The Shake Up is Coming to Salem!
After a tumultuous half-year of stories written by temporary scribes during the Writers’ Strike, Days of Our Lives is about to undergo a major creative shift. The show’s head writer Ron Carlivati and his team are officially returning on May 31st, and they aren’t wasting any time in righting the ship.
In an interview with TVInsider, Carlivati made it clear that the recent storylines were completely separate from his long-term vision for the show. “Those were not my stories,” he stated bluntly, referring to the material that aired during the strike. This stark divide sets the stage for some serious course-correcting in the days and weeks ahead.
Fans should brace themselves for a veritable storm of rapidly unfolding plot twists and character swerves. Carlivati’s modus operandi? “Blow things up, jettison anything that I did not like, and get back to a show that I understand and can enjoy and tell.” He’s done it before during the 2008 Writers’ Strike on One Life to Live, and he’s ready to do it again for Days.
So which storylines might get swept away like so much Salem debris? The bizarre tales of Everett’s multiple personalities, the Pawn’s mysterious pasts, Johnny and Chanel’s baby dilemma, and even the budding Alex/Kristen romance could all end up on the chopping block. Carlivati made it abundantly clear that none of those angles were part of his pre-strike roadmap.
“I think some people think that I left some sort of road map that these people were following, and that is really not true,” he explained. The strike writers were simply trying to keep things stable and avoid radical changes while hoping for a relatively quick resolution.
Of course, not everything will get thrown out with the bathwater. Carlivati confirmed that he’ll still get to tackle the highly-anticipated reveals that Xander is actually Victor’s son, Alex is not Victor’s son, and the shocking Theresa return. “That is something big I will still get to play,” he teased.
For fans feeling a bit disoriented by the potential storyline whiplash, Carlivati has this advice: “If you’re watching, keep watching, and if you’ve dipped out a little bit, it’s a great time to dip back in.” The showrunner is clearly relishing the opportunity to reestablish his unique creative vision after so many months of unplanned detours.
Viewers can expect the reboot process to move swiftly. “We jumped in with our own stuff as quickly as we could,” Carlivati stated, though he allowed that some dangling plot threads might have a slightly more extended wrap-up period. But make no mistake – the overarching goal is to rapidly steer Days of Our Lives into the new direction he had mapped out before the lengthy strike delay.
For a soap opera that recently celebrated its 15,000th episode, this latest behind-the-scenes shakeup is just par for the course. The sudsy residents of Salem are no strangers to whirlwind storyline shifts and turbulent drama, both on and off screen. This writer’s renaissance is simply the newest wild turn in the show’s forever-twisting road.
So get ready, Days fans! The writers are back in control, and they’re taking no prisoners. What swerves, shocks, and spectacles await? We’ll all just have to tune in to find out.
