Jen Lilley says her heart goes out to her co-star Emily O’Brien as she moves forward from a perplexing Days Of Our Lives re-casting.
Lilley, 39, returned to play Theresa Donovan for a new arc of episodes, but was ultimately replaced by O’Brien, 38, an actress who is already playing Gwen Rizczech on the soap opera.
The show had wanted Lilley to do a 12-week arc for the show, but Lilley was only able to commit to four due to her schedule. She believed the show would be able to fit 12 weeks worth of episodes into her time on set.
Speaking with People, Lilley described how she has offered to support O’Brien amid fan backlash over the recasting.
Awkwardly, Lilley claims the network decided on O’Brien three weeks before Lilley learned of her fate. Lilley had already been filming the show by the time she learned she would be replaced.
‘That’s not cool to do to Emily’: Jen Lilley says her heart goes out to her co-star Emily O’Brien as she moves forward from a perplexing Days Of Our Lives re-casting
Awkward! Lilley, 39, returned to play Theresa Donovan for a new arc of episodes, but was ultimately replaced by O’Brien, 38, an actress who is already playing Gwen Rizczech on the soap opera (O’Brien pictured)
It soon dawned on her that O’Brien had known all along that she would be replacing Lilley.
Once she learned of the recasting, Lilley ‘just hugged’ O’Brien. ‘I was like, “I’m so sorry. That must’ve been so awkward for you. I didn’t know you’ve known for three weeks,”‘ she told her co-star.
She also offered to ‘champion’ the recasting amid backlash and provided O’Brien with her phone number.
‘Because even if you’re a tremendous actor, the fans will wreck you over the fact that you’re the recast,’ she told the outlet. ‘They do not take recasts well.’
Lilley also described the awkward position O’Brien had been left in and how her co-star will now have to ‘walk through fire’ for the remainder of her time on set.
‘That’s not cool to do to Emily,’ she told the outlet. ‘I think Emily drew the shortest straw, honestly. I was like, “That is the worst thing you could possibly do to a recast is be like, we’re going to wig you and make you just walk through fire for eight weeks.”‘
‘I don’t know whether it was a budgetary thing or a scheduling thing where they just couldn’t work the schedule out so everybody could do it. I don’t know their reasoning. It’s a little befuddling, but I still am really grateful that I got to go back.’
Monday’s episode of Days of Our Lives finally revealed that Lilley would be replaced by O’Brien, despite the latter already starring on the soap opera as Gwen Rizczech.
Lilley 39, had played Theresa Donovan since 2013, though she hadn’t appeared on the soap since 2018 before her return for an arc of new episodes in September.
Her return was bittersweet when she revealed in August that she was ultimately going to be replaced by another actress… which was revealed on Monday to be Emily O’Brien.
As word of the re-casting confirmation spread throughout the soap world, Lilley took to her Instagram story on Monday to show her support for O’Brien, calling her a ‘rockstar.’
While she does support the star who replaces her, she admitted in an August interview with Soaps.com that the re-casting, ‘wasn’t handled the right way’ and everyone was ‘kind of lied to’ in the process.
Replacing: Monday’s episode of Days of Our Lives finally revealed who would be replacing Lilley as her character Theresa Donovan: Emily O’Brien… who already stars on the soap opera as Gwen Rizczech
Replaced: Her return was bittersweet when she revealed in August that she was ultimately going to be replaced by another actress… which was revealed on Monday to be Emily O’Brien (above)
Rockstar: As word of the re-casting confirmation spread throughout the soap world, Lilley took to her Instagram story on Monday to show her support for O’Brien, calling her a ‘rockstar’
Lilley’s return as Theresa Donovan was first reported in mid-August, with the character coming back to Salem for the memorial service for Victor Kiriakis’ funeral.
Lilley revealed that she actually reached out to executive producer Albert Alarr and pitched her character’s return, though things didn’t quite go as planned.
What was supposed to be a quick return for the memorial (Victor’s portrayer John Aniston passed away in November 2022 at 89) turned into a much longer arc.
She said she would come back for three weeks – due to her family commitments and her obligation to Great American Family – but that turned into a 12-week commitment.
Much to everyone’s surprise, that arc came to an abrupt end when Lilley revealed in late August that she was going to be replaced with another actress for the actual funeral.
She said that she went to producer Albert Alarr – who was fired in early August over workplace complaints – since she had not yet filmed the things she was expecting.
Lilley said she told him, ‘Listen, you told me Theresa’s going to do X, Y and Z, and I haven’t gotten the scripts. I only have one more for Monday, and I have two weeks left [on set].’
She said Alarr told her, ‘Oh no, Theresa is still going to do all of that … We’re going to do it with a different Theresa.’
Reached out: Lilley revealed that she actually reached out to executive producer Albert Alarr and pitched her character’s return, though things didn’t quite go as planned
Wig: The blonde Lilley also said that, when she learned the brunette O’Brien was replacing her, she was told, ‘Oh yeah, we’re just gonna put her in a wig’
The blonde Lilley also said that, when she learned the brunette O’Brien was replacing her, she was told, ‘Oh yeah, we’re just gonna put her in a wig.’
Lilley insisted she has, ‘no hard feelings’ towards O’Brien, adding, ‘That poor girl has had to have conversations with me [on set, knowing she was going to replace me]. How horrible she must have felt!’
However, she said the whole ordeal was a ‘horrible situation’ and she thought the network was ‘bluffing’ about recasting her.
‘Top to bottom, it was just not handled the right way. Everybody was mad because everybody was kind of lied to,’ she said.
In her latest interview with People, however, Lilley insisted she didn’t believe they were bluffing over a re-cast. ‘That’s not the truth.’
