Occupation: CEO of Jaguar Studios

Relationships: Alex Reynolds, Heather Rydell, Marilee Wells, Georgie Blackthorne

Appearances: Seasons 1 & 2

Who’d Play Him: Peter Bergman

The Enemy at the Gates: Will Thomerson was an ambitious theatrical producer whose lifelong feud with James Blackthorne began decades before either man became a Hollywood power. As a young man, Will courted James’s sister, Georgie, but abandoned her when an opportunity arose to produce on Broadway. Georgie later gave birth to Will’s son, Ethan, and died soon after due to complications. James raised Ethan as his own and concealed the identity of his father, believing the ruthless and unreliable Will had forfeited any right to the boy.

Years later, Will returned from New York and took control of the struggling Jaguar Studios, intending to use the company to settle his old score with James. He found an ally in James’s embittered former wife, Alex Reynolds, and proposed a marriage of convenience that would strengthen their campaign against him. Together, Will and Alex bribed a member of the ratings board and succeeded in having James’s film Angel Assassin pulled just before its premiere. Unable to recover from the financial damage, James lost control of Sunset Studios to Will.

Will’s relationship with Alex proved as opportunistic as their alliance. Although they briefly married, Alex had the union annulled after signing Sunset Studios back to James. Humiliated and deprived of the victory he believed he had earned, Will intensified his campaign against the Blackthornes.

His revenge soon focused on Heather Rydell. After learning that Heather had seduced him as part of Brett Armstrong’s plan to steal valuable film projects, Will arranged for her to attend a fraudulent audition. There, adult film director Joel Armitage drugged Heather and filmed her in a menage a trois with Philip Whitacre and another man while she was unable to consent. Will used the recording to punish and humiliate her, leaving Heather traumatized and worsening the blackouts that would later have deadly consequences.

Will also began investigating Ethan’s parentage after noticing the younger man’s resemblance to him. A DNA test confirmed that Ethan was his son. Rather than approach him honestly, Will treated the revelation as another weapon against James. He purchased Janet Harper’s manuscript about the Blackthorne family, intending to turn their scandals into a film that would expose and embarrass them. Janet later broke into his house and discovered the DNA results proving the truth.

Will’s most vicious act was the kidnapping of James and Brooke’s infant son, Michael. Having learned that Ethan was the baby’s biological father, Will arranged for Michael to be taken from the Blackthorne mansion and secretly given to Joel and Missy Armitage. He used the child as payment for Joel’s role in Heather’s exploitation and as revenge against James for keeping Ethan from him. Hidden tunnels connecting Will’s estate to the Blackthorne mansion allowed the kidnapping to be carried out without obvious signs of entry.

When Brooke confronted Will over Michael’s disappearance, he admitted his involvement. She found James’s discarded gun and fired at him, but the bullet missed, causing Will to fall and strike his head. Believing she had killed him, Brooke fled. James and Ethan later arrived and attempted to conceal what had happened while searching Will’s belongings for clues to Michael’s location.

Will survived Brooke’s attack, but another visitor soon entered through the tunnels. Heather, suffering a blackout and driven by buried rage over what he had done to her, shot him. Will was later found dead in his tuxedo on the night of the Filmmaker Awards, launching a murder investigation that implicated nearly every member of the Blackthorne family. Stormy was arrested after Brett tampered with evidence, and Brooke later confessed before investigators finally reconstructed the truth and identified Heather as the person who had fired the fatal shot.

Even after his death, Will’s crimes continued to affect the family. Papers found among his possessions led Ethan to Michael, who had been illegally placed with the Armitages. The revelation of Ethan’s paternity shattered his trust in James, while Heather struggled with the guilt and trauma of killing the man who had violated her.

Years after Will’s death, a secret past with actress Marilee Wells resurfaced. Marilee admitted that she had become pregnant by Will and secretly placed their child for adoption. James initially believed the revelation might confirm Kyle Fenwick’s claim to be Will’s son, but Kyle was later exposed as an impostor who had invented the connection to gain access to Brooke. Marilee’s child was ultimately revealed to have been the young son actress Cheri Montessori adopted, a woman whose death had been covered up by Jonas Lamont and Vaughan Novak. The boy died alone after his mother failed to return home, becoming the personal tragedy that drove Marilee’s campaign of revenge against the stars whose crimes had been concealed.