We don’t typically report on soap-opera news here on Vulture, but this is big: According to Soap Opera Digest, Deidre Hall (Dr. Marlena Evans) and Drake Hogestyn (John Black) have been axed from Days of Our Lives for budget reasons (the show got an eighteen-month renewal last week, a dramatic difference from the previous five-year one). Granted, we haven’t watched the show in like ten years, but these were major characters when we last tuned in — Hall has been on Days for 32 years, and Hogestyn has been there for 22. Plus, we imagine things are pretty much exactly the same in Salem, with the days of our lives continuing to resemble sands through the hourglass. Hodestyn’s exit has been rumored for a while now, but after John Black seemed to die in October 2007, he returned to the show in January. (Stefano had been keeping him in his basement and reprogramming him!!) This time, however, the good-bye to the beloved character and his long-term love seems more permanent. Says executive producer Ken Corday, “The couple will be happily reunited after a long period of angst and separation and will be off-screen after January for an unknown period of time. It was a very tough decision to make.†Our mom is gonna be crushed.
Huge DAYS Casting News! [Soap Opera Digest]