Days of Our LivesComings & Goings

If a picture says a thousand words, the one that Kyle Lowder shared in a July 21 Instagram story said over and over again, “I’m returning to Days of Our Lives.” At least that’s how many a fan interpreted the image, in which Rex’s portrayer is seen in what appears to be the NBC soap’s hair and makeup room.

Further fueling the speculation? His “Back to work” caption.

Viewers will recall that Lowder last appeared on the show in the spring of 2021, when Kristen whipped up a Sarah mask in which she seduced Rex. Why? That was hella complicated. Kristen wanted Xander to catch fiancée Sarah in bed with her ex in order to facilitate a breakup that would allow her to keep the real Sarah from blabbing that the Susan who was traipsing around Salem wasn’t really Susan at all but Kristen.

Got all that? Got any of it? It was Kristen at her most extra.

If Rex is indeed returning to Days of Our Lives, his comeback will no doubt be tied to Sarah’s disappearance. Perhaps he’s discovered her whereabouts and is keeping them to himself in order to keep her to himself — a move that would inevitably blow up in his face just in time for her to discover that, in her absence, Xander has gotten a lot closer to Gwen.

While you’re here, check out a photo gallery of all of the other stars who are returning/have recently returned to Days of Our Lives.

Things in Salem are about to be “movin’ on up!” Legendary actress, Marla Gibbs, most recognized for her role as Florence on the family sitcom The Jeffersons, has been the latest big name to be cast on Days of Our Lives as Paulina’s mother, Olivia Price. Look for her to appear beginning on Tuesday, August 17, as first reported by Soap Opera Digest.

Incidentally, this will be a television reunion for Gibbs and Paulina’s portrayer Jackée Harry. The actresses spent years together on the series 227. The 90-year-old Gibbs, who has over 100 credits to her resume, including playing Aunt Irma on NBC’s Passions, recently received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

More: Kyle Lowder back to Days

So, what brings Mama Price to Salem? Well, if we had to guess, she might not be too happy about the turn of events that has taken place, which include Paulina deceiving Chanel, Abe and Lani with her sneaky plans to destroy the Horton Square, even though she’s tried to make things right, or… it could be for a number of other reasons. Are they estranged with troubles of their own to face? Would her mother have approved of Paulina’s initial plans for Price Town?

More: Backstreet boy cast on Days

Like you, we’ll have to wait and see. In any case, having this iconic actress join the NBC soap opera will be a real treat!

While we wait for Gibbs’ big debut, Soaps.com invites readers to take a look through our gallery featuring an updated list of characters, past and present, who have walked through Salem’s revolving door with their returns.

— Amy Mistretta

You want it that way? Fine, you can have it that way. Backstreet Boys singer AJ McLean recently took to TikTok to reveal that he would be passing through soapdom.

“There was a certain daytime TV show that my grandmother and I used to watch when I was growing up,” he began, “and I’ll drop a couple of hints” about which one it was.

“Bo… ” he continued. “Hope… Patch… Ring a bell?”

More: Days casts legendary actress as Paulina’s mother

Oh, buddy, that rang all the bells. Even if you watch General Hospital or The Young and the Restless, you could guess that the show in question was Days of Ours Lives. “Well, yours truly is making a guest appearance as a driver,” he said. “Boom!”

#Days fans get ready #BSB pic.twitter.com/TkbTX3IyeP

— Candice (@Candypooh) July 21, 2021

Charmingly, McLean appeared to be as excited about his cameo on the iconic sudser as any fan would be. “Oh my God, I’m freaking out,” he exclaimed. And he knew that the pressure was on, given the relative who got him hooked on the show. “I hope I made you proud, Grandma.”

More: Kyle Lowder back to Days

No word yet on when the singer will be popping up — or whether he’ll get to hum a few bars of “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)” when he does — but if we had to guess, we’d imagine his appearance will be tied to Ciara and Theo’s wedding and that ill-advised abduction that Ben is planning.

While you’re here, indulge the song in your heart by poring over the photos of soap stars who fell for famous recording artists.

