It’s the end of the line for Theresa Donovan, for now, as she headed to Statesville on the August 8th episode of Peacock’s Days of our Lives. With Theresa spending some time in the slammer, that marks the conclusion of Emily O’ Brien’s run in the part.
Back in October of 2023, O’Brien had the distinction of seeing her original DAYS character of Gwen Rizchech being written-out on the same day as she debuted as a recast Theresa complete with blonde wig. Previously, Emily had played Gwen since 2020, and Theresa had been last played by Jen Lilley.
Now with both roles being given a rest, Emily is onto many new projects including voicing the one and only Wonder Woman for the upcoming video game, DC Heroes United.
Photo: JPI
Emily spoke with Soap Opera Digest about her emotional final day on set (which was months ago in DAYS time). “I just told everyone how incredibly lucky I am. I wasn’t supposed to be on the show for as long as I was,” shared O’Brien. “I never thought that daytime would be something that was accessible to me again (she previously played Jana Hawkes on Y&R 2006-2011). I not only got to play one amazing role, but I played two amazing roles.”
The actress admitted she did fall in love with playing the troublemaking Theresa, which was not originally intended to be her role. Emily expressed, “I just feel so grateful for that experience. It’s been a crazy, wild ride — just mind-blowing. Every single day there is something that keeps everyone going full force to do everything they can to put out another amazing episode where people are so invested. It’s the hardest job ever, and I’m so grateful that I got to experience that with this group.”
Photo: JPI
As viewers know, Days of our Lives has a penchant for bringing back characters from the dead, or characters written off the canvas down the line for a new cycle of shows. So, you just never know if Gwen, Theresa or Emily, in yet another DAYS role, might pop again!
So, sad to see Emily written off as Theresa? Should the show cast her to play yet another character in the future? Share your thoughts via the comment section.
So… it wasn’t the right part for Emily to play Theresa. Emily killed it as Gwen! She auditioned for Gwen, not Theresa. She inherited the role of Theresa. I hope Theresa stays in prison for some time until they can persuade Jen Tilley to reprise the role.
I assume Ron C. came up with the dumb move to insert Emily in as Theresa. It sounds like Emily wasn’t feeling Theresa. However, Emily did her job as an actor, she played the role to the best of her abilities + blonde wig which was a character of its own. And for that, kudos to Emily! It just didn’t take… that’s all. Emily is very talented and wish her well.
Perhaps, in early 2025… it may be a good time to welcome for Gwen back to Salem, link up with silly Leo (that is if she can forgive him for deceiving her about Dimitri)… and then, perhaps we can see more of Jack & Jennifer…. and a recast Abigail?
Brianne
1 year ago
Emily needs to come back. I don’t care who she’s playing!
Anna
1 year ago
OH NO! Say it isn’t so Emily! While I still missed the original Teresa, I have LOVED Emily’s talent! Please COME BACK! We ALL MISS GWEN!
James R Poissant
1 year ago
I am sad to see Emily off the show. I am holding out hope that Gwen has decided to return to Salem so we can have Emily still with us but I guess that remains to be seen.
Dave A.
1 year ago
Hopefully, Emily will be back as Gwen. Since Days has such a tight budget, actors might be asked to exit for some time and then are asked to come back on set I think. From what I remember, Kristian Alfonso (Hope) was asked to leave the show in 2020 for 5 months, she refused and quit the show, so I think some actors do leave on their own accord, some come back and some do not. Budgeting is what it is all about as alleged 13-week contracts do not last very long these “Days.”
Moto62
1 year ago
YES!! Things just keep getting better and better!!!
Johnny Gainor
1 year ago
Right now, in late August ’24, the show STINKS! This NONSENSE about ‘body and soul’ is stupid and if Emily comes back it should be as the character GWEN – and just how many more “Abigails” are they going to have – the show really (right now) has nothing interesting palatable to offer – the storyline of Eric and Nicole finding out that after they ate the tainted poisoned biscuits they conceived a child was at least interesting but that’s over now….and right now, there’s really nothing on the show that is attracting me to watch ~
Patty
1 year ago
Bring back Gwen to claim her Von Lauschner inheritance . And settle the score with leo
Jeff
1 year ago
Emily did a fantastic job in both roles on Days. Her high caliber of acting will be missed.
