Photo Credit: Chris Haston/NBC

The story of Daniel Cosgrove’s (Aiden Jennings) journey on Days of our Lives has certainly had its highs … and its lows.   Let’s start with the lows:  After becoming a viable love interest for Kristian Alfonso’s ‘Hope’, and the series giving the couple a big push, many fans were all about the duo now known as “Haiden”.   Suddenly, word got out that Cosgrove was being written-off the show in late June of 2015, and as viewers witnessed, the once charming Jennings was revealed to be duplicitous in his intent.  He became a desperate man so in debt, and under the thumb of the DiMeras, that he was plotting to kill his new bride shortly after they were married to get the benefits from her life insurance policy.  Those scenes occurred during DAYS 50^th anniversary series of shows last November.  In story, Aiden was “killed” by the returning hero, and Hope’s longtime and enduring love Bo Brady (Peter Reckell), just before he could finish the job of strangling Hope.  Fans were outraged that they invested so much time in Haiden, and that the show seemingly unceremoniously dumped Cosgrove.

Now the highs: DAYS, which had been taping six months ahead of air, had already made a deal with Cosgrove for a return!  Viewers had to wait till this past Monday to see his re-emergence on to the Salem scene.  And when he did, the show devoted an entire episode featuring Cosgrove at his best, to set up and explain where Aiden has been the past six months, and how on earth he survived.  When viewers last saw Aiden, his lifeless self was being carried out in a body bag, or was it even Aiden?   Yup!  In true soap opera tradition, an Aiden doppelganger is now believed to be the one who was killed in a case of an Andre DiMera (Thaao Penghlis) arranged version of “trading places.”

On-Air O-Soaps chatted with Daniel to find out what he thought of the emotionally draining Aiden-centric episode, how aware he was of the outpouring of fan support for his original ‘demise’, what it was like working with Peter Reckell in his ‘death” scenes, and just how and when did he found out he was returning to DAYS.   In addition, the DAYS star weigh-ins on the dark path Aiden’s son Chase (Jonathan McClendon) is on, and how he thinks his alter-ego will fare now that Hope has moved on in her romantic life with Rafe Hernandez (Galen Gering)!  The always candid and humorous Cosgrove fills us in on how it all went down, and what to expect in the months ahead as Aiden attempts to regain his life.

MICHAEL:

Monday saw the Aiden-centric episode, which featured you in almost every single scene.  It appeared to be a nice make up gift from Days of our Lives for letting you go in the first place.  (Laughs)  You delivered a fantastic performance that you should remember come Emmy time next year.

DANIEL:

Courtesy/NBC

Thanks for saying that, and I was quite surprised to have the episode.   It didn’t really occur to me how much of it I was in, but good lord it was a lot! (Laughs)   I was little worried to do so much solo … and to be talking to a dead bird. (Laughs)  It could have gone awry.   Honestly, I have not seen the episode.  I think there will be people who liked it, and people who don’t care about it.   I just hope it came out alright.   They tried to do something different, and I was happy to be a part of it.  I was honored that they gave me it, and the opportunity.  You have to bring it with something like that.   I just wanted to make sure I could get those scenes on the first take, and move on to the next.

MICHAEL:

When did you know you were coming back to DAYS?

DANIEL:

I stopped working in the middle of June of 2015, and then other than a few people whispering things here and there, I actually paid no mind to it.   I just assumed I was done.  They had killed Aiden.  He is dead.  They picked him up in a body bag, and there is no explaining this away.  Although, forgetting everything I have learned doing daytime for years, you can explain anything away!  I think we started having a conversation about me coming back in August of last year, and I started working again in mid-November.

MICHAEL:

Many fans were outraged that they “killed off” Aiden, and to many he was sacrificed to prop up the return of Bo (Peter Reckell).  Those that were rooting for, and investing in the love story of Haiden, felt short-changed.

DANIEL:

Photo: KAlfonsoTwitter

I heard!  I don’t really do social media; although I have a Twitter account I joined when I first came on to Days of our Lives.   I know there were a lot of people vocal about my departure, and I just want to say a big “thank you” to them.   I know the fans wanted the show to bring Aiden back.  It was always a surprise to me, because the first year and half I didn’t really have that much to do on the show, and it was frustrating.  It didn’t get really interesting till (former head writer) Josh Griffith, and Dena Higley came on board for DAYS 50th, and then we had different characters mixing it up, and talking with other characters.  Prior to that, other than the cabin scenes, where I admitted how Aiden’s ex-wife died, and that he covered it up because of Chase, there wasn’t a lot of meaty stuff to invest in for the character.  There were more of the bake sales, and the galas, and the cutesy stuff, but what that did allow was to let Kristian and myself, as Hope and Aiden, find some scenes where we can connect.  I think that resonated with people.  I also think it surprised some people, too, where people were going, “Wait a minute!”  Hope is half of an all-time super-couple, and Bo and Hope are like an institution here.  I think the Hope and Aiden pairing was embraced by more people than expected.  Again, not to the caliber, or the same league that Bo and Hope had, of course not, but people at that point were willing to accept letting Hope move on, and have scenes with another male character.  There was an audience for it, and that is what you hope for.

