Days of Our LivesComings & Goings

It looks as if Sami’s better — or at least other — half is at long last returning to Days of Our Lives. But with former portrayer James Scott having made it pretty clear he has zero interest in returning to daytime, the role has now been recast: As first reported by Daytime Confidential, it looks as if Dan Feuerriegel will be stepping into the DiMera heir’s loafers.

The tall, dark and handsome Australian native is best known in this country for his role as gladiator Agron in Starz’ Spartacus series. Days has not yet confirmed the casting, meaning there’s no official word yet as to when Feuerriegel will first appear on screen.

Scott (left) is reportedly being replaced by Feuerriegel.

Believe it or not, it was all the way back in October of 2014 that EJ was shot and supposedly killed, ironically by one of his own henchmen, at the behest of Clyde Weston. Of course, this being Days, rumors that EJ’s death might have been of the non-fatal variety began circulating almost immediately. But it wasn’t until 2018 that Kristen confirmed the news that she had helped Stefano fake EJ’s death and smuggle his “body” out of Salem.

More: Win a copy of the sexy novel set behind the scenes of a soap

“During the story which took place down in Nashville,” headwriter Ron Carlivati reminds us, “we revealed that Kristen and Xander had a warehouse full of not-dead people. We saw those doors and the initials on one of them was E.D. And we finally paid that off by revealing it was, in fact, EJ DiMera.”

Unfortunately, EJ’s was definitely not one of Dr. Rolf’s more successful resurrections. Not only was the patient left comatose by the various drugs used to keep him alive, but he sustained massive burns when the warehouse in which he was being kept exploded. Conveniently enough, this left the guy wrapped in bandages… under which we now know lurks the face of Feuerriegel.

Need a bit of a refresher as to the life and times of EJ DiMera? We thought you might, given how complicated a life the guy has led… so we’ve got you covered with this helpful gallery!

Michael Lowry will be checking into Days of Our Lives on Friday, April 2 as Dr. Snyder in scenes with Heather Lindell’s Jan Spears, Belle and Shawn, as first reported by Soap Opera Digest. When we last saw Jan she had thwarted Shawn and Belle’s attempt to remarry by taking Belle hostage and forcing Shawn to marry her, in a totally not legal ceremony. When Jan then claimed to have killed Belle, John snapped and attacked Jan, and they were both arrested. The last mention of Jan indicated she had fallen into another coma.

Lowry is no stranger to soap operas. He’s probably best known for playing Jake Martin on All My Children from 1996 until 2001, but he’s also appeared as Les Sweeney on As the World Turns from 2004 until 2005, Dr. Hillman on The Bold and the Beautiful in 2006, Ross Rayburn on One Life to Live from 2009 until 2010, and had recurring roles on Nashville, Powers, and Tainted Dreams.

What brings Jan back this time, and how does Lowry’s Dr. Snyder fit into the picture? You’ll have to tune in to find out! In the meantime, take a look at our gallery featuring 20 photos of other crazy daytime happenings.

– Dustin Cushman

Well, fans, if you want an uptick on the craziness level in Salem you’re about to get your wish. As per the new spoilers, Heather Lindell will once again be making her way back to Days of Our Lives as Jan Spears during the week of March 29.

Though her first appearance in Salem was back in 1999 (with actress Natalie Ramsey), the last time we saw Lindell’s Jan surface was in September 2020, when Sami called her as a witness against Nicole in the custody battle for Allie’s baby. Nicole’s jaw dropped upon seeing Jan, who slyly stated, “Bet you thought you’d never see me again.”

During her visit home, Jan befriended Claire, much to Belle and Shawn’s dismay, and even briefly joined forces with Xander (can you say, toxic!) in order to nail Philip.

However, what really landed her previous return into the Salem history book, was when she kidnapped Belle then posed as her nemesis — on Belle’s wedding day — decked out as Shawn’s bride-to-be! Oh, and she didn’t stop there… Jan forced Shawn to marry her in exchange for the location of his real true love.

After Marlena pronounced them husband and wife, Shawn refused to kiss his bride, but Jan simply countered, “Fine, then your bride will kiss you.” It wasn’t until Jan claimed to have killed Belle, when John lost his mind and attacked her. In the end, she fell into a coma.

So, what brings the crazy back this time? Well, it wouldn’t be any fun if we told you — you’ll just have to wait and see!

When it comes to storylines like these, we often find ourselves saying, “Only on soaps!” Take a look at our gallery featuring 20 photos of other crazy daytime happenings.

— Amy Mistretta

So much for a happy ending for Days of Our Lives’ Sarah and Xander. Linsey Godfrey is exiting the NBC soap opera, she confirmed on Twitter on March 16.

“It’s truly been a pleasure,” she wrote to fans on her Twitter feed. “A massive thank-you to Days of Our Lives for the opportunity to play Sarah and all 86 of her hairstyles.” (And there have been quite a few — take a peek here.)

