ATWT Jean Passanante Speaks About Nuke & More

1 AS THE WORLD TURNS head writer Jean Passanante spoke with AfterElton about her role on the writing teams in the three biggest coming out storylines ever written on soaps (Billy on OLTL, Bianca on AMC and Luke on ATWT) and where things stand with the Luke and Noah romance on ATWT. From a Luke and Noah perspective, she talks about their lack of airtime, but doesn't say why that is. She also doesn't reveal anything new about the kissing ban, the reason they have not had sex or when/if Noah will ever be integrated more into the canvas of the show. On ONE LIFE TO LIVE's Billy Douglas (Ryan Phillipe): "..at the time there was a discussion about whether to make the gay teen character a part of the main family [the Buchanans], but ultimately it was decided to make Billy a friend of Joey Buchanan’s — not Joey. I think it was a great story, and it was groundbreaking in a lot of ways, but I also think it would have had more impact at that time if it had been somebody in Viki’s family." On ALL MY CHIDREN's Bianca Montgomery (Eden Riegel): "...so when I rolled over to ALL MY CHILDREN a few years later it was a great opportunity to make Bianca come out — because that was a case where she was Erica’s daughter." On AS THE WORLD TURNS' Luke Snyder (Van Hansis): "I think I heard a focus group or something that said, ‘When is Luke going to find a boyfriend?’ It was so clear the audience really cared about Luke. They wanted him to be happy, and so it’s been really interesting." On Luke and Noah (aka Nuke): "It hasn’t been polarizing. Of course you don’t really know whether someone is gay or straight when they tell you they love the story, but I can only assume the positive response has far outweighed any negative feedback we’ve gotten. I mean, the audience loves this couple!" So why haven't Luke and Noah consummated their relationship? Their chastity seems glaring considering even Luke’s significantly younger cousins Parker and Liberty have hit the sack. “Yeah but then everybody yelled at us for that!” she says laughing before turning serious. “We’ll take the time we think we need to tell the story. Part of what you’re experiencing as a delay is the fact that [Luke and Noah] just haven’t been on the air very much.” Timed to mirror the U.S. Presidential election, Luke and Kevin will run against each other for Oakdale U.’s student council president. Passanante says the election storyline will run a few weeks, but that Kevin could be around longer depending on fan reaction.