Occupation: Executive at Sunset Studios

Parents: Will Thomerson and Georgie Blackthorne

Children: Michael Blackthorne (with Brooke)

Relationships: Winter Austen, Brooke Taylor, Janet Harper, Sophie Lawson, Mackenzie Stone

Appearances: Seasons 1- 4 & 6

Who’d Play Him: Chris Evans

The Lost Blackthorne: Ethan was born to James Blackthorne’s younger sister, Georgie, who died not long after giving birth to him. Believing Ethan’s father had abandoned them, James raised his nephew as his own and concealed the truth that his biological father was unscrupulous Broadway producer Will Thomerson. Ethan grew up at the Blackthorne mansion alongside James’s children, becoming one of the family’s gentler and more dependable members despite never fully understanding where he belonged.

Ethan’s life changed when he developed feelings for James’s much younger fiancée, Brooke Taylor. Hoping to keep them apart, James paid nurse Winter Austen to seduce Ethan, but the distraction proved temporary. After James and Brooke’s relationship deteriorated, Ethan accompanied Brooke to the Dominican Republic, where they finally gave in to their attraction and made love. The following day, Ethan was caught in a jeep explosion and presumed dead. He later returned, explaining that he had survived the blast and been cared for at a remote mission, only to discover that Brooke had reconciled with James and was pregnant.

Brooke allowed James to believe that her son, Michael, was his, while Ethan remained unaware that he might be the baby’s biological father. The secret eventually destroyed Ethan’s relationship with Winter and deepened the hostility between him and James. When Michael was kidnapped, Brooke finally admitted that Ethan was his father. Ethan threw himself into finding the child, unaware that the abduction had been orchestrated by Will, who had recently discovered that Ethan was his own son. After Will was murdered, Ethan helped James cover up Brooke’s involvement while searching through Will’s belongings for information that might lead them to Michael.

The revelation that Will was his father left Ethan furious over the lies that had shaped his entire life. He spiraled into drinking and reckless behavior, eventually striking Sierra DeWitt with his car and serving time in jail. Although Michael was ultimately returned safely, Ethan remained trapped between his love for Brooke, his resentment toward James, and the painful knowledge that another man was raising his son.

Ethan was later presumed dead in an earthquake, leaving Brooke and the Blackthornes to mourn him. In reality, he had survived and eventually landed in a New York prison under the name Dan Cody. There, he met Kyle Fenwick and allowed Kyle to use his connection to the Blackthornes to enter Brooke’s life. When James finally discovered Ethan alive, Ethan’s first concern was that Brooke had fallen in love with Kyle. His return forced the family to confront another web of lies and reopened the complicated bond between Ethan, Brooke, James, and Michael.

Despite the betrayals and tragedies surrounding him, Ethan has remained one of the more fundamentally decent members of the Blackthorne family. His greatest conflicts have rarely come from ambition or cruelty, but from being denied the truth about his parents, his son, and the woman he loved. Again and again, Ethan has been lost, mourned, and rediscovered—forever searching for the family and future that should have been his.