Days of our Lives fans were crushed when Jennifer Horton recently took off to Boston, especially because it's unclear when she'll be returning to Salem. But at least that's a when and not an if: the show's head writer, Ron Carlivati, says that the character will definitely be back.
In a new interview with Soap Opera Digest, Carlivati opens up about being faced with the challenge of Reeves being unwilling to return to work during the pandemic and having to temporarily replace her with Cady McClain. The latter played Jennifer for an important story arc that lasted from the fall of 2020 to February Sweeps, at which point Carlivati took the character off the canvas (outside of a brief return on March 1 via a telephone call).
"We had written this story through the revelations about Laura [Jaime Lyn Bauer] and Gwen [Emily O'Brien] and Jack [Matthew Ashford], and then that was the sort of 'end' to that story," he explains. "There's still the fallout with Gwen, but out of respect to Missy, we always felt like this person was coming in for us to be able to tell that story that was already written, and then we would probably pause the character of Jennifer to just see what would happen next."
As for when DAYS plans to bring Jennifer back and who will be playing her -- Reeves or McClain -- Carlivati says he's unable to answer. But he does share that he is already looking forward to the character's return.
"As far as I'm concerned, Jennifer will someday be back on canvas, regardless of who it might be," he reveals. "I can't speak to that at this moment, but I do think Cady did a tremendous job and I couldn't have been more pleased with the way that worked out."
Are you happy to hear that DAYS plans to bring Jennifer back to the canvas? When that day happens, who would you prefer to see in the role: Melissa Reeves or Cady McClain? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
