From Family Ties' Meredith Baxter (Maureen Russell, The Young and the Restless) to Knot's Landing's Donna Mills (Madeline Reeves, General Hospital), this past year has brought some very big names to the soap opera business. And the slew of Special Guest Stars (which this year's Daytime Emmy Awards deemed the non-traditional daytime performers) did such a good job, three of them tied for this year's Special Guest Star Emmy award -- the first three-way tie in the history of the elite ceremony.
But just who might follow in Emmy winners Ray Wise (Ian Ward, Y&R), Fred Willard (John Forrester, The Bold and the Beautiful), and Mills' footsteps? Soap Central asked some of the genre's most popular stars to weigh in with their wishes.
Haley Pullos (Molly Lansing, GH)
"I think I would have to say Leonardo DiCaprio. First of all, he's just spectacular, and second of all, I've been in love with him since I was like ten. I don't think he'd actually come to GH, but you never know!"
Hunter King (Summer Newman, Y&R)
"Joey [Matt LeBlanc] from Friends. I didn't even have to think about it. I'm obsessed with Friends. I want to be best friends with him. He was Dr. Drake Ramoray [on Days of our Lives], so he could come on. Oh, that would be fun!"
Teresa Castillo (Sabrina Santiago, General Hospital)
"How about Lilly Melgar (ex-Lily Rivera)? I'd love to see her back on the show. I'm sort of hoping that we're related. We'll see. I actually mentioned my mother in my script today. Every once in a while, they'll have me mention her, and I go, ‘Oooh! What does that mean?!'"
Lawrence Saint-Victor (Carter Walton, The Bold and the Beautiful)
"Well Tyra Banks [hosted the Emmys], and Carter is single, so if Tyra can come on for a bit and bump into Carter? She could come on as a Forrester model, Carter's got to do her contracts, their eyes meet... You never know!"
Christian LeBlanc (Michael Baldwin, The Young and the Restless)
"I worked with Piper Laurie, because I do a lot of Tennessee Williams festivals down in New Orleans, and I actually talked to her, and we were talking about Carrie, because I know her monologue from Carrie, and I was videoing, and I asked her, ‘Would you do the Carrie monologue?' And she said, ‘I did that once in one take, and I've never done it again.' So I said, ‘Can I do the Carrie monologue, Piper Laurie?' [laughs] And she said yes, so I have me [doing all kinds of lines from the monologue]. So I'd say her, Piper Laurie."
Laura Wright (Carly Jacks, GH)
"Noah Wyle. He's a friend of mine. He lives up where I live, so Noah's gotta come. I have a whole storyline planned in my head, but we don't have enough time to cover it!"
Gina Tognoni (Phyllis Summers, Y&R)
"I've got two: Michael Weatherly (ex-Cooper Alden, Loving), because I know he started in daytime, and I'm thinking it would be so interesting and fun to play with him. And Christine Baranski. I don't know her, but I'm a big fan of her work, love her stage work, and I think she'd be awesome. She could have a little Phyllis thing going on, too. They could be sisters."
Robert Scott Wilson (Ben Weston, Days of our Lives)
"Oh man, I'm biased. If it was anybody in the world, bring my buddy Mark Wahlberg down from Boston so we can have a couple Boston boys on the squad. That one might be tough, but he could play a good drug dealer, coming on for a cameo as a drug dealer, right? Hell yeah."
Chad Duell (Michael Corinthos, GH)
"Leonardo DiCaprio. That would be awesome. He's such an obvious, big actor."
Angell Conwell (Leslie Michaelson, Y&R)
"Ooh, how about Jennifer Lopez! I don't know what she could do in Genoa City, but I'd want to be involved, definitely! She could be somebody's stylist or be somebody fabulous. She can't help but be fabulous, so that would be fun."
Emme Rylan (Lulu Spencer, GH)
"Vera Farmiga! I'm obsessed with her right now. She's my acting idol. I'd love to work with her."
Robert Adamson (Noah Newman, Y&R)
"Man, that's a tough question! Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad). He could go head-to-head with Victor (Eric Braeden), the two business moguls."
