‘Days of Our Lives’ Axes 4 Fan-Favorite Stars — When Will Their Characters Exit?
Days of our Lives kicked off the year with a shock: Four fan-favorite characters, who were positioned as part of the show’s next generation, have been written out.
Carson Boatman (Johnny DiMera), Raven Bowens (Chanel Dupree DiMera), Leo Howard (Tate Black), and Ashley Puzemis (Holly Jonas) have been let go but will remain on screen until the end of 2026 due to the soap’s unusual production schedule, filming 10 months in advance.
The firings came as a surprise, as both couples — known to fans as “Janel” (Johnny and Chanel) and “Tally” (Tate and Holly) — have passionate followings and deep legacy ties as the children of Salem icons. Boatman’s Johnny, the son of Sami Brady (Alison Sweeney) and EJ DiMera (Dan Feuerriegel), joined the soap in 2021. That same year, Bowens replaced Precious Way as the daughter of Paulina Price (Jackée Harry). Puzemis was introduced in 2023 as Nicole Walker’s (Arianne Zucker) daughter, while Howard was tapped to play Brady Black’s (Eric Martsolf) son in 2024 after the departure of Tate’s previous portrayer, Jamie Martin Mann. Puzemis received a nomination in the Daytime Emmys’ Emerging Talent category in 2025.
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The duos have been central to dramatic storylines over the past few years, including miscarriages, breakups and makeups, drug use and a paternity mystery. Most recently, Johnny and Chanel happily discovered she was pregnant, while Tate and Holly were settling into a rare period of happiness after Sophia Choi (Rachel Boyd) manipulated their relationship for the better part of 2025.
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The story of the cast changes first appeared in the Daily Mail. In a statement, a spokesperson for the Days says, “While we don’t comment on individual contracts or casting decisions, we have tremendous respect and appreciation for the actors who bring these characters to life. What may seem sudden is part of long-range storytelling decisions. Our goal is to balance the show’s rich history with where we’re headed creatively. Due to our long tape-to-air gap, any changes won’t be on screen for some time.”
Days of Our Lives, Weekdays, Peacock
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D
I had no idea they were getting rid of these characters? Big mistake! This show is starting to suck.. story lines are boring AF and the young people brought it back to life! They had a story line with Dr Marlena even having issues after John’s death and now nothing! They desperately need a new producers or writers or something! Bring back Nicole bring back Sami bring back Abby they need to do something to revive this soap asap! Not fire what good characters are left with this soap! I’m sick of hearing about this stupid storyline with Stephanie that they keep calling sweetness who that couldn’t be further from the truth she’s anything but she’s like slept with everybody in Salem and caused nothing but problems and now suddenly she’s a world, renowned book author for writing some stupid book and claiming to be the best author on the face of the Earth is just ridiculous and now suddenly she’s famous and everybody wants her and they want to stalk her. It’s just so ridiculous. She’s so full of herself and nobody is buying this whole stupid book author thing by somebody it’s just a ridiculous dumb boring story line that needs to end just like that with a soap opera was very dumb and boring too and ridiculous and cringe worthy! They’re gonna get rid of anyone on the soap opera. It needs to be Stephanie and her very boring very controlling boyfriend. I guarantee that nobody would miss those 2!
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D
Oh yeah, they better find a way to do something that you’re bringing back better characters because they’re already losing Chad and is very talented son and replacing them with some other people that is not going to be the same. She just soap needs help it’s crashing and burning please revive it to something exciting stop getting rid of great characters do something instead to keep them.
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