‘Days of Our Lives’ Hit With Major Behind-The-Scenes Shakeup: Head Writer Ron Carlivati Exits

There’s a behind-the-scenes shakeup on Days of Our Lives. TV Insider reports that effective immediately, Emmy winning head writer Ron Carlivati is no longer attached to the long-running soap opera. His episodes, however, will be airing through April 2025. Paula Cwikly and Jeanne Marie Ford will be taking over his position.

Carlivati joined Days of Our Lives in January 2017. He also previously worked on fellow soaps One Life to Live from 1998 to 2012 and General Hospital from 2011 to 2015. In addition to Days of Our Lives, he developed and wrote the short-lived Days spinoff, Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem, which ran for two seasons from 2021 to 2022 on Peacock.

It’s unknown why Carlivati is departing from Days of Our Lives, but the series seems to have its hands full with his replacements. Cwikly is actually a veteran of Days of Our Lives, as she served as head writer and associate writer in the early ’00s. She also previously worked on The Young and the Restless, As the World Turns, and Sunset Beach. Ford began on Days as a writer’s assistant in 1992 and currently works on the soap as a breakdown writer. Like Cwikly, he also wrote for As the World Turns in addition to One Life to Live.

“We look forward to approaching our 60th anniversary next year with Paula and Jeanne Marie at the helm and fresh, exciting stories that we know the fans will embrace,” executive producer Ken Corday said in a statement. “We wish Ron nothing but the best and thank him for his dedication and the respect he has shown to me, the cast, and the show’s legacy.”

Ron Carlivati’s exit marks the latest departure for the soap opera. Steve Burton surprisingly left at the beginning of the year as Harris Michaels, while Jessica Serfaty was temporarily replaced by Natasha Hall as Sloan Peterson at the beginning of March. Meanwhile, fans said goodbye as his final appearance aired earlier this month after his death in January.

Days of Our Lives is heading into its 60th anniversary next year, having premiered on Nov. 8, 1965 on NBC. The soap stayed on the network until September 2022, moving to Peacock soon after, where it remains to this day. Details surrounding any specials for the show’s big anniversary are unknown.