Christopher Sean (Paul Narita, DAYS)
"Brad Pitt! That would be a great guest star. I mean, [James] Franco did it [on GH], so why not?! But no, I'd really love to have John Gearries on. I love him. He's one of my best friends and business partner. He's an actor, and I want him out here... He's a big man, large in stature. I'd want him to play a love interest. That would be wonderful."
Ray Wise (Ian Ward, Y&R)
"Betty White (ex-Ann Douglas, B&B). She could do anything, and it would be funny. Even if it was dramatic, it could still be funny. She could probably commit homicide, and it would still be funny somehow."
Daniel Goddard (Cane Ashby, Y&R)
"Gary Oldman. I could find out he's somehow related to me and then he could come back and we could work together more. That would be awesome."
Amelia Heinle (Victoria Newman, Y&R)
"I'd love Bon Jovi or somebody like that. He would never do it, but he's a good actor. He's been in some movies. I'm trying to think of who would realistically come on the show, and maybe he's not quite there yet, but I'd love him [to come on]. Though, I'm blown away by some of the people I already see there, like Catherine Bach (Anita Lawson). I still can't believe she's there, and she gave Missy Claire Egan (Chelsea Lawson) an original pair of her Daisy Duke shorts. I was so jealous!"
Sarah Brown (Katherine Wesley, Beacon Hill; ex-Claudia Zacchara, GH)
"Oh, my gosh, great question. Kathy Bates (ex-Bella Bodelle, All My Children), who I adore. I'd love for her to be my mom, because my mom comes on this year. Wouldn't that be great?"
Christel Khalil (Lily Winters, Y&R)
"Well, anybody I would love to see wouldn't be on Y&R! It would be Rachel McAdams or somebody like that. I'm obsessed with her. She's so amazing. Or maybe somebody from a show I love, like from Game of Thrones or House of Cards, someone on there would be fun."
Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki Newman, Y&R)
"I would love to have Meredith Baxter (Maureen Russell) come back, and I would love to have Ray Wise (Ian Ward) come back, as well. I just adored Meredith, and Ray, my God! He's fantastic."
Ashlyn Pearce (Aly Forrester, B&B)
"I'm a huge fan of Rick Springfield, and I know he was on General Hospital for many years, so I would love for him to jump over onto our show in some capacity, because I'm a big fan. That would be absolutely wonderful."
Elena Tovar (Rosalie Martinez, GH)
"Um, Ryan Gosling? [laughs] As long as I could do scenes with him!"
Kate Linder (Esther Valentine, Y&R)
"Oh, my gosh, there are so many incredible people. The interesting part is it would have to be somebody who really understands it, because we do 80 pages a day, and you get one take, and a lot of people can't do that. So it would have to be somebody who really gets it. Brat Pitt might be good, who knows!"
Darin Brooks (Wyatt Fuller, B&B)
"I think it would be fun to work with Gary Oldman. I love him. I think he's so good. I was just watching Batman last night, and I thought, this is the guy who did True Romance, he was in Fifth Element. He's just so great."
Kelly Kruger (Eva, B&B)
"This is going to be a really surprising answer, because it's so unexpected, but Emily Blunt. Realistically, would she come on? Probably not. But I'm not going to say Meryl Streep, because Meryl Streep is not doing soaps -- let's call it like it is. But I happen to be huge fan of Emily Blunt, and you never know."
Lachlan Buchanan (Kyle Abbott, Y&R)
"That's a really tough one! If I could choose anybody in the world, it would be Cate Blanchett. She's an Aussie, so that's awesome. And I just think she's so talented and so beautiful. I'm also a little bit of a Lord of the Rings nerd, which she was in. So it would be great."
Sean Carrigan (Stitch Rayburn, Y&R)
"My best friend Jon Bernthal. He's from The Walking Dead, Fury."
Jen Lilley (Theresa Donovan, DAYS)
"I want Matt LeBlanc! I want Dr. Drake Ramoray to come back and have it out with Daniel [Shawn Christian] over who's going to save whom: ‘Who's putting that brain back in!'"
Which celebrity would YOU love to see as a Special Guest Star in daytime? 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.
