Days of Our LivesComings & Goings

Kyle Lowder will make another brief return to Days of Our Lives as Rex Brady during the week of March 8. 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.

We can confirm that Jaime Lyn Bauer’s days of coming in and out of Salem are over. The actress left Days of Our Lives on February 10 when Laura Horton was — sigh — confirmed to have been killed. Back in 1993, Bauer took over the role, which was previously played by various actresses, most notably Bold & Beautiful’s Susan Flannery (ex-Stephanie), and has appeared on and off throughout the years.

Her most recent return to the NBC soap opera was on February 1 when Laura made her way back to Salem after seeing Gwen’s name in an article in The Intruder and realized that her worst nightmare had come true — that Gwen had surfaced and might reveal that she was Jack’s daughter. Though Laura hightailed it to town in hopes of preventing the reveal, she was too late.

So, where did Laura fit into this mess? Laura finally admitted to her family that she had secretly pretended to be Jack’s secretary and met with Tiffany to inform the woman that Jack didn’t want anything to do with her or the baby. Laura also paid Tiffany to stay away and never told Jack about any of it. She reminded Jennifer that her daughter and Jack had just started patching up their relationship, and she didn’t want the news of a baby to ruin their chances at a happy future.

Fast-forward to Gwen finding out what Laura did… After Laura went to see Gwen and revealed more details as to why she kept her existence from everyone, the two got into a heated argument and Gwen grabbed Laura, who ended up with a head injury and died from the trauma.

As our Days of Our Lives spoilers revealed, though Gwen called Jack for help, Rafe was soon on the scene, and everyone involved confirmed that Laura was — we believe the scientific term for it is — toast. (Frankly, we thought the character deserved better. Way better. Here’s the reason why.)

Even though her feelings of neglect from the past put her down a road to being a Salem baddie, Gwen isn’t the only one who has taken out her frustrations on the town’s residents. Take a look at other Days of Our Lives baddies — but ones who have turned good — in our photo gallery.

– Amy Mistretta

Precious Way is joining Days of Our Lives as Chanel, the daughter of Jackée Harry’s upcoming character Paulina. The news was first reported by Blackfilm and she is expected to make her debut by March.

Not much is known about Paulina or her daughter Chanel, other than they are connected through the Carvers, expanding the already established family further. Could Paulina be Abe’s sister we’ve never heard of, making Chanel his niece? In our February sweeps interview with head writer Ron Carlivati, he indicated that Paulina will somehow be, “Tied to the next arc of Eli and Lani’s story.”

Currently, Eli and Lani, who is Abe’s daughter, are desperate to find their newborn twins, who have been kidnapped by Dr. Raynor and Ivan, Vivian Alamain’s manservant. On February 2nd’s show, Ivan was seen delivering the babies to his beloved Madame, who will be played by Linda Dano this time around.

Way is an established musician and actress. Her first single “Watch Me Go” debuted nationally in 2018. With Days of Our Lives often featuring the musical talents of some of their cast, it’s possible her character could be involved in the industry. After the debut of her single, Way turned her eye to acting and landed the co-lead role of Luscious T in the upcoming series Partners in Rhyme for Urban Movie Chanel. The series was developed and created by MC Lyte, who also produces and co-stars as Lana Crawford.

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As we await the debut of both Paulina and her daughter Chanel, and learn how they are connected to Lani and Abe, why not check out this gallery of Sami Brady over the years, as she is also set to return to Salem shortly.

– Dustin Cushman

Last fall news rocked daytime that Victoria Konefal would be leaving Days of Our Lives, which meant no more Ben and Ciara for their diehard Cin fans. Viewers watched the exit unfold when Ciara was presumed dead in a car explosion after being abducted by Vincent.

Ciara’s mother Hope always believed that her daughter was alive… so much so that her search for the truth about Ciara facilitated Kristian Alfonso’s exit. And although Ben has found it impossible to accept that his true love is gone, both Ciara and Konefal have only appeared as figments of Ben’s imagination. But now, that’s all about to change.

We can confirm that the actress will return beginning on Thursday, January 28, as reported by Soap Opera Digest, and this time, not as something conjured up by her grieving spouse. Instead, viewers will find out that Hope was right to believe that her daughter was alive. We’ll also learn that the MIA  young beauty has a connection to a man named Rhodes. No word on how long Konefal and her much-loved alter ego will appear on screen.

As we await Ciara’s appearance, why not check out this gallery of other soap characters who have returned from the dead over the years. Heaven knows she’s in good company!

– Amy Mistretta

Jason Downs has landed a role on Days of Our Lives as Rhodes, a man who shares a mysterious connection to the not-as-dead-as-previously reported, news first reported by Soap Opera Digest. This of course means actress Victoria Konefal is heading back to the NBC soap opera as well.

Though many in Salem believe that Ciara died in an explosion, others are still holding out hope that she’s alive. Then there’s poor Ben, the guy has done nothing but stir up images of his supposedly dead wife since last September.

Aside from playing a Dutch concierge on CBS’ The Bold and the Beautiful back in 2014, this is Downs’ first major daytime role. Look for him to debut on Days of Our Lives before the end of the month.

While we wait to find out how Rhodes is connected to Ciara — might he be somehow related to Vincent, the last person seen with Ciara — take a look at our photo gallery, which features highlights of Ciara’s life leading up to the big moment that changed everything for her, Ben and all those she left behind.

– Amy Mistretta

Ivan G’Vera is back on Days of Our Lives as Ivan Marais beginning Thursday, January 14 when the character returns to Salem to collect Eli and Lani’s twins! Back in December we reported that Linda Dano would be taking over the role of Vivian Alamain for the character’s big return and we know she still holds a grudge against Lani for causing Stefan’s death during that shootout.

Fans will recall that Ivan is Vivian’s trusted sidekick — one who would do anything for his Madame — and a Bollywood producer. G’Vera first appeared in the role back in 1990 and has turned up numerous times over the years.

His last visit to Salem was in July 2020 when Ivan revealed that Jake was Stefan’s twin, which not only stunned Jake and Gabi but Vivian as well. Ivan went on to explain how Jake was very sick at birth and wasn’t expected to live — and for all Ivan knew he didn’t survive.

Even though Ivan and Vivian didn’t make the cut, view a photo gallery of 10 Days of Our Lives baddies gone good.

– Amy Mistretta