MICHAEL:

How was taping your then “final” scenes, and working with Peter Reckell?

DANIEL:

Courtesy/NBC

I am not in a position where I can ask, or dictate anything when it comes to story, and I know that.  But just as fans wanted something to happen, an actor who plays a character wants something to happen.  There was only one request that I had, and it didn’t come to fruition.  When I knew Peter was coming back, I did have a sidebar, and it wasn’t like I wanted to take a meeting.  I just wanted to say this: “With Peter coming back as the character of Bo, I’m hoping Peter and I will have dialog.”   I also said:  “To make Bo stronger, please don’t take my testicles away,” because quite often to make one character look stronger, they will make the other character look weak and pathetic.  I knew the character of Bo was going to win in the end, but I was like, “What would make his character stronger is if you write Aiden just as strong, too.  Therefore, if he is strong, and I am strong, and he wins, it makes him look better.”   My one request was to just let Aiden keep his dignity.  In the end, there was no dialog.  There was just a beat down scene.  I would have loved to have scenes with Peter to play out, but that didn’t come to pass.

MICHAEL:

What did you think when you heard that the show would pull out the ole’ doppelganger card to explain Aiden’s return and survival?  Any concerns it wouldn’t be accepted by the audience?

DANIEL:

Courtesy/NBC

I had my concerns thinking, “Well, how are they going to do this?”  I know in daytime anything goes, and an audience can be very forgiving, but not everyone.  They maybe are like, “We have seen this before so we will go with it,” or “We have seen this before we are bored with it.”  If it’s written well, you hope that most people will buy into it.

MICHAEL:

What did you think when you heard that while you were off the show they had your on-screen son, Chase rape Ciara (Vivian Jovanni)?

DANIEL:

Oh, I hated it!  I don’t like that at all.  I wish they didn’t go that far with it, and cross that line.  Even hearing it is so hard.   I hate those kinds of stories.

MICHAEL:

It seems that the show was equating that since Aiden was a bad guy, and now his son has also turned into a very bad guy.

DANIEL:

Courtesy/NBC

Well, that’s just it.   When he hears what Chase did to Ciara it breaks Aiden down.  He is an emotional mess right now.   He has been locked up for a long time.  Coming back, he is trying to get himself together, so to hear all this news, and then the rape thing, was so tough.  It was crazy too, because my last couple of weeks before I left the show that was when Jonathan began playing Chase, and so for the most part I equate Chase and Ciara with Connor Kalopsis and Lauren Boles!  So to me, in my performance, I wanted to make him finding this out so devastating, because Aiden remembers Ciara as this little girl.  Material like that I really want it to affect the character I am playing.  I don’t like seeing actors with forced tears, but there are some times I have to remind myself that this is a soap “opera”.  So if there comes a point where there is a death of a loved one, or that sort of an attack, that is something you have to let hit you hard, unless it’s written in the script some other way.  But if not, you need to try to be there in the moment as an actor, and let it rock and roll.

MICHAEL:

Are there more twists coming?  The guy we are seeing on-screen right now is the REAL Aiden Jennings, right?

DANIEL:

Courtesy/NBC

Yes, he is the real Aiden Jennings.  But when I first came back, it didn’t have my character’s name on the script.  I didn’t know quite honestly, because when I came back we really didn’t go into detail of which way it was going to play out.  You don’t always know.  So when I would get scenes with characters at the beginning of my return they were calling me by a different name.

MICHAEL:

Your name was back in the credits as of Monday’s episode.  You are back on the show as a full-time cast member, not just for a May Sweeps bang?   Just wanted to assure the fans coming from you!

DANIEL:

Yes, I am back.  You will be seeing a lot more of me.

MICHAEL:

Aiden realizes Hope and Rafe are romantically involved, and Aiden witnesses this, and feels this.  So where does he think this actually leaves him in his mission to win Hope back?

DANIEL:

He knew Rafe had eyes on Hope for so long.  It’s a bit of monkey wrench.  He does think he has a shot with Hope.  Aiden is back in Salem to get that all back on track, and to explain some things.

