VICTORIA KONEFAL RETURNING TO DAYS!

Though Ciara moved to South Africa with Theo, her time abroad will be brief: The character — and actress Victoria Konefal — are headed back to Salem this summer.

“I’m always happy for any of our actors to explore something new and something different,” states Head Writer Ron Carlivati. “So I have to respect it, but it’s always a challenge for us when we lose somebody. So when we found out that Victoria was leaving, obviously it was a blow for us because the pairing of Ben and Ciara had become so popular and was an important part of the canvas for us. It becomes a struggle and a decision about, how are you going to write this character out? You debate a lot of different things, including, should Ben and Ciara go off into the sunset together to make everybody happy? Well, that’s not entirely fair to Rob [Scott Wilson, Ben], who is not leaving the show. So the struggle becomes, how do you split them up? What then becomes of Ben? We felt there was more juice in telling the next chapter of Ben and Ciara’s story.”

Carlivati knew that the story of Ben finding Ciara but her having amnesia would not go over well with all of the audience. “That obviously was going to disappoint our fans, in that they were hoping and waiting for a romantic reunion that didn’t pay off, so from the moment we were coming to that point and we knew Ciara was going to exit town with Theo, we were immediately pursuing the next chapter with Victoria: When would she be available or willing to come back, and when could we tell the next chapter because I knew that would feel unfinished and be unsatisfying to a lot of people. So that’s why I’m happy to announce here

that Ciara is coming back and we are going to tell that next chapter of the story.”

Konefal’s return is openended, reveals the scribe. “At this point, and I can’t speak for Victoria and I can’t speak for the show, and this is not an official announcement in any capacity, but I will say at this point, there is not an end date. We are working with Victoria to keep the story going and keep Ben and Ciara’s love story alive.”

Until then, says Carlivati, “People are assuming that Ben and Claire might get together during this point, and while that’s always a possibility, I would encourage people to just watch how the story unfolds. Ben and Claire have a really nice friendship that we’ve built and it’s not necessarily going to turn romantic. I understand the audience’s frustration, but I am very excited about Victoria’s return and about Ciara’s return, and I think that this time, the audience may be getting the payoff that they’re looking for.”

“We are going to tell that next chapter of the story.”