In 1996 on Days of Our Lives, John Black’s (Drake Hogestyn) execution was halted. John had been arrested, tried and convicted of Tony DiMera’s murder in Aremid, but he was granted a last-minute reprieve. However, it was only temporary, and the race was on for John’s beloved, Marlena, to get her hands on proof of John’s innocence in the form of Tony’s diary; in the journal, Tony had written of his diabolical plan to frame John for his demise.
In 2008, Diego Alcazar (Ignacio Serricchio) was revealed to be the Text Message Killer on General Hospital, who had claimed the lives of Leticia Juarez (the nanny for Carly’s children), Emily Quartermaine and Georgie Jones. Since 2006, he had been presumed dead after Sam shot him, but on this episode, fans learned not only that he was very much alive but that he was the dangerous, on-the-loose killer terrorizing the women of Port Charles.
In 2021 on Young and Restless, Devon Winters (Bryton James) offered to be the sperm donor for Abby Newman Chancellor (Melissa Ordway) and Chance Chancellor, who were trying to start a family but had encountered a slew of fertility issues. Mariah Copeland had already signed on to carry the baby as a surrogate, and Abby was facing the prospect of using an anonymous sperm donor to fertilize her egg. The situation brought up a lot of emotions in Devon, making him think of his late wife, Hilary Curtis, and the child they had lost. After a talk with Amanda Sinclair (Hilary’s twin), Devon tracked down Abby to make his life-changing offer, which resulted in the duo sharing a biological child, Dominic.
Photo credit: HOWARD WISE/JPI
In 2021, TJ Ashford (Tajh Bellow) and Molly Lansing-Davis (Haley Pullos) made their long-running romance official in the eyes of the law by entering into a domestic partnership on General Hospital. Their signing of the documents in the Port Charles clerk’s office (which took place on Valentine’s Day in Port Charles time) was witnessed by her sister, Kristina, and his mother, Jordan. “This is the best night of my life,” beamed TJ.
In 2023, Ryan Chamberlain (Jon Lindstrom) died — for real, this time — after being shot dead by Mac Scorpio (John J. York) on General Hospital. Reflecting on the demise of his long-running role, which he first began playing in 1992, Lindstrom told Soap Opera Digest, “If the powers-that-be figure that there’s a character that has to be taken off the canvas in order to move other characters forward, that’s the way it is. And, you know, if Ryan is gone [again] after 25 years of having been thought dead, 25 years from now, they could just bring him back!… I would always be sad to say good-bye to such a terrific, colorful character, but as I’m fond of saying, ‘Every show closes.’ I’ve just been around too long to let something like this leave any kind of mark other than, ‘That’s just what we do,’ or at least, ‘It’s part of what we do.’ “
