Tune In Tamara: AMC Plot Twisters Surround Bianca's Return

• Oct 20, 2008 10:45 AM ET
• by Michael Logan

Eden Riegel and Tamara Braun

Tamara Braun didn't plan to be back in the suds so soon, but she couldn't turn down a chance to make some daytime TV history. The acclaimed actress, recently seen as nutjob Ava Vitali on Days of Our Lives, will join All My Children Oct. 30 as lesbian architect Reese Williams. Viewers will learn that Reese has been having a very serious romance in Paris with the soap's sapphic icon, Bianca Montgomery (Eden Riegel). So serious that they're about to become parents. Yep, Binks is pregnant.

The character, not seen for over a year, will unexpectedly turn up in Pine Valley this week just as a tornado hits. She'll be pulled unconscious from the rubble, go into labor and give birth to a premature daughter. But that's not the only wild development. It turns out the sperm donor is Bianca's brother-in-law Zach (Thorsten Kaye)! When Reese gets word of the birth, she jets in from Paris and proposes marriage. Bianca accepts.

"I wasn't expecting to do another soap so soon after Days but this is a story that's groundbreak­ing and overdue," Braun says. "Two female soap characters having a baby together is unprecedented. I wanted to be a part of something that could have a strong and posi­tive impact and help give same-sex couples their rightful place in the world of daytime drama."

Not so fast, sister! Bi­anca is as beloved a figure as you can find in soaps, and Riegel's massive fan base is extremely protec­tive of the character. Can we trust this Reese chick? What's she all about?

"Reese is a strong, independent woman," notes Braun. "She's also very warm and real and very expressive with her feelings. And she's madly in love with Bianca. It's the kind of love you can't describe, the kind of love Reese has never known before."

Meaning that she hasn't always been lesbian? Dodging the question, Braun says Reese "has her issues. But who doesn't? This is a soap!"