DAYS’S CARLIVATI ON CADY MCCLAIN EXIT

DAYS’S head writer, Ron Carlivati, reveals that Cady Mcclain’s (Jennifer) stay in Salem was always going to be short-term. “When we realized Missy [Reeves, ex-jennifer] wasn’t going to be available and we had already written this story of the one-night stand between Jack and Kate, and the anniversary party blowup and the reveal of Gwen and the backstory with Laura, obviously, there was no way to tell that story without Jennifer,” he explains. “And then someone suggested Cady and I immediately thought, ‘Wow, that could work.’ I’m not trying to compare the two, but Dixie [her ALL MY CHILDREN alter ego] was a beloved, good girl like Jennifer and I felt there was some built-in love for that character the way people love Jennifer. I could picture Cady with Matt [Ashford, Jack], I could picture her as Marci’s [Miller, Abigail] mother. In my mind, I knew it would be a different Jennifer — no one’s going to be Missy — but for me, she stepped into it pretty seamlessly and she was fantastic. We had written this story through the revelations about Laura and Gwen and Jack, and then that was sort of the ‘end’ to that story. There’s still the fallout with Gwen, but out of respect to Missy, we always felt like this person was coming in for us to be able to tell that story that was already written, and then we would probably pause the character of Jennifer to just see what would happen next.”

Carlivati is certain he’ll be writing Jennifer in again. “As far as I’m concerned, Jennifer will someday be back on canvas, regardless of who it might be,” he adds. “I can’t speak to that at this moment, but I do think Cady did a tremendous job and I couldn’t have been more pleased with the way that worked out.”