As Days of our Lives fans know, anything can happen in Salem.
For nearly six decades, soap opera fans have witnessed shocking plot twists, disastrous love triangles, epic feuds and so much more involving their favorite characters.
As Peacock celebrated Days of our Lives’ 60th Anniversary Celebration at The Garland Hotel in North Hollywood, California, in November 2025, Us Weekly just had to ask the cast to share their favorite story lines of all time.
“You’re going to think I’m going to say possession, but I’m going to say working with my twin sister. She was a special education teacher when they pulled her in to join the show,” Deidre Hall exclusively told Us. “She just came out and played herself. It enabled her to pay off her college loan, which tells you there’s a great imbalance between television and teaching.”
Martha Madison, who plays Belle Black on the Peacock series, fell in love with a story line that captivated audiences in early 2025.
“I really loved the ‘Who shot EJ?’ story and getting to do the whole trial,” she shared with Us. “Doing a big, juicy trial is one of the things that soaps are known for. Getting to be the prosecutor in the trial was really fun. Belle is typically what we would consider a smarter character, even though she’s done a lot of stupid things. I like to play that. Getting to do opening statements is fun. I loved it.”
Keep reading to hear what more cast members recalled, and watch Days of our Lives streaming exclusively on Peacock with new episodes available weekdays.
Linsey Godfrey
“I think my favorite story line was there was a period of time where Xander and Sarah were teaming up, and they were almost doing a detective agency type thing. They were trying to come together to solve a problem or figure out a mystery,” she recalled to Us. “It was just so much fun. But my favorite line was from Leann Hunley, who played Anna. I keep demanding to see this character called Don Craig. I need to see Don Craig. She turns around and she goes, ‘Don Craig went out to mail a letter and he was never heard from again.’ It’s my favorite thing. I couldn’t get through the scene.”
Paul Telfer
“I would say this story that I got to do with Suzanne [Rogers] and Linsey [Godfrey] and Serena Scott Thomas and Eric [Martsolf] about my mother coming to Salem and everything that came out there,” he said. “That’s why I got nominated and ended up winning the Emmy. On top of that, it was just the best to work with that team of actors.”
Suzanne Rogers
“Mine goes back a few years. My red shoe story line was my favorite, obviously, but working with John Aniston was also one of my favorites,” the actress, who plays Maggie Horton, recalled. “But working with [Paul Telfer] and Linsey [Godfrey]? They feel like they’re my kids. They work the same way I do. They study. They come in in the morning and they know what they’re doing, and they have a great sense of humor and they’re not bad to look at either.”
Abigail Klein
“My favorite story line for me thus far is actually the one that’s just now airing. My character, Stephanie Johnson, turns out she’s the town publicist, but it turns out she’s also a closeted romance writer,” Klein shared. “We’re getting a little spicy, really. What’s funny is, when I first read the scripts, I thought, ‘Oh my god, the writers have my house booked’ because that’s what I read at home. The spicier, the better.”
Emily O’Brien
“There are two that come to mind. The first is where Gwen is wearing the Sarah mask to try to win Xander over,” O’Brien said. “The second story line that I absolutely loved was the trio with Dimitri and Leo. The amount of laughs we shared, the amount of fun we had and the comedy that we found between the three of us was so fantastic. I thought it was gold. The amount of inside jokes and things that we incorporated into those scenes are just magical.”
Dan Feuerriegel
“One of my most recent story lines was ‘Who shot EJ?’ I loved that story line because of the build-up,” Feuerriegel, who plays EJ DiMera, told Us. “My character was four or five different character slides just causing havoc, causing trouble. That was a lot of fun to play that part, and then EJ to get his comeuppance, and then after that, his change in attitude after a near-death experience. And then on top of that, in trying to find out who did it. It’s been a lot of story line.
Raven Bowens
“I hate to say because it got mixed reviews but the devil’s story line is my favorite,” Bowens revealed. “It was an homage to what had been done in the past, and I got to work a lot with Deidre Hall, who is an icon, and that was just incredible. For people who watched Days before, one of their biggest memories is the devil possession. It was really cool to be like, ‘Oh, actually, we’re doing that right now.’”
