‘Days of Our Lives’ Shocks Fans by Replacing Jen Lilley With Her Co-Star

Peacock’s Days of Our Lives is undergoing a major cast shakeup that has left many fans confused. After playing the role on and off since 2013, Jen Lilley’s Theresa Donovan has been recast, with Lilley’s co-star, Emily O’Brien, set to take over the role despite her ongoing credit as Gwen von Leuschner.

The recasting was confirmed during the end credits of the Monday, Oct. 2 episode, which noted that O’Brien would be taking over Lilley’s role as Theresa Donovan for the remainder of the season. Lilley last appeared on the show during the Sept. 22 episode. The actress starred on the show from 2013 to 2016, making another brief appearance in 2018, and returned in late August, at which point she told Soaps.com that she negotiated 12 weeks of scenes with former co-executive producer Albert Alarr. However, things quickly changed once she was on set.

According to Lilley, she spoke with Alarr and said, “Listen, you told me Theresa’s going to do X, Y, and Z, and I haven’t gotten the scripts. I only have one more for Monday, and I have two weeks left [on set].” However, Alarr allegedly responded, “Oh no, Theresa is still going to do all of that … We’re going to do it with a different Theresa.” She was then reportedly told that O’Brien would take over the role, Alarr telling her, “Oh yeah, we’re just gonna put her in a wig.”

Further opening up about the recasting to PEOPLE, Lilley explained that due to other scheduling commitments, Lilley could only commit to three weeks of filming, and “at his point, my reps were like, ‘No, they haven’t written 12 weeks. We have had so many clients on Days. They’ve never written a 12-week arc from the get-go.’” After they informed them that Lilley could not commit to a 12-week arc, “they wrote back and said, ‘Well, at this point, the character’s coming back, whether or not it’s Jen, but we want it to be Jen.’” Lilley said she “wrote them back and was like, ‘I totally understand. I’m so sorry that you guys got excited [by my return]. This was not my intention. If you have to recast, I really understand.”

When Days eventually responded, they asked if Lilley could film for three weeks, with Lilley ultimately committing to four weeks. The actress said she was under the impression they would fit the 12 weeks worth of episodes into that time, but began to suspect something was wrong during her second week of filming when she received an email informing her that she only had to film one day the following week. Shortly after, Alarr confirmed the recasting.

Lilley said she holds no hard feelings towards O’Brien, who she called a “champion.” The actress said that after learning O’Brien would be taking over her role for the 12-week arc, she “just hugged her.” Lilley, who also revealed that Alarr left her “a really nice voicemail,” added, “I love doing Days. I stayed way longer than I ever thought I would because I loved them so much. So I was like, no love lost. I love you guys,” though she admitted that the recasting is “a little befuddling.”