MICHAEL:

Courtesy/NBC

How is Aiden ever going to get past the fact that he was still intending on killing Hope the night of their honeymoon, before he chickened out at the last second?

DANIEL:

Hey, she doesn’t have to know everything! (Laughs)  Some things don’t change, and we will see as the story moves along.  Aiden likes to cherry pick with the facts, and what the truth is.  Now if someone where to find out the truth, or the facts, and bring it to Hope’s attention that could certainly blow up in Aiden’s face.  There will be a lot of things at stake.  But honestly, what is he going to do now?  Aiden’s son raped Hope’s daughter.

MICHAEL:

Andre (Thaao Penghlis) and Aiden are back in each other’s orbit, which will be key to the story moving forward.  Aiden is going to get caught up under Andre’s thumb once again.   Soap Opera Digest previews in their latest issue that next week Andre reveals to Aiden that Hope shot Stefano (Joe Mascolo).  Aiden will come to him with an offer that he will secure his release, if Andre won’t testify to Hope killing his father.  A tangled-web!

DANIEL:

Courtesy/NBC

Andre and Aiden will be reconnecting, and I love working with Thaao.  We have a lot of stuff coming up.  It’s a pretty crazy situation, and it’s not going to be so easy for Aiden to get his life back on track.  He has been writing in all those notebooks while he was locked up, where he thought he had it all figured out.  Let me just say, Aiden’s algorithm is off!

MICHAEL:

How was acting in the standalone episode opposite your scene-partner, the little bird?

DANIEL:

It was a real bird, too!  It looked dead, but it was a live, living bird, but its day rate was more than I make in a month! (Laughs)  The bird also has a cabaret act on the weekend! (Laughs)

MICHAEL:

Hope and Rafe, as a pairing, are picking up some traction with viewers, and the show has been pushing the duo.  At this point, can Aiden truly be a viable love interest for Hope?

DANIEL:

Courtesy/NBC

I hope the fans like Hope and Rafe, as the show has been investing a lot in that.  That is a couple that has Bo’s blessing!  That’s heavy.  If they are giving that blessing from Bo, then they are pretty much telling the viewers: “This is your couple.”  But I will say, Aiden is going to come in to this and be like, “I have something to say about that!”

MICHAEL:

Fans did invest in the pairing of Aiden and Hope before!

DANIEL:

Yes, the fans did invest in my character.  My thought was the show wanted to get rid of the character early on, and then they actually re-thought it differently.  I think they saw the relationship was different for Hope, and it worked.

MICHAEL:

How is getting to share scenes again with Kristian Alfonso?  I don’t know why Hope hasn’t cracked up yet … one husband tried to kill her and then is “murdered’, one husband comes back to save her from the other then has a brain tumor and dies suddenly, then she shoots Stefano to avenge Bo’s death, then Ciara is raped, then Aiden comes back … I mean, how much can one person take!

DANIEL:

Courtesy/NBC

She takes it all in stride! (Laughs)  Working with Kristian is good.  We picked up right where we left off.

MICHAEL:

Do you think fans should view Aiden as a good guy, a bad guy, or a ‘we don’t know’?

DANIEL:

I would love for you to be able to ask the writers on any soap character, how they see them:  Is this character a good guy, or bad guy, or misunderstood?  But you have seen how this works in daytime.  I play Aiden like he is a good guy.   He may be misunderstood, and he may be a victim of circumstances, whether he created those circumstances or not, but I always play it like: “I’m doing the best I can.”  When you get a script there are situations where you have beloved characters saying about another character: “That character is bad news.”  From there, for instance, you kind of get an indication of how the show wants you to think.  

MICHAEL:

Courtesy/NBC

How is working with Jonathan McClendon?  Will Aiden be there for his son through his dark turn of late?

DANIEL:

Jonathan is a talented kid, and he has big future. Aiden is in repair mode.  He is going to want to repair the relationship and the situation with his son, and Aiden will hope that Ciara is OK.

MICHAEL:

Let’s not forget: Aiden is legally married to Hope!  He could be a real jerk and not give her a divorce so she could be with Rafe.

DANIEL:

Yes, he is legally married to Hope, so he could be a jerk about it.  We shall see!

Courtesy/NBC

MICHAEL:

What would happen if DAYS says, “Daniel, we are bringing the Aiden doppelganger back.”  Would you be down to take that on?

DANIEL:

I am up for anything!  It’s fantastic to be back, and I’m thrilled.

What did you think of Daniel’s return to DAYS? What he previews to look for in the next beats of the storyline? Are you rooting for Aiden and Hope, or Hope and Rafe?  Share your thoughts in the comment section by clicking “Leave A Comment” at the top left of the interview.