Kate Mansi Reveals Why She Returned to DAYS for Abigail's Exit

When Kate Mansi got the call that DAYS OF OUR LIVES wanted her to reprise her role of Abigail, it was most unexpected. However, the Daytime Emmy winner had still agreed because, as she told Soaps In Depth, “I felt like there was some unfinished business.” Over the course of about eight weeks, Mansi says she shot “an insane amount of material” that proved most satisfying. “This experience was more like a film in that I knew that there would be a start, a middle, and an end, and I knew what I was coming back for. It was appealing to me to give the audience what I think they rightfully deserved and had been rooting for: a happy ending!”

“I feel like we really hit the ground running,” Mansi said of co-star Christopher. (Photo Credit: XJJohnson/jpistudios.com)

On screen, and institutionalized Abigail had started impersonating her alter, Gabby, in order to get a smitten Stefan to whisk her away. Though the character’s multiple personalities had been integrated before Mansi stepped back into her shoes, the character had been through enough to be different. “Coming back was both super surreal and very familiar,” Mansi reflected. “I think that once you do that work on a character [regarding her mental illness] for so long, it’s like a part of yourself.” However, sharing scenes with Stefan’s portrayer, Tyler Christopher, (who’d joined the soap during Mansi’s absence) was a brand-new experience. “Tyler was great!” she recalled. “He brought a lot of his heart to the role.”

Still, it was Chad who sought to reclaim Abby’s heart, and while she grappled with the idea of ever being able to trust him again after he’d had her separated from her newborn, Charlotte, it was the child’s subsequent kidnapping that became a turning point. They saw each other through it! “It’s like the proof was in the pudding,” Mansi observed. “They renewed their commitment to each other and their family, and had the opportunity to experience who the other person was now instead of just repeating the same narrative.”

Abigail, Chad, and their kids got their happily ever after! (Photo Credit: XJJohnson/jpistudios.com)

After exchanging new marriage vows, Chad and Abigail rode off into the sunset in search of a fresh start. Ironically, Mansi had her bags packed as well. “I shot the wedding scenes, left the studio and went to a friend’s wedding,” she confides. With just a couple days to restock her suitcase, Mansi next “left for Kentucky to shoot [the movie Mommy Group Murders], which just premiered on Lifetime.”

Recently, the actress wrapped production on Miss Staken, a movie with brothers Joey, Matthew and Andrew Lawrence in which she plays a security guard at a marketing firm who winds up passing herself off as someone else when her idea for a campaign gains notice. “It was really fun to work with all three of them on a romantic comedy, which is [something] I’ve always wanted to do,” she says excitedly. “Now I’m working on developing a project with my writing partner, and you know, it’s pilot season… I feel like that was the best possible timing for me to have gone back to the show.”

For more on your favorite DAYS stars, keep reading Soaps In Depth magazine!

Reporting by Michelle Moro Parkerton.