For the second time in as many years, Days of Our Lives superstar Kristian Alfonso has returned to her Salem stomping grounds as Hope Williams Brady to help say good-bye to a beloved co-star. In 2024, Hope came home for an emotional farewell to her late father, Doug Williams (Bill Hayes). Now, Hope is back again as part of the star-studded sendoff the show has planned for the character of John Black, whose beloved portrayer, Drake Hogestyn, passed away from pancreatic cancer last year — but also to reunite with the love of her life, Bo Brady (Peter Reckell), who is finally emerging from his long coma.
Reunited, and It Feels So Good
Alfonso, who made her DAYS debut back in 1983, left the show as as full-time cast member in 2020 and has reprised the role of Hope for multiple stints since then. This time around, she says that when she set foot back into the studio, “My heart was so amazingly happy and heavy at the same time. Because, of course, we were coming back to do this amazing story and give the fans what we were going to do the last time we were there” — which is to say, a happy reunion for Bo and Hope — “but also, Drake was fighting for his life.”
DAYS tapes many months in advance, and Hogestyn died in real life after his daytime family shot the emotional scenes surrounding his character’s demise. Alfonso knew about Hogestyn’s health battle, “and that made it very difficult,” she notes. “Praying every day that in the near future, we would all be together again as friends, co-workers, joking around. ‘Let’s do this! Good morning, everybody, let’s do a good show today’ — you know, some of the things he would say that I would also say.”
Her first day back on set, she reunited with longtime on-screen leading man Reckell. “I arrived earlier than Pete,” she recalls. “The women always do, because we have [to go through] hair and makeup and wardrobe. Normally, it’s Pete coming to my dressing room, and I open it, and we kind of just look at each other like, ‘Is this not amazing? We’re here again! What a gift.’ ”
First and foremost, Alfonso says, she was “looking forward to giving the audience what they’ve been asking for for all these years. That was a positive, a big positive, and we were very much looking forward to giving that to the people who have supported us and loved us through the ups and the downs, the good and the bad” in the decades-long Bo/Hope love story. “We were really excited about that.”
The Wait Is Over
As DAYS watchers know, it has been a long wait for Bo and Hope fans to see the couple happily together again. After Reckell left the show in 2012, Bo seemingly abandoned Hope, who Hope eventually divorced him. In 2015, when Reckell returned for a short arc, it was discovered that Bo was being held captive. Steve rescued him and Bo came home to Salem, but his happily-ever-after with Hope was cut tragically short when he appeared to die from a brain tumor with his beloved Fancy Face by his side. The story picked up again with 2022 and the reveal that Megan Hathaway had been keeping Bo in a cryogenic state! Bo returned to the land of the living in 2023, but was brainwashed. Hope finally broke through his programming — but their son, Shawn, believed that Hope was in grave danger from Bo and shot him. He has lingered in a coma ever since — until, that is, he opened his eyes on the June 3 episode.
With Bo conscious again, the payoff for fans kicks off in earnest. Alfonso teases, “I wanted him to open his damn eyes!” Of the shooting that delayed the duo’s reunion, the actress acknowledges, “It was difficult to have had it end like it did and to have him in the coma. I think the writers did a really great job — all of them, the last writing team and the new writing team. Ron [Carlivati, ex-head writer] came up with an incredible idea, a viable idea [to bring Bo back from the dead] and I thought it was super-fun and a fantastic story for Pete. And I think this regime has done an incredible job of finding a way to get him to wake up.”
It won’t just be Hope who revels in Bo’s remarkable recovery — having Bo out of his coma at long last is also a miracle for their children, Shawn and Ciara. “I love those kids so much,” Alfonso beams of co-stars Brandon Beemer (Shawn) and Victoria Konefal (Ciara). “My sassy daughter, my sweet son. They are both so incredibly talented.”
As for what fans can look forward to over the next few weeks, Alfonso says, “It’s not just one event that takes place, it’s not just two events that take place, it’s many. There’s going to be a lot of excitement, it’s going down memory lane, and it’s storylines that are going to pull at the heartstrings. So have your tissues ready!”