Like Nicole, many Days of Our Lives fans were thrilled when Greg Vaughan’s Eric showed up just in time to celebrate the couple’s first anniversary. After all, since tying the knot, the pair have spent more time apart than together thanks to his work in Africa.

Unfortunately, it looks as if this reunion will not be a happy one, as Soap Opera Digest reports that Vaughan’s visit was a short one. In fact, Eric will barely have time to unpack his suitcase before he’s heading to the airport.

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As detailed in our latest Days spoilers, what starts out as a happy surprise for Nicole — who’s been pretty miserable over the past few months — quickly goes downhill. Why? Well, let’s just say that she and Eric have not been paying attention to the warnings we’ve issued for Years. Because if there’s one surefire way to bring an end to a happy union in Salem, it’s by throwing a party to celebrate said union.

Ignoring years of precedent, Eric and Nicole decide to have a little impromptu anniversary party at which the secret she’s been trying so hard to keep under wraps — that she got drunk and slept with Xander, of all people — comes to light. (It should come as no surprise to anyone that Xander’s confession does not simply come out of the blue, but is prompted by Sami, who’s been chomping at the bit to expose her sister-in-law’s affair.

More: Did Days just set the stage for Sarah’s return?

Of course, Sami’s antics are only painting a huge target on her own back given that she’s also trying to keep an infidelity — in this case, hers with Lucas — under wraps. It seems likely that blowing Eric’s marriage out of the water will only serve to fuel Nicole’s desire to return the favor where Sami and EJ are concerned!

While there’s no word yet on exactly when Vaughan will exit, expect things to resolve pretty quickly once Nicole is essentially forced to confess. As we process Vaughan’s blink-and-you-missed-it visit, check out this gallery in which we look at all the other actors who’ve either left or are planning to depart Days of Our Lives.

— Richard Simms

The stage is set for a DiMera family reunion this summer on Days of Our Lives. As first revealed in a promo for the NBC soap, Carson Boatman will be making his debut on Friday, August 18, as EJ and Sami’s now-older son, Johnny.

Longtime viewers of the show will recall that on a fateful night in 2006, Sami and Lucas had just made love in an abandoned cabin when d’oh! The roof collapsed, leaving Lucas trapped by a fallen beam. When Sami made her way to the main road in hopes of finding someone to help her save Lucas, she encountered… d’oh again! EJ, who would only lend a hand to save Lucas’ life if the object of his obsession got busy with him.

In the aftermath of that eventful evening, Sami learned that she was pregnant with twins. One of them — Allie — turned out to be Lucas’. The other — Johnny — turned out to be EJ’s.

In the years that followed, EJ protected his son from his own father, Stefano, and put aside his (many, many) differences with Sami to support Johnny when he was diagnosed with ocular cancer, which left him with one glass eye.

Per NBC’s preview, Allie is as happy as all get-out to have her sibling in Salem. But how will he figure into the drama that’s sure to unfold between his parents and Lucas — especially when he finds out that Mom cheated on Dad with his sister’s father? That remains to be seen.

@CandaceLYoung pic.twitter.com/UAnjnDF7br

— Andrew Mondia (@andrewmondia) June 30, 2021

And Johnny’s not the only character rejoining Salem’s lot. Peruse our photo gallery of all the actors who have recently returned and/or are returning to the show for the lowdown.

Recasts often come just as we’re getting used to a new character — like in the case of Precious Way’s Chanel Dupree. Soap Opera Digest has confirmed that the actress will be exiting the Days of Our Lives role, which has been recast with daytime newcomer Raven Bowens, who will first turn up on July 6.

As reported by our sister site, Deadline, Way has been cast alongside rap superstar MC Lyte in a new sitcom Partners In Rhyme, which is likely the reason for her NBC soap exit.

Chanel first blew into Salem back in March and tried to hustle Claire and Tripp by leaving them with a hefty champagne-fueled check in the square — that is until mama Paulina appeared and revealed that Chanel was her daughter.

The character was also connected to another person from her past — Allie, who she met in London. After a fun afternoon of reconnecting in the park, the old friends headed over to Julie’s Place for some cocktails and ended up in a lip-lock, which was witnessed by Tripp, who had been getting closer to Allie.