Violet Lemm
1 year ago
Too bad she had to leave. Would love to see her in her previous part as Jana on Y&R and it would be twice as good, if she brought Kevin back wiith her!
Congratulations are in order for Days of Our Lives schemer, Emily O’Brien (Gwen Rizchech). The actress said “I do,” over the weekend in a wedding ceremony on Saturday, August 1 at the CaliPaso Winery in Paso Robles, California.
Emily married her longtime boyfriend, Ken Burnett. The couple have been together for 12 years before the big day. Taking to her Instagram with some exquisite photos which includes a look at Emily’s spectacular wedding dress, O’Brien announced the couple’s union.
As it turns out, the dress was worn by Burnett’s grandmother in 1956! Making the whole feel of the nuptials so special. Emily expressed, “I married my best friend this weekend… Ken, this life is more colorful, more adventurous & so much more beautiful with you in it. You make every dream a reality. Wearing your grandmothers heirloom wedding dress from 1956 was just the cherry… Cheers to Pickles & Neens”
Photo: EOBrienIG
DAYS AND Y&R STARS SHARE EXCITEMENT FOR EMILY
The comment thread quickly filled up with congratulations from many of Emily’s present Days of our Lives co-stars and those from her former soap, The Young and the Restless where she played Jana Hawkes.
Tamara Braun (ex-Ava, Days and ex-Sienna, Y&R) shared, “The day was everything you two embody. Absolutely beautiful.” Greg Rikaart, who played Emily’s on-screen husband, Kevin Fisher on Y&R, and is now her bff Leo on DAYS shared, “Spectacular and beautiful. Zero notes. Congrats you two!!”Al Calderon (ex-Javi, DAYS) chimed in with “perfection,” while current DAYS co-star Linsey Godfrey (Sarah) added, “Perfect perfect perfect. Both of you.” Abigail Klein (Stephanie, DAYS) shared, “Storybook!” Y&R’s Michelle Stafford (Phyllis) expressed, “Gorgeous!!!!!”
It was back in March of this year that Barnett made his own tribute to the love of his life via his Instagram with a series of photos of the couple adding, “12 years later and we’re still up to our same shenanigans 😜 joyeux anniversaire, ma chérie.”
Share your congratulations for Emily and Ken via the comment section below, and wish the newlyweds all the best on their union!
Great news for Days of Our Lives fans, now that Ryan Quan is co-head writer of the long-running soap opera. Coming in June of 2027 (since DAYS tapes ten or so months ahead), you can look forward to the returns of Alison Sweeney (Sami Brady), Christie Clark (Carrie Brady), Chandler Massey (Will Horton) and Bryan Dattilo (Lucas Horton).
The foursome is back on set and began last week to tape their upcoming story arc, according to TV Insider. As to what exactly is going on that brings sister Sami and Carrie’s history back up, as well as Will and Lucas’ is only being teased at this time, but suffice to say, it should be intriguing.
Alison Sweeney explained on being back on set, “It was a lot of dialogue and emotion, but with all the best actors to work opposite, we fell into it as if no time had passed. It was really wonderful.”
Photo: JPI
As to working with the longstanding rivalry of Sami and Carrie, Alison added on working with Clark, “So, it really does feel like we’re sisters. It’s so fun, and she’s such a good actor that she makes everything so natural that you can really disappear into those stories.”
JUST LIKE OLD TIMES
It also seems like the deep-history, which often had the sister fighting for the love of Austin Reed, but that might not figure into the equation this time, or will it?
Alison indicated what she thought of the scripts she was given. “I felt like when I read it, it was a page-turner. I was very excited. There’s a lot of history here, and a lot of things that haven’t been said. So, it’s really not like, ‘Oh, rehashing stuff.’ And now having played some of the scenes, I’m psyched.” Sweeney added, as for the men, working again with her on-screen son, Chandler Massey and Will’s on-screen father Bryan Dattilo, was also extra special.
