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Kristian Alfonso is heading back to Salem. The fan-favorite Days of Our Lives alum will reportedly reprise her role as Hope Brady to pay tribute to her late co-star, Bill Hayes.
The actress confirmed to TV Insider that she was on set Monday (April 22) to film the tribute episode for Hayes, who played her onscreen father, Doug Williams. The episode is set to air on Nov. 29.
“My return is very bittersweet, because it is the end of an era with Bill gone,” she told the outlet. “So to return to Days is very sad. I am appreciative that they came to me to include me in their series of shows honoring Doug and I’m very happy to see everyone, but I’m entering the studio with a heavy heart.”
Alfonso had nothing but fond memories with Hayes, who died in January at the age of 98.
“I remember my first scenes with him. He was very loving, very welcoming,” she recalled. “That he was very talented and an incredible actor and an icon, that all goes without saying, but my personal relationship and my working relationship with Bill, it was home. Doing the scenes with Bill, I felt like I was with my dad because there was so much warmth and reality.”
According to the soap star, she was supposed to reunite with Hayes for an episode in 2023 — but it never came to fruition.
“[The storyline] was great; we returned to Salem to reunite with our families and I would have had father/daughter scenes with Billy,” she said. “What Ron [Carlivati] had written was beautiful and emotional and it was a fantastic story. I was 100% for it and the fans would have loved it.”
Alfonso got her start on Days in 1983. While she exited the soap opera in 2020, she briefly reprised her role in the 2022 Peacock spinoff Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem.
“I feel incredibly grateful that I ever had the opportunity to be a part of such an incredible show and the legacy that it holds,” she said. “I’m very blessed. I’ll always be very blessed, regardless if I ever return to do more shows or finish the storyline or not.”
She continued, “I will always be eternally grateful and so appreciative to Days of our Lives and to Ken Corday [executive producer] and the fans that kept me going.”
As for whether her character’s beloved storyline with Bo (Peter Reckell) will pick up where it left off, Alfonso teased, “What I will say is don’t give up hope.”
Days of Our Lives airs on weekdays on Peacock.
