Days of Our Lives fans see exciting Comings and Goings with a huge Horton recast, plus two siblings hit Salem, and a she-villain is back looking for a payday.

Days of Our Lives Casting Update: A Horton Recast and Brady Siblings Return

I’m really excited about a huge casting update on a recast of a character that we’ve not seen in years because she’s been out of town living with her dad and has had plenty of mentions, but they’ve all been offscreen.

But before we get into that cool Horton casting tidbit, let’s talk about the siblings that both just hit town. And both of them are in town because of the same guy. It’s EJ DiMera (Dan Feuerriegel) who brings both these Brady siblings around, but each one heads to see somebody different first.

Days of our Lives Comings & Goings: Sami Brady Returns

We have Sami Brady (Alison Sweeney) back on the scene in Salem. She made a beeline to see EJ DiMera (Dan Feuerriegel) at University Hospital. And Hurricane Sami blew in just in time to hear Belle Black (Martha Madison) declare her undying love for possibly dying EJ. Boy, that set off Sami as you would expect.

She told Belle that EJ is just using her as a Sami substitute, but she wasn’t happy to hear that her little sister Belle said that EJ is the one that was pursuing her. Sami pulled the “he’s the father of my children” card. And Belle left annoyed. So, Sami’s going to stick around to deal with EJ’s drama and the related Johnny DiMera (Carson Boatman) drama, but she won’t stay too awful long.

Days of our Lives: Rex Brady is Back

Although Alison Sweeney takes off out of Salem before too long, she is back for the big and sad event in June, which is John Black’s (Drake Hogestyn) funeral and the big dedication to Drake Hogestyn happens.

Also back is Sami’s brother Rex Brady (Kyle Lowder), who stops by with his arm in a sling to check on his mom Kate Roberts (Lauren Koslow) and reassures her the hit-and-run injury is no big deal. The driver has been arrested. And this does not seem to be the work of EJ DiMera (Dan Feuerriegel).

Intrigue at the Brady Pub: Rex, Roman, and a Missing Gun

Kate bails on Rex to run see Philip Kiriakis (John-Paul Lavoisier), which gives Rex a chance to talk to his pop Roman Brady (Josh Taylor). And their talk centers around EJ as well, specifically his shooting. Because after Kate takes off, Rex is looking for an ink pen and finds the gun that his mom Kate’s has stashed.

So naturally, Rex and Roman discuss whether Kate might have gone overboard and gone after EJ. Wouldn’t be the first time she’s lashed out violently, but if you recall, it’s not Roman’s gun that Kate has. Johnny DiMera (Carson Boatman) lifted the gun from the pub, so that should be interesting as Rex and Roman try to figure out where the Brady Pub’s sidearm is, given that somebody put a bullet in EJ and the gun went missing right before he was gunned down.

Also, like Alison Sweeney, we’re not going to see Kyle Lowder for too terribly long. The Rex Brady (Kyle Lowder) actor has a full-time gig hosting the Morning News on KTVN in Reno, Nevada, but he is also probably back for the John Black (Drake Hogestyn) memorial in June. We’ll see.

DOOL Comings & Goings: The Return of Arianna Horton

All right, now let’s talk about the recast of an existing character that has not been seen in a while. I mentioned this was coming, but I didn’t have the actor’s name yet. And now it looks like we do. So, I’m talking about the SORAS recast of Arianna Horton. If you don’t know, that means soap opera rapid aging syndrome. And it’s what they do when they drastically age up a character.

So, there is a behind-the-scenes photo that Dan Feuerriegel posted, the EJ DiMera actor. And it’s him, Al Calderon who plays Javi Hernandez, next to Cherie Jimenez who plays Gabi Hernandez. And next to her is actress Marissa Reyes.

You can see that Dan’s in the background behind them. Now to be fair, we have to consider because Dan is in the photo, there’s a slim chance that Marissa could be playing EJ and Sami’s rarely-seen daughter Sydney DiMera, but given that Reyes is a Hispanic name and we’ve been hearing SORAS chatter about Arianna for months now, my money is on her being the recast of the Hernandez Horton duo of Gabi and Will Horton’s (Chandler Massey) child.

Days of our Lives Comings & Goings: SORAS Strikes Again

So, this was a very recent photo, but we were told by our leaker to look for aged-up Arianna shortly. She should be airing this spring according to our source. And if you’re curious, actress Marissa Reyes is 21, but she could easily play a teen.

Because Ashley Puzemis who plays Holly Jonas just turned 24 and Tate Black actor Leo Howard is 27, a full decade older than what he’s playing. And Payton Meyer who plays Doug is out of high school but still young is 26, so she’ll fit right in as a Salem teen that looks like they’re in their 20s.

Vivian Alamain’s Payday and the DiMera Family Drama

So now let’s talk about the she-villain who’s out for a payday. That’s Louise Sorel back as Vivian Alamain. She popped up this week on Thursday and again on Friday. And we’ll see how long she stays. She wants her share of the fortune that she, Kate. And Philip built Xander Cook (Paul Telfer) out of. Now that she’s fresh out of prison, mama needs a new wardrobe, right?

Also, another behind-the-scenes photo has Thaao Penghlis back on the scene. The Tony DiMera actor is in a photo with his DiMera siblings Chad DiMera (Billy Flynn), EJ, and Kristen DiMera (Stacy Haiduk) played by Billy Flynn, Dan Feuerriegel, and Stacy Haiduk, although it seems Tony may have to visit his adoptive sister behind bars because she’s accused of shooting their brother EJ and is arrested.

Days of our Lives Comings & Goings: Ava Vitali Out

So, Tony’s back in the swing in Salem a little later this year. It’s always hard to judge by these photos since they shoot nine months ahead. Bear in mind also that photo is about a month old. It’s from March. And Billy Flynn wrapped his run as Chad like middle end of March because he’s making his spring debut as a new character on Young and the Restless. Billy’s going to be airing simultaneously on Y&R and Days of Our Lives through early 2026 when his pre-taped material ends on the NBC Peacock soap.

We also just said goodbye to Ava Vitali (Tamara Braun). And as far as we know, Tamara Braun is gone for good, or at least for a good long while. They tape eight to nine months ahead right now. And she’s been nowhere in sight behind the scenes.

New Faces and Lingering Questions: Rachel Black and the EJ Shooting Mystery

We also have just two weeks until we meet the new little Rachel Black played by Alice Halsey who replaces outgoing Finley Rose Slater. New Rachel pops up just as May sweeps begins on April 24th. And we’re just itching to see if our leaker was right and little Rachel was the one who popped a cap and her uncle EJ either on accident or just because she’s a wicked little minx like her mama Kristen DiMera (Stacy Haiduk).