Kristian Alfonso left Days of Our Lives in 2020 after 37 years of playing Hope Williams Brady. At the time, she implied her exit was permanent by saying quite plainly, “I’m not coming back.” Now, Alfonso is reprising her Days role in Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem Season 2, premiering July 11 on Peacock. But she doesn’t see this as backtracking on her 2020 comments about a return to Days.
“I don’t think of this as going back to Days of Our Lives,” Alfonso told Soap Opera Digest, per TVLine. “[Beyond Salem] is, I feel, a branch of it.”
The actor said she never ruled out returning to the franchise altogether. “I have seen online where viewers have stated that I said, ‘Never’ regarding [returning someday] — I never said never,” according to Alfonso. “I said that I will not be popping in and out like other actors have done in the past. I didn’t say I’m never, ever coming back. I was not absolute.”
Alfonso’s 2020 comments did seem absolute. “I’m not coming back,” she told Soap Opera Digest in 2020. “I’ve had a great run and so many wonderful moments on the show and worked with so many wonderful people. It’s time for me to start a new chapter professionally.” It seems she sees Beyond Salem as part of that new chapter.
“It always has to be the story and the characters,” she told Digest. “And [the Beyond Salem storyline] made me excited. That’s why I decided to come on board.”
Beyond Salem Season 2 will see Alfonso reunited with her Days co-star Peter Reckell as Bo Brady. Season 2 circles the globe, from Monte Carlo to Hong Kong. Over the season’s five episodes, “heartwarming family reunions take a dangerous turn as a mysterious adversary wreaks havoc on their lives,” Peacock teases. Expect “larger-than-life romance, jaw-dropping twists, and high-stakes drama” that all “connects back to a plot that long-time DOOL fans will surely remember.”
Beyond Salem Season 2 also stars Deidre Hall as Dr. Marlena Evans, Drake Hogestyn as John Black, Stephen Nichols as Steve “Patch” Johnson, Mary Beth Evans as Kayla Brady Johnson, Lucas Adams as Tripp Johnson, Camila Banus as Gabi Hernandez, Victoria Konefal as Ciara Brady, Robert Scott Wilson as Ben Weston, and Remington Hoffman as Li Shin.
Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem, Season 2 Premiere, Monday, July 11, Peacock