 Sutton stated that he had no trouble portraying a gay character because he had "spent a good part of [his] youth [in the theater] and there were a lot of openly gay men".When detailing insight he gained about the gay community while portraying John Paul, Sutton stated, "My character was straight when I first started so I had to do the whole sort of questioning your sexuality and finding out who you are and what you’re about and what your likes are and what your sexual preferences are, so I got a real insight from the storyline and just how hard it is.