And even amid all of that drama, and still clearly torn with her feelings for Allie, Chanel had time to embark on a new dream and planned to open a bakery in the square with help from Allie — and Alice’s famous doughnut recipe.

However, even though Chanel, nor anyone else in Salem for that matter, doesn’t realize that her mother has other plans for the square, it should be interesting when that little bit of information becomes public — and we look forward to watching Bowens in the storyline!

Let’s face it, some recasts have been for the better and some for the worst. Now would be a good time to look deeper into those instances, which we invite fans to view in our galleries filled with 10 of the worst recasts that should’ve never happened, as well as 20 of soaps’ best recasts — ranked.

— Amy Mistretta

Greg Vaughan has said it before — upon announcing in August 2020 that he was leaving Days of Our Lives and his role of Eric — and he’ll say it again: “Never say never.”

Never say NEVER! #return to @daysofourlives https://t.co/msxkq1zxgN

— Greg Vaughan (@greg_vaughan) May 29, 2021

Now, thanks to a new promo for the NBC soap, we know that the Emmy winner is headed back to the show that he called home for nearly a decade. At the time of his exit, he explained to Soap Opera Digest that “a lot of things that were said to me [regarding storylines to come] never came to fruition. I didn’t feel like all of the things that were being told to me were being delivered.”

So, in the end, the veteran of General Hospital and The Young and the Restless didn’t feel like the MVP that he is but, as he put it, “a glorified extra in everybody else’s storyline.”

Hopefully, things will be different this time around. If nothing else, he’s walking into some juicy-with-a-capital-J material, what with Eric’s bride Nicole having strayed during his absence — and with Xander, of all people.

Maybe the powers that be realized what they had… and had lost. When Vaughan told them that he was outta there, “they put up a fight [to keep me] before they finally knew that I was not coming back,” he told Digest. “It was time.”

As you count down to Vaughan’s reappearance, check out a photo gallery of all of the other actors who have recently returned to the show. It’s like old-home week but with new photos!

His character, Charlie Dale, was murdered back in February, but Mike Manning continued to appear in flashbacks throughout the big whodunit storyline for months. However, it’s the end of the line, and we can now confirm that the actor has officially exited his Days of Our Lives role.

The last we saw Charlie alive was when he opened his door to an unknown visitor, put both hands in the air and begged, “Don’t shoot.” After Rafe found him dead, the list of suspects was a mile long and so the investigation into his death began. But before we lead up to who won the prize for Salem’s Latest Gun-Wielding Hero — for taking out the man so many wanted to kill for raping Allie — let’s revisit what brought him to town in the first place and everything leading up to his demise.

Charlie first arrived on the scene in October 2020 as a new intern at Titian. Whether he wanted it or not, Xander often gave him advice about how to win the heart of Claire Brady. Once that happened, Charlie appeared to be on the path of love — that is, until his mother Ava reappeared in Salem. Not to mention, Allie’s cloudy recollection of having been raped in London. Though Allie pinpointed Tripp as her rapist, and a DNA test proved he was the father of her son, he venomently denied having raped her. However, Ava’s return from the dead shed light on the fact that Charlie was Tripp’s brother and even got her son to confess the crime.

Ava wasn’t about to let her favorite boy, Tripp, take the fall for his evil brother and told Charlie as much. Big mistake! Charlie knocked out his mama then gagged and tied Ava to a chair and drugged her to make it appear she was going insane.

After Ava was rescued by Rafe, she revealed that Charlie was in fact her son — and the one who raped Allie. Claire then convinced Charlie that even if what Ava said was true, he deserved a second chance. Not realizing that Claire was conning him, Charlie confessed the rape — and Claire recorded it.

Shawn ended up arresting Charlie but in the end, he was released, which put many on the warpath. So many people wanted to make Charlie pay — and vowed to kill him — but it was Sami who appeared in Charlie’s doorway, just as Rafe had found him dead on the floor, and was arrested for the murder.