Carson Boatman
“When I first came in, I was almost immediately possessed by the devil. That was a really fun story line because it was just very out there and wild and not something you get to do every day,” Boatman recalled. “I’ve really enjoyed my more recent story line where my character, Johnny, finds out that his conception was based on the rape of his mother, which is just a crazy thing to say, but as an actor, it’s really challenging to go there and get in there and feel that and do those scenes with my father.”
Susan Hayes
“My favorite story line goes back to about my third year on the show. I was a character who was never happy, who caused a lot of trouble and then she began to focus on getting out of the bad marriage she was in and the unhappy experiences she had,” Hayes, who plays Julie Williams, told Us. “This wonderful man came into her life who was actually lying and was actually paid to break up my marriage. As it happened, it was Bill Hayes. First I fell in love with him when he was on Your Show of Shows in the ‘50s. …My character fell for him as strongly as I did.”
She continued, “We finally married in 1974. The fans knew we were crazy about each other, and the writers finally gave in and we lived happily ever after.”
Tyler Andrews
“I came on the show about a year ago, so I’ve only been on air for about four weeks,” Andrews told Us in November 2025. “So far, my favorite story line has been the story line with Theo coming to terms with what happened in South Africa, and now figuring out what Tony wants from this sort of offer that he has for him to become the CEO of DiMera. It’s been really fun, because I get to work with Cherie Jimenez and Thaao Penghlis.”
James Reynolds
“All I remember from when I was actually young is MacDonald Carey‘s voice. I didn’t watch the show, unfortunately, in those days, but I remember the voice: ‘And these are the Days of our Lives.’ Here we are,” Reynolds reflected. “I’ve got one I can’t say anything about that has become one of my favorites. The story that I won the Emmy for is probably my favorite. It had so many different levels and so much relevance to the time then and the time today, and so many levels to play as an actor. I think it’s an outstanding story.”
Cherie Jimenez
“My favorite story line is actually the most recent one with baby T. The Hernandez family fostered baby T, who is Sophia [Choi]’s baby, and we just gave the baby to Chanel and Johnny,” Jimenez recalled. “What’s wild is that the Hernandez family and the relationship we’ve built is so beautiful and so authentic, and it feels like family. It is family. So I love them so much. But the story line was a really interesting one, because I think that it brought about a new side of the Hernandez family that people haven’t necessarily seen.”
JP Lavoisier
“One of the most fun things that I’ve ever experienced, that I’ve ever felt — it made me feel something which is a good thing — was when Xander beat me and they got to fill my mouth with fake blood,” Lavoisier shared. “I didn’t have any lines. I was basically unconscious. But it was fun, because I got to get thrown around and beat up, and my mouth was just full of disgusting makeup. I remember walking off set, drooling this sugar syrup. I looked at one of the producers and I’m sweaty and I’m just completely disheveled, which is something that doesn’t happen too often. Our scenes look nice and put together. Say your lines and do the emotion, but then you sometimes get to do all that physical play.”
Greg Rikaart
“I’ve gotten to do lots of fun things, but if I had to pick one, the first one that came to mind is last year or maybe a year and a half ago when my character, Leo, was involved in a love triangle with Dimitri, played by Peter Porte and Gwen played by Emily O’Brien,” Rikaart told Us. “I think that for a show and in a genre that has been going strong for 60 plus years to when we have an opportunity to tread in waters that have not yet been treaded in, that’s really fun. This love triangle involved two men and a woman and a gay man, a straight woman and a bisexual man. I think that was probably the first time there was a dynamic of a love triangle. Getting to work with those two actors in particular is always really, really satisfying.”
Robert Scott Wilson
“There’s been a lot over the years,” he told Us. “I’ve been doing this now [for] almost 12 years. It’s crazy, but I’d say my favorite is the redemption story with Ben. That was great. But then now that I’m playing Alex — because we break all the rules, I’m on role number two — Being a Kiriakis is my all-time favorite. I’m really grateful.”
Eric Martsolf
“There have been many. Being the crap out of EJ in the street was a fun story,” Martsolf joked. “I’ve had some fun moments. Brady has had a roller coaster of a love life. I think he’s been with almost every woman in the town, but unsuccessful. He just never seems to get it together. He tries to get married, and then it never happens. My fans have actually called me Brady Black Widow. Don’t get involved with Brady, because you might die. I’m a dangerous guy to be with. That’s part of the fun, right?”
