Casting Chair: Five Actors ‘Days of our Lives’ Should Consider When Recasting Paul Narita

Days of our Lives was riding high with the successful, sexy pairing of Paul Narita and Will Horton earlier this year. For once, it really felt like the show had found a match made in heaven with the two characters who once found themselves on opposing sides. However, the show ultimately suffered a major blow when phenomenal actor Christopher Sean decided to vacate his role as Paul Narita. While he’s going to be blasting off to a galaxy far far away (that’s Star Wars, right?), there’s no reason for us to lose Paul for too long!

Without Paul, we find ourselves faced with an even more boring and unrootable Sonny and Will pairing. To that, I say, “Not on my watch!” So I’m here to present a top five list of actors that would make a great Paul recast.

5. Tim Kano

Instagram: @tim_kano

Coming in at number five is the wild card of the list! Why is it a wild card, you ask? Tim Kano is currently starring on Neighbours as the half-Japanese son of a white legacy character… Sound familiar? Now I’m sure Tim is more than happy with his current gig as he’s been there for about two years now and there are still many more stories to tell with his charming character Leo Tanaka, but a guy can dream!

Back in 2015 to coincide with the return to Australian airwaves, Days of our Lives held a countrywide talent search for a role on the show. Ultimately, Alexander Bruszt won the role Dr. Fynn Thompson — who only held the role for a year before being written off. Recently, we also learned that Andrew Steel, an actor from Australian soap Home and Away (who initially lost the Dr. Fynn role to Bruszt), joined DAYS in an undisclosed role. This just goes to show that DAYS has no problem with and could always again consider an international casting!

Instagram: @tim_kano

Tim is mostly known for his work on Neighbours but since joining the Australian soap back in 2016, his character of Leo and his brother David have been focal points of the show and have even had a spin-off special series. 

Back when Paul Narita first showed up to Salem, he was cocky and confident in just about every aspect of his life. Even when facing a major injury, he’d flirt with nurses and other hospital staff as if to mask that fear. We all know now that this bravado was just mere overcompensating to hide his true sexuality, but I’d like to see that side of him return.

Asian representation in American media, let alone in daytime is incredibly tiny, almost microscopic. Even smaller than that are the number of male Asian characters  in media who are allowed to be sexy and confident. The modelesque Tim plays that side of Leo so well down under, that I know he’d kill it stateside. 

Maybe immense confidence is just a side effect of bionic legs or whatever miracle cure they find for our new Paul.

4. Peter Sudarso

Instagram: @petersadrian

After joining forces with father John Black at his private investigator firm, Paul Narita quickly gained a reputation as a new age Salem superhero. We can’t forget that for a time, he was also a superstar pro baseball player too! But there’s a side to Paul that we never really got to explore and that was his nerdy side. Remember when he and Will first began to bond over their mutual love of a Japanese punk band? Seeing Paul showcase a new side to him outside of being the hunky hero would be so refreshing. I think Peter Sudarso would play a nerdier, more relatable Paul extremely well!

Peter Sudarso is of Indonesian descent but has always expressed his love for all things Japanese. Most will know him from his time on Power Rangers Ninja Steel as the blue ranger, but he’s also pretty big in the fandom itself! An avid consumer of Japanese culture from anime to Super Sentai (where Power Rangers gets its source material) and even tabletop roleplaying. can bring a piece of themselves to their role. Peter already plays his Power Rangers role with a touch of adorable geekiness so adding that to Paul would be a breeze!

Instagram: @petersadrian

As of right now, it doesn’t appear that he has many projects lined up for the remainder of the year so I think now’s a good time for an audition at Burbank Studios. 

For Peter’s Paul, I’d love to see a bit more quirkiness added to the character. Paul has had numerous jobs since coming to Salem, one of which involved the incredibly painful loss of his throwing arm. Maybe when he returns healed, he’ll still have a bit of a limp or after effect of the paralysis that might make him a liability in the private investigation field so he heads back to the drawing board to find what really inspires him.

It’s then that we’re all surprised to learn that Paul has forsaken a traditional career route to start a Youtube channel where he vlogs about his daily life and goings on in Salem. This could put him in direct competition with Will’s reporting at The Spectator and in direct conflict with some Salemites who might not want all of their business put out there in vlogs. Or maybe he joins in the ever growing trend of professional video game players and we can see him let his geek flag fly! But don’t fly too high, we wouldn’t want another nerdy Asian stereotype on our hands.

Young male soap opera characters are never written in a fun and youthful light anymore, usually just following in their father’s drab businessman footsteps. I can see Peter’s Paul Narita being the unique, millennial man we’ve all been asking for!