James Reynolds Reveals How He Feels about Beyond the Gates

The legendary James Reynolds, best known for his role as Abe Carver on Days of Our Lives, is this week’s guest on Soapy, the podcast hosted by soap stars Rebecca Budig and Greg Rikaart.

James Reynolds on Generations

In this week’s installment, Reynolds, who is now the longest-running male actor on the Peacock soap opera, spoke about his ground-breaking roles, working with the one and only Jackée Harry, and so much more.

Reynolds originated the role of Abe Carver on DAYS back in 1981. And after serving as police commander at the Salem PD on the NBC daytime serial for nine years, Reynolds moved to the new series, Generations, in 1991 to play powerful business tycoon Henry Marshall. He would replace Taurean Blacque in the role. 

Looking back, Reynolds said, “Being one who loves history, it was wonderful to make history in that way and to be part of this groundbreaking show. And so being offered the chance to do that was just something I really couldn’t say…“

How He Feels About Beyond the Gates

Like Generations, which was the first soap opera to feature a Black-American family from its inception, we now have Beyond the Gates.

The newest kid on the soap block premiered in February 2025 on CBS and made history by first daytime television soap opera to feature a predominantly African-American cast since Generations and the first new daytime soap to debut on a major American broadcast network since Passions, both of which ran on NBC.

When asked how he feels about the show, Reynolds was clear, “I feel great about it. I think it’s done several things. For one thing, it’s nice to have that exposure again for black upper middle class family to show what the black middle class is like.”

James added, “Too often we don’t see the black middle class. Those films or TV shows that do tend to kind of go back and forth from one experience to the other. As you see from Beyond the Gates, as you see from so many things, your blackness is important to your existence, no matter what. If you’re a billionaire or, well, some billionaires. But if you’re wherever you fall on that economic scale, that is the essence of your existence in this country. I think Beyond the Gates shows that in a most entertaining way, a lovely way.”

The Genre Feels Alive

Like many of us, BTG woke up something in this genre, and Reynolds even pointed out that, “I also feel it’s brought renewed attention to daytime and daytime drama,” he said. “They’re very good about keeping the show alive and publicized, and I think that’s very important. Very pretty cast.”

As to whether he thinks soaps still have a way to go in representing the black community, James believes they’ve come a long way. “We see a lot more people, as you hear from complaints sometimes, for people who aren’t very happy about seeing people of color. I use that term because I think we need to enhance the roles of all people of color, both in front and behind the camera.”

Racism

James added, “Now we look at what I’m sorry is blatant racism coming out all over this country. We absolutely need the representation of everyone, but people of color have to continue to be able to put the hands in the dirt and be able to hang on. So media representation is by far the best road to that because that’s what everybody sees. And I’m pleased that media companies seem to be holding on in many, many ways, and I hope that continues.”

James Reynolds also spoke highly of working with his Days leading lady, Jackee Harry, aka Paulina Price Carver. Watch the full interview below!

Photo Credit: CBS Broadcasting Inc.

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