Although Ron Carlivati returned to work at Days of our Lives late last year when the Writers Guild of America strike ended, his scripts and stories will just begin streaming this week on May 31. Thanks to the soap's long lead time between taping and airing, DAYS is the last soap to feature scripts written by fill-in writers.
Some of the stories that Carlivati put into motion before the strike began have not yet been resolved, while others were created in his absence. When he resumed his head writer duties, he was pleased to see he could finish what he started in some places, and that includes two big moments fans have been waiting for.
It looks like Eric will learn another shocking truth that can end his current pain, while Alex is in for a rude awakening, and Stefan gets his wife back.
"I was sort of hoping that the big things that we had laid in would be stuff that I would get to play off when I got back," Carlivati told TV Insider. "And for the most part, I get to do it, though as you'll see from what you're watching right now, the Nicole baby secret is starting to come out. So, unfortunately, I didn't get to play all of it, but the part with Eric finding out he's the dad, at least I got to do."
Carlivati also revealed something else. A big moment we will see when his work starts airing on Friday almost never happened.
"I got to play a Sloan/Nicole confrontation, which for some reason they had Sloan exit the canvas without ever having a confrontation with Nicole, which I thought was nuts," he admitted.
Other stories will also soon see their conclusion.
"Xander did not find out he was really Victor's son and Alex did not find out he was not Victor's son and Theresa was not outed. So that is something big I will still get to play," he added.
Carlivati explained to TV Insider that he did not leave the temporary writers with a road map, so they were on their own during the strike. However, he was happy to have the opportunity to finish what they started.
"The [replacement writers] did start solving the Li Shin murder and got the ball rolling on Gabi getting out of prison, which was our plan anyway," he said. I was able to pick up the story, so, look for some twists and turns and a new Gabi getting out of jail to shake things up, which I think will be really fun."
Carlivati also penned a bittersweet farewell to a Salem favorite. Bill Hayes passed away at the age of 98 in January, necessitating the death of his longtime beloved character, Doug Williams. The writer chose to have Doug's death coincide with another big DAYS event.
"We're already writing into the 60th year [in 2025], but as far as this year, we have the 15,000th episode coming up in November," Carlivati relayed. "So that was one of the first big things that we tackled when we got back. People are aware that Bill Hayes passed away and that ultimately, we would write Doug Williams' passing into the show and I decided to center our 15,000th episode around that. We worked hard to honor Bill and Doug and also use it as a way to celebrate the show and celebrate this milestone."
Are you looking forward to seeing what Carlivati has in store for fans? What story are you enjoying most right now on DAYS? 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.
