Days of Our Lives Exclusive: Paul Telfer Teases the Salem Connection Xander’s Mom Doesn’t Even Know Yet That She Has
Xander may not have many people in his corner on Days of Our Lives, but one person he can always count on is his past and future mother-in-law, Maggie. In many ways, she isn’t just Sarah’s mom, but also Xander’s. And we aren’t just talking about the fact that she was, unknowingly, his stepmom. Their friendship, love and respect for each other has remained constant during much of his time in Salem.
Paul Telfer explains it to Soaps.com by saying, Maggie “loved Victor but also learned to tolerate his extremes of moral turpitude. And I think she can’t help but see that in Xander, regardless of knowing or not knowing that he’s Victor’s son.”
Plus, he adds, “I feel like people always forget that, on top of all the terrible things that Xander has done, he did save Maggie’s life when she thought she had killed Adrienne in that car crash drunk driving and wanted to kill herself in jail.”
For all of “Xarah’s” ups and downs, and Xander’s crimes even after turning over a new leaf, Telfer says, “It would take a lot, I think, for Xander to do at this point for Maggie to not be like, ‘Yeah, but he’s all right by me because he saved my life. He loves my daughter. He treats her like a god. So what more do you want from a son-in-law?’”
That connection has been crucial to Xander, so it makes sense that his relationship with his surrogate mom, Maggie, and his implied issues with his real mom, Fiona, have both been cornerstones of Xander’s life in Salem from almost the beginning. And they’ve been tied together right from the start.
“It goes right back to the beginning of Xander and Sarah,” Telfer reminds us, “because the first time I ever talked about any of this stuff was when Maggie was going through her relapse with alcohol and I had one of my first real tender scenes ever on the show.”
It was “certainly my first [tender scene] with Suzanne, where I talk about my traumatic childhood, my alcoholic mother and all that. That’s when he opened himself up to Maggie for the first time, which is the other major relationship that Xander’s got.”
“So,” he concludes, “to have it finally play out and play out consistent with the backstory that I’d already established is really satisfying.”
While Telfer remains tight-lipped about how this long-awaited reunion between mother and son is going to play out, you can bet that Maggie’s going to be a crucial part of the story. And hopefully, should Xander need it, she’ll also be a support system that his biological mother may never be able to give him.
Whether Xander’s mom knows it or not, she’s already tied irrevocably to Maggie. We’d guess that Xander’s broken relationship with his own mom is a big part of why he’s bonded so strongly with Maggie. And in the end, that may be Fiona’s only hope at ever earning her son’s forgiveness.
From Maggie’s own battle with alcoholism, to her love of a man who’s done as many horrible things as Victor, she could be the bridge Xander and his mom need to finally bring them together and heal.