The actress went on to express her gratitude to the cast and behind-the-scenes personnel that have become like family. “Thank you to casting, production and the crew!” she exclaimed. “Also thank you to the amazing cast I got to work with! I have made some lifelong friends that I cherish.”

The former Bold & Beautiful star (who played the second of the CBS soap’s ill-fated Carolines) debuted in the recast role of Days of Our Lives’ Sarah in October 2018 when Maggie’s daughter appeared at the Kiriakis mansion and announced her engagement to Rex Brady. Though the couple ended up married in June 2019, it didn’t last due to her lingering feelings for Eric Brady.

Mind you, that wasn’t the biggest upset to rock Sarah to the core…

That would be the loss of her baby Mickey (with Eric), who she later learned had died at birth following a car accident and had been switched (by Xander and Victor!) with Brady and Kristen’s newborn, Rachel… who Sarah had been raising as her own. (Got all that?) Sarah quickly fled Salem for Paris, where she once again crossed paths with Rex. When her ex uncovered that she was on the run with Kristen’s baby, Sarah refused to allow him to blow up her plan and tied Rex to a chair. In the end, Kristen located Sarah and reclaimed her baby.

Back in Salem, Xander managed to win Sarah’s heart and even convinced her to marry him… that is until she stumbled upon Kristen, who had escaped from prison by doing a switch of her own — with Susan Banks — to keep an eye on Brady and Chloe.

As previewed in the Days of Our Lives weekly promo, Kristen took Sarah captive then produced a Sarah face mask with plans to impersonate the doctor on her wedding day. Though Kristen insisted that she wasn’t going to kill Sarah, she did talk about stranding her on an island, then breaking Xander’s heart while in her Sarah disguise. This way, he’d leave “Sarah” alone, and Kristen would be free to continue to stay in Salem as Susan.

Boy, that was a mouthful! While we watch how Godfrey’s exit unfolds, take a look at our gallery of Sarah and Xander’s romance filled with memorable photos, and update your Who’s Leaving scorecard by consulting our newly-updated list of all the actors exiting Days of Our Lives. Then, if you can bear it, ponder along with us what could be next for Xander without Sarah.

— Amy Mistretta/Charlie Mason

Cameron Johnson will be making his way back to Days of Our Lives beginning on Wednesday, March 10, as detailed in our Days spoilers. The actor first appeared in the recast role in November 2020, a part previously played by Kyler Pettis.

On the last occasion when Theo returned to Salem, he and his father Abe spent some time caching up at the Brady’s Pub, where he pointedly joked about how Jake looked exactly like “the old one” — Stefan — which was something Jake quickly got sick of hearing.

Before leaving to head back to Africa, Theo and Claire shared a kiss — one that Charlie just so happened to stumble upon and witness. However, though Claire and Theo had a past, he wished her the best with Charlie in the future.

So, what brings Theo back to Salem this time? Aside from his current family still living in town, he has some new ones to meet — namely Eli and Lani’s twins.

On the flipside, though that will be a very happy moment indeed, finding out what Charlie did to Allie — and knowing how close the creep was to Claire — will be anything but! Theo may have his own opinion when it comes to the long list of suspects in Charlie’s murder.

Is there anyone else you’d like to see return? We have plenty of requests and you can view photos of them all in our gallery of other Days of Our Lives characters we’d like to come home.

— Amy Mistretta

Kyle Lowder will make another brief return to Days of Our Lives as Rex Brady beginning on Friday, March 12. As listed in our Days spoilers, Rex will put a damper on Xander’s bachelor party, which, by the way, could be in need of another guest — or two! The actor, who also played Brady Black from 2000 to 2008, was recast in the role, previously played by Eric Winter, in 2018.

Upon Rex’s last appearance on the NBC soap opera in April 2020, Sarah had learned that her baby Mickey had died and took off to Paris with Brady and Kristen’s daughter Rachel. She ran into Rex, who thought the baby was Mickey, and though Rex learned the truth from his mother Kate, he kept quiet about Sarah’s presence in Paris and confronted her.

Rex tried to talk some sense into Sarah and threatened to call the cops. She stalled him briefly by relaying the whole story on how her baby died and how Victor and Xander switched her dead daughter with Brady and Kristen’s. Rex sympathized with what Sarah had been through but knew it would only be right to call Kristen, who he’d heard had changed, so she didn’t have to live through the fear of losing her child all over again. When he called Kristen and left a message for her to call him back, Sarah acted fast, knocked Rex out then gagged and tied him to a chair. So much for trying to do the right thing!

Sarah fled Paris, leaving Rex helpless, but it wasn’t long before Kristen put two and two together and arrived to free Rex. She was also able to stop Sarah at the train station before she could run off with Rachel again.

There will be no love loss between Rex and Xander (who’ve fought over Sarah before) when they cross paths in Salem this time around. However, Sarah will have her work cut out for her trying to explain why she plans to marry the man who caused her so much pain.

Maybe she’ll take a page from her book of Rex memories – ya know, the part about how she was going to marry him too, even though he was a cheater! Or, she could show Rex the photo gallery of her and Xander’s rollercoaster romance. Take a peek for yourself, will it convince Rex of her love for the other man?

