Who is Leaving ‘Days of our Lives’ in 2021 – Will Ciara Exit Again – Is Sonny Gone for Good?

Days of our Lives cast rotates in and out but fans wonder if Ciara Brady (Victoria Konefal) will leave again and the fate of Sonny Kiriakis after a recent update from Freddie Smith.

Be sure to check out our most current list of who is leaving days of our lives for 2022.

The following is the the DOOL comings and goings for 2021 for the soap opera’s character action at NBC.

Comings and Goings on Days of our Lives – Ciara & Ben Cliffhanger – What’s Next?

DOOL comings and goings suggest Ciara Brady won’t be around for the long haul because Victoria Konefal wants to pursue other projects. A quick glance at her IMDB shows one new project – Living Dead Presents: Fog City – where she’s a lead. While this could point to her moving past Days of our Lives, don’t worry too much about it.

That movie shot years ago. Yes, Victoria plays the lead, Georgia Paige. But, it shot quite a while ago and is just in post-production now. It’s set for release Halloween 2021. This was pulled off the shelf and pushed through post, likely because not much has shot over the last two years and distributors are looking for movies to release.

That aside, Days of our Lives‘ Konefal did want to be able to come and go as she needed to do auditions and accept other roles outside of the soap. With Ciara Brady’s big cliffhanger with Ben Weston (Robert Scott Wilson) kidnapping her from her wedding – what does that mean? It looks like they’ll get a happy ending? But that doesn’t mean Ciara (and Victoria) stick around too long.

If she’s got auditions or another role, we expect to see Victoria Konefal to exit as Ciara Brady from Days of our Lives. As for Ben, the writers showed they can use him in other storylines on DOOL. And there are other married characters whose partners are constantly MIA. Yet they function in other plots just fine. As of now, there’s no sign of Ben Weston leaving Days of our Lives in 2021.

DOOL Comings and Goings: Will Freddie Smith Be Back as Sonny Kiriakis?

Another big question on people’s minds is about Sonny Kiriakis and his husband, Will Horton (Chandler Massey). It wasn’t too long ago that Days of our Lives fans saw Will return to meet his nephew, little Henry Horton. But it’s been since October 2020 when Freddie was physically on-screen as Sonny. He also popped up on a video chat in December of that year.

Days of our Lives viewers were disappointed to see Will and hubby Sonny Kiriakis leave and hoped to see them back. But so far, it’s not worked out that way. Then recently, actor Freddie Smith addressed fans directly with an answer on the fate of his return as Sonny. On his podcast he does with Alyssa Tabit, his wife, he said he would have come back for a pre-pandemic offer.

Since then, the ex-Days of our Lives actor relocated to Florida. Now, Smith says he won’t ever come back as Sonny and will devote himself “100% to my future”. He called his time on the soap for years as Sonny a “wonderful experience”. So, it seems definite Freddie Smith’s off the Days of our Lives cast. But that doesn’t mean Sonny Kiriakis is gone for good.

Instead, it seems likelier that they’d do a recast in DOOL comings and goings. At the NBC soap, replacing actors is pretty common place. Key characters like Abigail Deveraux have two actresses that swap in and out (Kate Mansi and Marci Miller). And they swapped Kristen DiMeras seamlessly (Stacy Haiduk and Eileen Davidson). So, a new Sonny Kiriakis seems plausible.

Who is Leaving Days of our Lives in 2021 – and Who Might Pop up in Salem?

Now, we know that TV icon Marla Gibbs comes soon as Olivia Price, mother of Paulina Price (Jackee Harry). Plus, Carson Boatman debuts next month as a SORAS’d Johnny DiMera. And Backstreet Boys singer AJ McLean has a little cameo as a driver. And in bigger news, Kyle Lowder returns soon as hunky Rex Brady. However, Theo Carver (Cameron Johnson) is likely to exit.

Viewers also keep asking will Days of our Lives be on during the Olympics? Sometimes during pre-emptions, daytime dramas will run late at night. That’s not the case with DOOL. It is fully off the air through Friday August 6 – returning Monday, August 9, 2021. When we’re back to regular daily episodes, we’ve seen the last of Eric Brady as Greg Vaughan bowed out.

And the plots picking up on Days of our Lives include Ciara Brady who might be off-screen again after her wedding confrontation resolves. As for Sonny Kiriakis, it seems it’ll take a recast to bring him back to DOOL on NBC.

Get your favorite Days of our Lives comings and goings updates from Soap Dirt.