Emily O’Brien’s Emotional Goodbye to Days of Our Lives

English actress Emily O’Brien had an emotional exit from Days of Our Lives after four years with the soap. After joining the cast as Gwen Rizczech in 2020, O’Brien exited that role in October 2023 and took over the role of Theresa Donovan from Jen Lilley. But with the Aug. 8 episode, that character also left Salem, shipped off to prison for her crimes.

“I was in tears,” O’Brien told Soap Opera Digest of her last day on set, “and I faced everybody on stage and I looked at the cameras. Then I just told everyone how incredibly lucky I am. I wasn’t supposed to be on the show for as long as I was. I never thought that daytime would be something that was accessible to me again [after leaving her role of Jana on The Young & The Restless in 2011]. And I not only got to play one amazing role but I played two amazing roles.”

O’Brien made her daytime debut back in 2006 playing Jana Hawkes on Y&R and during her run on the CBS sudser, racked up three Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Younger Actress. In 2024, she earned another nomination, this time in the Supporting Actress category, for her work as Gwen on DAYS.

During her career, the actress has also done quite a lot of voice work for videogames like The Guardians of the Galaxy, God of War, Gotham Knights, Starfield, and Spider-Man 2 as well as animated projects like Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Batman: The Doom that Came to Gotham.

Of course, people come and go pretty frequently from Salem, so there’s every possibility that O’Brien will be back on screen before you know it. In fact, Digest hears whispers that viewers haven’t seen the last of her. Though whether the actress will be back as Gwen, Theresa, or yet another character entirely remains to be seen. So stay tuned!