All My Children fans are dying for information about the show's primetime reboot, Pine Valley, but executive producers Mark Consuelos (Mateo Santos) and Kelly Ripa (Hayley Santos) have been pretty quiet about whether or not the series will actually become a reality. They're really good at keeping secrets, and nobody knows this better than their former AMC colleague Winsor Harmon, who worked with the pair as Del Henry in the mid-90s.
Harmon famously was one of the first people to know that Consuelos and Ripa had secretly ran off and gotten married in Las Vegas back in 1996 so, Soap Central had to know -- is the actor now in the know about the pair's AMC spinoff? We asked him if he has any Pine Valley secrets up his sleeve, which made him chuckle and remember the days when "Hayley and Mateo" were a secret real-life duo.
"Mark stayed with me quite a bit; he lived on my couch when he first started, and me, him, and Kelly, we were very close," Harmon tells Soap Central. "All of us were, also with John Callahan [Edmund Grey], who passed away, and Eva LaRue [Maria Santos], Sarah Michelle Gellar [Kendall Hart], and Mark and Kelly, we all had our own little posse there. We used to run around. So, yeah, I knew that Mark and Kelly were seeing each other, and so were John Callahan and Eva, and no one knew that at first, either!"
Harmon recalls that Ripa and Consuelos "ran off, and I knew about it," but he respected their privacy and didn't say anything about having known about their secret marriage until years later. And that might be the case with Pine Valley, as well. The actor insists that he doesn't know any secrets about the project.
"I have not heard anything. I heard that they may be executive producing it, and that's all I've heard. I don't know anything else about it," he says, adding, "There was no doubt that Kelly was destined to be where she is today, because she is a little spitfire. I love her to death, and they're doing great. But I have not heard anything."
Unfortunately, that isn't the only disappointing news that Harmon has regarding the AMC reboot. He reveals to Soap Central that if the spinoff comes to fruition, he probably wouldn't want to reprise his role as Dixie (Cady McClain) and Di's (Kelli Giddish) brother.
"It's not something that I'd be interested in, to be honest with you," he shares. "I never say never, but it's not something that's on my mind at the moment to re-explore."
As Soap Central previously reported, the AMC reboot is tentatively titled Pine Valley and will follow the story of a young journalist with a secret agenda who plans to bring the dark history of the town to light, only to become entangled in a feud between the Kane and Santos families. Leo Richardson is writing and executive producing the project with Robert Nixon (the son of AMC creator Agnes Nixon), who is also on board as an executive producer.
Several other AMC alums have opened up about the possibility of reprising their roles for Pine Valley if the series becomes a reality. Check out what each had to say below.
• Susan Lucci (Erica Kane)
• Eden Riegel (Bianca Montgomery)
• Tonya Pinkins (Livia Frye)
• Elizabeth Hendrickson (Maggie Stone)
• Amelia Heinle (Mia Saunders)
• Esta TerBlanche (Gillian Andrassy)
Harmon starred as AMC's Del from 1994 to 1995 before going on to appear in series such as Baywatch Nights and Acapulco H.E.A.T.. He is best known for his role as Thorne Forrester on The Bold and the Beautiful, which he took over from Jeff Trachta in 1996.
What do you think about Winsor Harmon's hesitance to reprise the role of Del Henry if the All My Children reboot came to fruition? At this point, do you even think Pine Valley will become a reality? We want to hear from you -- and there are many ways you can share your thoughts.
