Days of our Lives’ Kristian Alfonso Brings Hope Back To Salem

It’s a bittersweet week on Days of our Lives when Jack and Jennifer’s comeback sparks more returns for the saddest of reasons. Expect to see Kristian Alfonso and Brandon Beemer on Friday when Hope gets tragic news.

Back For The Love of Bill Hayes

On Thursday, we will see Matthew Ashford and Melissa Reeves as Jack and Jennifer once again, but the next day Jack finds a sad scene. He goes to wake Doug from a nap and realizes the older man passed away. Jennifer is tasked with calling Hope in Greece to deliver the news that her dad has died. Hope grieves with her son Shawn and wonders how she will leave Bo’s side to return to Salem.

Doug’s memorial will also be a memorial for Bill Hayes, who died at the age of 98 in January. He played Doug for 52 years. Alfonso still remembers the moment she learned the man who had played her father for three decades was gone.

“I remember exactly where I was when I got the call,” Alfonso told Soap Opera Digest. “I was in the car and I was on my way home and it was raining and I found myself not being able to make my way home…. I was just driving around because I couldn’t believe it.”

It didn’t take much for the actress to agree to return to her old stomping ground. She was even honored to be asked.

“DAYS approached me very early on [about returning for the arc of Doug’s death] and of course, my answer was yes,” Alfonso said. “I knew how difficult it would be, but I was very happy and elated that they reached out to me to include me since I was no longer on the show. They didn’t need to; they could have said [in scripts], ‘Oh, Hope is somewhere else.’ So I really very much appreciate that.”

This won’t be Alfonso’s only upcoming return to DAYS. She is scheduled to be back again in May and this time Peter Reckell will join her as Bo.

Don’t forget to watch new episodes of Days of our Lives on Peacock starting at 6 AM ET each weekday.