Greg Vaughan Leaving ‘Days of Our Lives’ After 8 Years

Another longtime cast member is parting ways with Days of Our Lives. On Wednesday, actor Greg Vaughan confirmed during an appearance on the That’s Awesome! With Steve & Bradford podcast that he has “finished my reign at Days.” Vaughan has appeared on the popular NBC soap opera for the last eight years, portraying Eric Brady since 2012, a role that earned him a Daytime Emmy award in 2018.

Speaking with his former General Hospital co-stars Steve Burton and Bradford Anderson on the podcast, Vaughan explained that he came to the decision when Days “was going through a renewal negotiation and not knowing where they were going to go,” according to PEOPLE. In November of last year, the entire cast was released from their contracts as the series was set to go “on an indefinite hiatus at month’s end.” Vaughan said that during that time of uncertainty, he felt his time on the daytime drama “was coming to an end, anyway.”

Vaughan, however, isn’t ready to entirely cut ties with the beloved series on which he has had nearly a decade-long run. Announcing his departure, he added that “it’s never over, so I’m not gonna say it’s over,” explaining that he is “taking a break, if you will.” According to Deadline, Vaughan’s final episode is scheduled to air sometime in September. However, an exact date has not been revealed and network representatives for the series had no comment.

Vaughan’s departure marks just the latest cast shake-up for the soap, which has aired nearly every weekday since Nov. 8, 1965. On July 6, just days before Vaughan’s announcement, Kristian Alfonso revealed that she would be exiting the series after 37 years. The actress, who had joined the show back in 1983 as Hope Williams Brady, wrote on Instagram that while “Days of Our Lives has been a vital part of both my personal and professional journey… it is now time for me to write my next chapter.” She revealed that she had filmed her final episode “several months ago” and would therefore “not be returning to Days when it resumes production in September.” The series had gone on a production hiatus amid the coronavirus pandemic, with filming scheduled to resume in September.

Months earlier, stars Freddie Smith and Chandler revealed that they, too, would not be returning. Sharing the news on Twitter, Smith had revealed that the exit “was not our choice” and adding, “we were looking forward to staying on and keeping the story going.” The duo had portrayed on-again/off-again same-sex couple Sonny and Will.