The former As the World Turns heartthrob — he was steely-eyed Jordan Sinclair, you’ll recall — would bring to Days of Our Lives an older EJ, it’s true. But so long as Stefano’s son, who was generally his own worst enemy, was none the wiser, we have faith that Beetem could sell us on his incarnation of the iconic conniver.
Since leaving All My Children as Erica Kane’s magically un-aborted son, Josh Madden, tall, dark and handsome Egglesfield has bopped from one primetime series (Melrose Place) to another (Lucifer). Were he interested in steadier work, Kate Roberts, bar the door — it doesn’t get much steadier than a soap like Days of Our Lives. (Never mind that long list of actors who have left/are leaving.)
Technically, Parsons is still tied up with The CW’s reboot of Roswell, New Mexico — he’s the lead, don’t ya know? But he nonetheless managed to juggle his schedule to the point that he recently reprised his General Hospital role of Ethan Lovett. What that says to us is, “Yo, nothing’s off the table — it’s a big table.” He’s a little young for the part, sure, but who says SORAS can’t work in reverse, too?
Though almost a decade older than the EJ that we know and love, this esteemed soap vet — who succeeded Roger Howarth (Franco, General Hospital) as Todd Manning on One Life to Live before being given a character of his own — has an almost unparalleled gift for playing complicated anti-heroes. Or, as they’re called in real life… you know… villains.
For years, viewers of The Young and the Restless have been saying, “Dang. Why don’t they bring Jeff Branson back as Ronan Malloy?” Perhaps unbeknownst to us, the fates were aligning to eventually transfer the soap-hopping All My Children and Guiding Light grad to Days of Our Lives in a particularly tricky-to-recast role. One that, you know, rhymes with me-hey.
Never mind that the Sunset Beach alum briefly appeared on Days of Our Lives in 2009 as Dean Hartman, the corrupt cop who had a young Ciara kidnapped. The NBC soap is big on recycling — see also: Josh Taylor (ex-Chris) as Roman and Judi Evans (ex-Adrienne) as Bonnie. And Stabile more than proved his mettle as a recast when he stepped in for Tyler Christopher (ex-Stefan) as Nikolas on General Hospital. He seems to have brought flowers, too — always a plus.
Again, don’t focus on the fact that soap-hopper Hutzler, a veteran of Guiding Light and The Young and the Restless, previously played Days of Our Lives’ Patrick Lockhart. Instead, contemplate the possibilities, should he slip into EJ’s suits. As an added bonus, the 6’3” actor is the rare fella who might actually fit in the exceptionally tall James Scott’s old wardrobe.
Having played Cyrus Foley, a grifter who put the “art” in “con artist” on Guiding Light, Bartlett would have no trouble playing a character like EJ, who’s shady even when he’s standing in direct sunlight. Wonder if Bartlett could do a British accent as well as he does his natural Australian one.
Only a bit older and shorter than the original EJ, The Young and the Restless’ former J.T. Hellstrom has the chops to play Days of Our Lives’ bad boy, for sure. But he’d need to learn to speak a whole different kind of English, dye his hair and take considerable time off from his burgeoning career as a movie producer. (His company helped put 2016’s La La Land on the map, for Pete’s sake.)
If you think that there really is no one but Scott who could satisfactorily bring EJ to life, we hate to say it, but you’re outta luck. The actor has left showbiz completely and totally behind, and recently told a fan that “I will never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Go back to Hollywood, let alone Days of Our Lives. There is nothing interesting there for me.”
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