully not!”
Photo: JPI
Coming up in the new year, it has been teased that Philip and Stephanie will reignite their former relationship and seemingly fall back in love. JP shared, “When I learned about the past that Philip had with Stephanie (in the way I portray it) I decided that Stephanie is the one that Philip really wants to be with, like ‘I really have the hots for this one. I really want to make this one work again.’ And I mean, to put it bluntly, like ‘I want us to have babies.’ That was the decision that John-Paul made for Philip going into our stuff.”
Photo: JPI
According to JP, working with TV ‘mom’, Louise Sorel, has been one of the greatest experiences he has had thus far on DAYS. He shared what happened when Sorel and him met for the first time. “We had never really spoken. And long story short, we have so much in common. I didn’t know that she was a New Yorker. We know a lot of the same people in real life. My second favorite all-time show is The Golden Girls, and her (late) husband, (Herb Edelman) was on the show, which I had no idea. Louise is one of my favorite kinds of human beings to spend time with. We ran our lines over and over, and it was just so pleasant and wonderful. When she told me where she lived, my mind immediately went to Robin Strasser (ex-Dorian, OLTL, ex-Vivian, DAYS) because Robin kind of lived in that area. So, when Louise told me where she lived, I went, ‘Do you know Robin Strasser?’ Swear to God, and we went from there, and then there you go.”
Photo: JPI
In January of 2012, One Life to Live aired its final episodes on ABC, and, in story, Rex and his family, wife, Gigi (Farah Fath), and son Shane (Austin Williams), decided to move to London, thus ending Lavoisier’s 10-year run on the ABC soap opera. JP opened up on if he felt closure for him and the character that made him soap-famous. “I will say in hindsight, now I’m satisfied, I’m fulfilled. I’m good with closing that book. However, if there wasvolume two, I would absolutely be intrigued. l’ll tell you, a table read with 25 of the One Life to Live people, I would be grinning from ear-to-ear. It would be so fun. We wouldn’t be able to get through, like sitting around and you just have all the memories coming back.”
Photo: JPI
As to what DAYS fans should look forward to with Philip’s story as the months roll on, Lavoisier previewed, “I would say it’s going to be quite exciting, and it doesn’t stop. It keeps going, and going, and going …”
Check out our full conversation with John-Paul Lavoisier below.
Now let us know, are you enjoying JP back as Philip? Do you hope he takes down everyone in his path and Philip takes over Titan for a long time? Are you here for a Philip/Stephanie redux romance? Would you like to see a One Life to Live reboot somehow, somewhere? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