As the investigation progressed, it was revealed that Kate’s gun had been used in the murder — even though Kate insisted to Rafe that she didn’t shoot Charlie. As Rafe privately recalled questioning Allie about the gun she used to threat Tripp, Allie learned about the new evidence and thought back to taking the gun out of Kate’s lockbox.

At one point, Sami was arrested for Charlie’s murder but released and the finger pointed to many others, including Belle, as well until it was finally revealed in the Monday, April 19 episode that Jan Spears had shot Charlie, while dressed in Belle’s red coat — which was Salem’s latest set-up! Jan ended up confessing the details to Claire on Monday, May 24 after taking Shawn and Belle’s daughter hostage.

As we close the final chapter of this storyline, take a look back at photos of the suspects and the reasons why any one of them had a motive to kill Charlie.

— Amy Mistretta

We tried to warn Sami and Lucas, but would they listen? Nope. So despite Sami feeling incredibly guilty about having cheated on her husband, she and Lucas continued to hook up… usually immediately after insisting it wasn’t ever going to happen again.

More: What needs to happen next for Chad and Abigail

But things will get extremely complicated on Wednesday, June 9 when Dan Feuerriegel steps into the role of EJ DiMera, aka the cuckolded husband. “I’m so excited to bring EJ back to Days of Our Lives and to see what flavor I can bring to Salem,” the handsome new-to-daytimer told our sister site, Deadline.

Scott (left) has now been replaced by Feuerriegel.

Of course, the part was previously played by James Scott, who created magic when paired with Alison Sweeney’s Sami. When Scott exited the canvas back in 2014, EJ was believed dead — for about five minutes — after being shot. But viewers later saw his sister inject him with a mysterious substance, and it was later revealed that Ej was yet another in Dr. Rolf’s ever-growing army of the undead.

Sami recently admitted to Lucas that despite all she’d done to help EJ recover, he’d been pulling away from her. This confession, of course, led Lucas to “comfort” his ex-wife and the first of several trysts.

Although new to American soaps, Feuerriegel is no stranger to drama, having appeared on sudsers such as Home and Away and McLeod’s Daughters in his native Australia. But he is probably best known to U.S. audiences for his role as Agron, a rugged gladiator in the Starz series Spartacus: Blood and Sand.

Of course, Feuerriegel joins Days of Our Lives at a most opportune moment, given that shortly after he signed with the soap it received a two-year renewal. “Two years gives us time to do it right,” executive producer Ken Corday told us shortly after the news broke. “It means we don’t constantly have to be looking over our shoulders. We have breathing room!”

EJ will be arriving in Salem during a rather crucial time for the DiMera family. Kristen has been spiraling out of control, while Chad’s marriage to Abigail has been rocked by his infidelity with her newfound sibling Gwen and the fallout. But the question on everyone’s mind is whether EJ will reunite with Sami… or do everything in his power to destroy her upon finding out she’s been sleeping with Lucas!

Just because a TV character is dead doesn’t mean they’ll never show up again. Especially on soaps. Even more especially on Days of Our Lives. In Salem, it often involves a serum from Dr. Rolf bringing them back to life, but we’re thinking something else will be going on when Chrishell Stause reprises her role as Jordan Ridgeway, a.k.a. Ben’s very dead sister.

It looks like Ben will see his dearly departed sibling once again the week of May 24. We’re not sure what she has to say to him but the next day he’ll set out to frantically search for Claire. Considering Jan is on the loose terrorizing her parents, Belle and Shawn, he could certainly be on to something there. But why is he seeing visions of his dead sister now?

Last we saw her, Jordan appeared to Ben in an ominous dream before his ill-fated wedding to Ciara on July 20, 2020. (Hopefully, this visit will be a little friendlier.) Prior to that, she was revealed to have been murdered after the time jump in 2019. However, Stause appeared in flashback scenes on March 4, 2020, as Jordan’s killer, Evan, recounted her death.

As for the actress, Stause has kept busy since leaving Days competing on Dancing With the Stars and starring on Netflix’s reality series Selling Sunset.

Since Salem is often a revolving door for many beloved characters, take a look at our photo gallery of more characters we’d love to see return to Days.

— Lori Wilson