Phoenix Warner is a fictional character on the New Zealandsoap operaShortland Street. He has been portrayed by Geordie Holibar since his debut in the show's first ever 90 minute episode in August 2010. The character was introduced as the unknown son of long-standing character Chris Warner and ex-wife Alison Raynor.
Creation and casting
After creating the role, producers researched baby name trends throughout the nineties and decided upon the name; "Phoenix". Geordie Holibar, the grandson of former Shortland Street actor Liddy Holloway was cast and the character made his debut in the show's first-ever feature-length episode on 2 August 2010. Holibar's uncle Joel Tobeck helped him prepare for the role as he had previously appeared in the mid-1990s. Initially Holibar shared a lot of scenes with on screen father, Michael Galvin, but as his storylines developed, he ended up spending a lot more scenes with the fellow teenage characters. Holibar enjoyed acting alongside people his age, saying; "I have lots of fun with Frankie , Tyler and Pearl . It's been cool working with people your own age because you know that you're all going through the same kind of thing." Holibar noted the help he received from long time cast members, Galvin and Angela Bloomfield, "It's good just working with him and Angela who have been on the show for so long and they know where the cameras are, they know not to block your light. They know all the tricks." Phoenix departed the show in 2013, when Holibar returned to theatre work. Holibar reprised his role in 2019, with the character returning on 5 December 2019. Holibar had not returned to the set since departing 6 years beforehand but felt "super welcome" filming his first scenes. The character of Phoenix was said to undergo a more "flawed" character arc upon returning. Holibar departed the soap in February 2020 but was happy to reprise the role as he was "holding out hope for Phoenix's redemption. I love the character so here's hoping."
Storylines
Phoenix was born to Alison Raynor and her divorced husband, Chris Warner. Alison decided to keep Phoenix a secret from Chris and the two lived in America. After Alison grew sick of the American schooling system, she and Phoenix travelled to New Zealand and lived on a farm. In November 2009 Alison died on a yacht and Phoenix was taken in by her uncle Brian. Chris learnt in August 2010 that Phoenix was his son and, after a DNA test, he adopted him. Phoenix struggled to get on with half brother Harry but befriended Evan Cooper. New girl Ula Levi spread a rumour that he was gay after he rebuffed a kiss from her but the two later dated briefly in 2011. He dumped her for Evan's sister Jasmine but cheated on Jasmine when he had a one-night stand with Suzy. Phoenix was shocked when Jasmine died for several minutes on his lap due to her Long QT syndrome and later struggled to cope with her newfound morbid personality causing the two to break up numerous times. Phoenix ultimately ended the relationship when he developed an unrequited crush on Megan. Phoenix was shocked when Chris was arrested for the murder of his school tutor, Hayley O'Neill and struggled to accept his protest of innocence. However he ended up freeing his father when Hayley's true killer Drew kidnapped him and confessed. In 2013 Phoenix began to date popular schoolgirl Britney Buchanan but the two broke up after meddling from new girl, Dayna Jenkins. Phoenix soon turned against his family lifestyle and took up street art to express his true beliefs. This however lead to near legal trouble and in November, Phoenix decided to leave Ferndale to study at a Berlin university for art. Only a month after his departure, Chris revealed that Phoenix had dropped out of the school and had taken to traveling the world. In 2014, Chris stated that Phoenix would not be returning for his wedding but would rather attend via video chat. Phoenix surprised Chris when he returned in December 2019 with his heavily heavily pregnant girlfriend Tess. Chris soon realised that Phoenix had struggled in Berlin as an artist and was owing significant amounts of money. He hired him as an office administrator much to Phoenix's angst as he was eager to continue creating art. Following the birth of his daughter Amelie, Phoenix began to syphon money from the hospital accounts to pay back debts and invest in further artistic endeavours. As the crimes became more apparent and Phoenix's family started to become aware, he attempted to convince Tess and Amelie to flee the country with him to no avail. Chris and Tess were subsequently saddened to learn he had stolen $1,000,000 from the hospital and fled to Chile.
Character development
Characterisation
Phoenix was initially portrayed as a teenager who although often landed himself in bad situations, was friendly and welcoming to all those he interacted with. He earned the title "Mr Nice Guy" however a storyline in 2012 that revolved around Phoenix developing a crush on his psychopathic maths tutor Hayley O'Neill, saw the characterization of the character develop drastically differently. Holibar explained, "He's grown up, he's sort of had to". Hayley manipulated Phoenix's affections to try to get closer to his father and ended up accusing Phoenix of sadistically stalking her. This led to Phoenix being "angsty and angry". Holibar enjoyed what the storyline did for his character, "I've enjoyed it. I like getting angry and I do occasionally. It was fun playing something that wasn't just Phoenix being nice to everyone 24-7, which gets a bit boring to do. It was good to see a darker side as he starts pushing people away and not coping at all with the things going on for him." Upon Phoenix's return in 2019, Holibar believed "adult Phoenix" was "flawed" and was very different from the "many years... being very nice" from his first stint. This conflicted with becoming a father as Phoenix, "is thinking more of himself than his partner and his child... and... it's a big life shift for someone who has been thinking about himself for so long. He's still adjusting to having something more important to prioritise." He was said to be "charming" but was beginning to show his "true character now he has no money". The character return-arc was said to paint him as a "pantomine" which Holibar understood as he believed Phoenix "handled it terribly. I think at every point he made the wrong call... I could see it coming in terms of the dishonesty and the money troubles early on but it was still a big surprise and he definitely takes it to the extreme and goes all out really."
Reception
Upon Phoenix's arrival, Shortland Street commentator Throng was surprised such an interesting storyline twist had not already occurred. Hugh Sundae from The New Zealand Herald praised Holibar's acting and compared him positively to Lee Donoghue, the actor of Hunter McKay. He also stated that Holibar was already a greater actor than Ido Drent despite only appearing in a small number of scenes. Holibar's on screen father, Michael Galvin, praised Holibar - stating: He's very relaxed and very natural for someone of his age and very keen to learn, which is a very important thing on this show because it's very demanding." Holibar won the "Up and Coming Actor" award in the Girlfriend Faves Forever competition 2011 for his role as Phoenix. Upon Phoenix's return, a television columnist referred to the character as, "Everyone's least favourite", and "the most Foolish Warner child". Another reviewer listed the return of the "well-loved" character as one of the show's "best kept secrets". Online feedback for the character saw mass dislike for the villain-style storyline he undertook.