— Amy Mistretta

Hang on to your Salem hats, fans, because hurricane Sami is about to rush back into town! Beginning on Thursday, February 25, as first reported by Soap Opera Digest, Alison Sweeney will return to Days of Our Lives. Earlier this month, headwriter Ron Carlivati shared in our exclusive February Sweeps Preview, “Whenever you have Alison Sweeney returning, you want to make the most of it, no matter how long she’s going to be around. You want her to come in with a bang, and maybe that’s foreshadowing a little bit.”

The last time we saw Sami was via a video chat with Lucas, Allie and Roman, who slipped up and brought attention to Allie having been raped in London — a horrible detail that Sami hadn’t known about. Though by the end of their talk mother and daughter cleared the air, as part of Sami’s goodbye she vowed that there was nothing she won’t do for her daughter.

More: Sweeney teams up with Alfonso in Hallmark mystery

And now she’s coming back to Salem. Carlivati confirmed that Sweeney’s return would be connected to Charlie’s story, “She is definitely going to play into this in a big way.” And we all know what that means… there is definitely trouble ahead — and Charlie should be scared, really, really scared — especially when someone is threatening Sami’s family.

Last month marked Sweeney’s 28th anniversary playing the iconic Salem character. Take a look back in time in our photo gallery of Sami’s life and loves throughout the years.

– Amy Mistretta

Jason Downs has exited his role on Days of Our Lives as Rhodes. In today’s Thursday, February 18, episode, Rhodes was shot by an unseen assailant right in front of Ciara, who he’d been holding captive for weeks.

Downs first came on the scene on Friday, January 29, when the mysterious Rhodes was shown to be holding the presumed dead Salemite captive in a glass cage made to look like her bedroom.

Since then, he has given Ciara books to occupy her alone time, which in turn led to her and Ben sharing a Romeo and Juliet fantasy. Though Ciara unsuccessfully attempted to escape, by knocking him over the head with a metal tray, she managed to steal Rhodes’ phone and tried to reach out to Ben, who refuses to believe his wife is really dead.

Ben, along with help from Claire, has tuned to Susan Banks to locate the love of his life and holds out hope that her visions of Ciara alive are true.

We have no doubt — since this is a soap and all — that somehow, someway Ciara and Ben will be reunited again one day. Until then, relive their Romeo and Juliet fantasy through our gallery of photos that many fans didn’t get to see, due to recent news interruptions.

– Amy Mistretta

As first reported by Soap Opera Digest, Brock Kelly is set to return beginning Friday, February 19, but the question is, why is Evan back? Is he reformed and ready to be a father to his son David — the boy he had with Jordan? Or was that all a veil for what’s yet to come?

The actor was last seen as Evan (birth name Christian) on Days of Our Lives on October 28, 2020, when he brought Marlena to his father Orpheus’ hideout where John was being held. Evan refused to allow Orpheus to thwart his progress at Bayview, knocked him out and left Marlena and John free to call the Salem PD on his dad before running off.

We all know he has bad blood with so many Salemites, including Rafe, Ben and Ciara — to name a few. You may even recall when Ciara brought Evan to Statesville at gunpoint in March of 2020 to stop Ben from being executed for killing Jordan, when Evan was the one who really murdered her.

If he’s changed, it’ll be interesting to see who accepts his new persona. If not, as we’ve seen in the past, everyone on his hit list better keep one eye open.

He’s not the only one who set down the road to redemption… View our photo gallery of various Salem baddies turned good.

– Amy Mistretta

Wish we were only whistlin’ Dixie, but Cady McClain has wrapped her run as Days of Our Lives’ Jennifer Deveraux, according to Soap Opera Digest. She’ll last air on February 17 when her iconic character heads out of Salem.

As any soap fan who hasn’t been living under a rock for months already knows, the Emmy winner stepped in this fall for Melissa Reeves, who reportedly opted not to reclaim her long-running role when the NBC soap resumed production following Hollywood’s shutdown.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but McClain has kicked butt in one storyline (Jack slept with Kate) after another (and he has a surprise daughter with yet another woman!). Of course that the daytime vet would rock whatever material she was given is a hardly a surprise. Since she made her soap debut back in 1988 as All My Children heroine Dixie Cooney, she’s done it all, whether as that legendary character, Rosanna Cabot on As the World Turns or poor, unhinged Kelly Andrews on The Young and the Restless.

Seriously, how many other performers can say that their characters suffered death by pancakes?

Whether Reeves will at some point return as Jennifer — her leave was said to be temporary — remains to be seen. Prior to her departure, she had landed herself at the center of a controversy by “liking” several anti-Black Lives Matter social-media posts. Since then, she and husband Scott Reeves (ex-Steve, General Hospital) have become grandparents twice over.

While you’re here getting your Days of Our Lives fix, check out our handy-dandy photo gallery of all of the actors who are leaving and/or have recently left.