How ‘Days Of Our Lives’ Celebrated 15,000 Episodes

Days of Our Lives on Monday reached its milestone 15,000th episode with sentimental appearances by Victoria Konefal (Ciara Brady), Gloria Loring (Liz Chandler), Bryan Dattilo (Lucas Horton), Maree Cheatham (Marie Horton) and Stephen Schnetzer (Steven Olson).

Doug Williams III was also introduced on the Peacock sudser; he’s played by Peyton Meyer.

The episode opened with a vintage, black and white clip of Bill Hayes‘ Doug behind bars from the good ol days on NBC. It then continued with Deidre Hall’s Marlena reading Doug’s obit before she gets a surprise visit from Loring’s Liz.

The episode sets the stage for Tuesday’s funeral for Doug and the soap’s official goodbye to Hayes, who died in January at 98. More former stars are expected to return to Salem for the tribute, which will feature Loring leading the group in a rendition of Irving Berlin’s “Always.”

Hayes originated his Days role in 1970 and played the part on and off through 2023. He and his wife, Susan Seaforth-Hayes were the foundation of the Williams-Horton family that spanned more than 50 years on DOOL. Seaforth-Hayes plays Julie Williams on the show.

In November, Peacock announced that Days of Our Lives will return for a 61st season.