The last time DAYS viewers saw Sami on the canvas was back in November of 2025, when she revealed she has gotten engaged to never-before-seen Dante Vitali. As for Clark, she last visited Salem for the episodes surrounding John Black’s memorial in June of 2025.
Chandler Massey’s Will Horton last made a visit to Salem in November of 2025 when he attended the gala for the Tom Horton Free Clinic as part of the soap opera’s 60th anniversary celebration. Bryan Dattilo was last seen in December of 2025. So, by the time we see all four again it will be close to two years since they were on new episodes of the series. Time to look forward to June of 2027.
So, excited by the news of Alison, Christie, Chandler and Lucas making a return to Days of Our Lives? What do you think the story will be involving, Sami, Carrie, Lucas and Will? Let us know via the comment section.
Last Tuesday, Al Calderon scored the first Emmy nomination of his career for his role as Javi Hernandez on Days of Our Lives.
Calderon name was announced as one of the performers competing for gold in the Emerging Talent in a Daytime Drama Series category at the upcoming 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards on October 30.
This week, Calderon chatted live on You Tube’s Michael Fairman Channel for a one-on-one conversation where he discussed: his nominated scenes and time on the Peacock streaming soap opera, his decision to leave DAYS, his role of Nico Silva on Brilliant Minds and its sad cancellation, plus his passing the torch of Javi to Jacob Martinez, who took over the role on-screen on the June 30, 2026 episode of Days of Our Lives.
Photo: JPI
JAVI REVEALS TO LEO THAT HE HAD A DAUGHTER WHO DIED
Al revealed the scenes that comprise his now Emmy-nominated reel have at its epicenter the heartbreaking moments from the September 12, 2025 episode. In it, Javi shares for the first time to Leo (Greg Rikaart) that he had a daughter named Solana, with a woman he was seeing named Sylvia. One fateful day, Sylvia left their child in a car when she went to work and the little girl died. Javi had blamed himself for not being the parent to take his daughter to school that day since he was hungover the night before, therefore it opened up the opportunity for something to happen to the his child, and it did.
The multi-talented actor/singer explained his reel: “It was the scene where he is talking about his daughter to Leo. I also included the scene where Javi goes to talk to Melinda (Tina Huang) and to see if it would be a viable option to adopt, because I wanted to introduce the subtlety and nuance of why Javi kind of has this whole connection to Tesoro, in a way.”
It is true that Al can bring the tears and make us cry right along with him during his run as Javi. To that, Calderon added, “I’ve read the comments that I’m a little bit of a crybaby, so I didn’t want the entire reel to be of me crying, but I wanted it to show a little bit of an emotional range of the restraint that Javi was feeling so I included that scene
In addition Calderon shared, “I also included a really beautiful scene with Cherie Jimenez (Gabi Hernandez, DAYS) where I’m looking at photos of Tesoro, and of course, Javi is crying. I just wanted to show the relationship between Javi and his family as well, and as I mentioned the reveal of the child that he lost.”
Photo: JPI
ALUMS AL CALDERON AND ALICE HALSEY REPRESENT DAYS OF OUR LIVES IN EMERGING TALENT CATEGORY
In a twist of fate, Calderon is also nominated in the Emerging Talent category with Alice Halsey who played Rachel Black. Halsey is currently starring in the reboot of Little House on the Prairie in the lead role of Laura Ingalls on Netflix.
As to his hope on Emmy night, Al expressed, “Of course, I want to win, but Alice Halsey is going to give me a run for the money. And if’s not me (who wins the award), it better be her!”
You can check out the full interview with Al below.
Now let us know, do you remember Al’s emotional scenes when he explained to Leo he had a daughter who died, which made it all the more heartbreaking to not end up with permanent custody of Tesoro? What do you think of Al’s chances to win the gold based on his Emmy scene selection? Do you miss him as Javi? Weigh-in via the comment section.
