Jon Lindstrom On Ryan’s Demise

Jon Lindstrom took the latest demise of Ryan Chamberlain, the serial-killing baddie he’s played on and off since 1992, in stride.

“It’s not my show,” he reasons. “If the powers-that-be figure that there’s a character that has to be taken off the canvas in order to move other characters forward, that’s the way it is. And, you know, if Ryan is gone [again] after 25 years of having been thought dead, 25 years from now, they could just bring him back! To me, it’s neither here nor there. I mean, I would always be sad to say good-bye to such a terrific, colorful character, but as I’m fond of saying, ‘Every show closes.’ I’ve just been around too long to let something like this leave any kind of mark other than, ‘That’s just what we do,’ or at least, ‘It’s part of what we do.’ ”

The actor will, of course, continue on as Ryan’s twin, Kevin, and had the interesting challenge of playing one of his characters reacting to the death of the other. “I ultimately think, despite all the difficulties that they’ve had over the years between the two of them, it’s still a death in the family,” Lindstrom reflects. “I didn’t play it sobbing and crying, though Kevin does believe he’s gone. I played it as if there’s a realization that this person is never coming back, which is what I think what happens when you lose a family member and that kind of hits you.”

The actor says he will miss the twisted on-screen dynamic Ryan had established in recent months with Alley Mills’s Heather. “She is absolutely wonderful to work with,” he raves. “She’s very old-school, which I really appreciate! For an old guy like me, I love that she wants to rehearse and she wants to find the beats and the truth in the scenes for herself and for the relationship. She just brings a good, high standard to the work from the ground up. It’s not like I worked with a bunch of slouches, I work with great people, but having Alley come in as fresh blood just made the work really exciting. I have really, really loved working with her.”

Lindstrom is also grateful that reprising Ryan allowed him to work more closely with Maura West (Ava). “Maura is a terrific actor,” he says. “I had a great time working with her on AS THE WORLD TURNS [as Craig and Carly]. I remember that when Frank [Valentini, executive producer] told me he was bringing Ryan back, she texted me a couple of days later and said, ‘Hey, guess what? I’m supposedly working with you again!’ And I realized, ‘Ah, she’s the blonde [that Ryan will be obsessed with this time around].’ Nobody had told me any of that stuff, but I thought, ‘Okay, obviously, Ryan is going to fixate on another blonde and it’s going to be Maura! This should be a great time!’ And it was.”