On Monday, June 2, the Peacock streaming soap opera Days of Our Lives aired the emotional conclusion to the John Black (Drake Hogestyn) storyline. The iconic character tragically lost his life after sustaining injuries in an explosion while on a mission to obtain a cure for sepsis to save his brother Bo’s life. Earlier in the storyline, while on an assignment for the ISA, John had been kidnapped by his arch nemesis Orpheus, played by actor George DelHoyo. Now, DelHoyo reflects on working with the late Drake Hogestyn and teases a possible return to the series.
DelHoyo, along with many of Hogestyn’s co-stars over the years, joined Michael Fairman on his YouTube tribute: Drake Hogestyn Tribute Live – Days of our Lives.Reflecting on working with Hogestyn, DelHoyo shared, “He was honest and extremely generous. I got that from the first day I met him.”
DelHoyo recounted Hogestyn’s work ethic sharing, “The discipline, the unbelievable discipline he had with his work and with everything he did frankly. I mean I don’t know that I’ve ever known anybody that was that prepared when you showed up on set, and I prepared pretty well, but I think he had the script there just to make the rest of us feel good.” The actor continued, “I mean he had it down, every queue, he knew my lines as well as his. He just was always ready, and he was always very awake too because you know no matter how early you started he’d been there three hours before. If it was 7:00 he was there at 4. Working out showering doing the whole thing and going over the lines and then man he was right there ready to hit it.”
Discussing working together DelHoyo added “I think he came to my room to run lines to just humor me, probably I just loved working with him, I loved his generosity, his kindness and his willingness to be positive and encouraging and full of praise for what I did, and for what others did. I mean he was he was never reluctant to offer enthusiasm for the work that he was seeing. I love that about him. That’s not always entirely common. He was a great pleasure and a joy to know and to be with.”
One things fans were quick to pick up on that DelHoyo shared, “I have been back a couple of times since we lost him [Hogestyn], and I feel his absence there for me personally.”
While the show has not yet confirmed DelHoyo’s return, this would not be the first time Orephus has returned without prior confirmation from the show.
One of the first stories the new writing regime tackled was writing out the character of John Black (Drake Hogestyn). Hogestyn had to step away from the role he had inhabited since 1986, for an impressive 4425 episodes, as he courageously fought pancreatic cancer. Hogestyn sadly passed away on September 28, 2024. Speaking of this story, the writers said, “While we wanted John to have a heroic and meaningful exit, we wrote the story with the fervent hope that Drake would be able to return someday. John had already been off for over nine months, and there were only so many missions the man could be on. Realizing he might never come back, while praying he would, we needed to craft an exit that honored John, Drake, and the fans.”
Days of Our Lives continues to play out the aftermath of John Black’s death, with his family and friends returning to celebrate his life with his impending funeral, streaming weekdays on Peacock.
