Devin Wells

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Character
Name: Devin Wells
Occupation:
Relationships:
Fandom: Beauty and the Beast (TV)
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from Helper's Network UK (Beauty and the Beast newsletter) 31 (May 1997), a signed photo of Bruce Abbot who portrayed Devin Wells. It was VERY likely signed much earlier than 1997

Devin Wells is a character on Beauty and the Beast (TV).

He was prominent in the episode "Promises of Someday." In that episode, Wells returns to the tunnels from a 20-year long absence. It turns out that Wells is Father's biological son, and therefore Vincent Wells' adoptive brother.

Devin Wells appears as a character in some fanworks, most prominently in the Vincent's World anthology series.

Devin Wells and Elliot Burch often look very similar in fanart; one clue that the character portrayed is Devin are scratch marks on his face, reflecting an incident in canon.

The Complicated Real-Life Thing

The character and characterization in fandom is complicated by the fact that Wells was portrayed by Linda Hamilton's then real-life husband. Abbott and Hamilton had a child together; this was one reason the actress left the show, something that led to great strife in the fandom, and ultimately the end of the show itself.

Hamilton and Abbot divorced in 1989.

Fanworks with Devin Wells and Catherine Chandler, because of this real-life cross-pollination, are a vague sort of RPF.

Fanworks

Fanfic

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1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1995

1999

Comments About "Promises of Someday"

It’s a rich story, and one that really doesn’t reflect well on Father. Devin (Bruce Abbott, Linda Hamilton’s real-life husband at the time) has been playing proto-Pretender since he fled Below, hopping from identity to identity His hurt stems from Father’s clear favoritism for Vincent and an adolescent spat that left Devin with three small claw marks along his jaw. He was Vincent’s protector and best friend, and he finally gets a shock when it’s revealed he’s no mere tunnel orphan but Father’s biological son.

That particular revelation needed a bit more fallout than we get here (though Devin does return in a second season episode), as it underlines Father’s character as someone who has an image of himself as a virtuous leader but is just as much a weak human being as anyone else. His excuses for never acknowledging Devin as his child are guff, and inadvertently or not the viewer gets the much stronger sense he wanted an heir—and no dark-haired bastard would do when there was a golden, special lion-boy right there. [1]

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