Usually, announcing a soap star’s return to a show on which they’ve previously appeared is a pretty simple matter. But things become a tad more complicated when the actress in question is Eileen Davidson. Not only is she currently appearing on The Young and the Restless — where she plays cosmetics queen Ashley — but she’s also regularly appeared on Days of Our Lives as… well, as we said, things get complicated.
You see, Davidson originally joined the cast as Kristen Blake (who eventually would be revealed to be the adopted daughter of supervillain Stefano DiMera). Proving you can never have too much of a good thing, Davidson would also wind up playing Susan Banks, Sister Mary Moira Banks, Penelope Kent and even a man, Thomas Banks. Perhaps needless to say, she picked up a Daytime Emmy nomination in 1998 for having juggled this menagerie of alter egos with such ease. (She would go on to win Outstanding Lead Actress Emmys in 2014 for Days of Our Lives and 2018 for Young & Restless.)
Susan is just one of Davidson’s wild Salem personas.
Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI
In 2018, Stacy Haiduk took over the role of Kristen… and yet Davidson continued to step into the character’s high heels (and slip into her infamous red dress). In fact, she appeared not only on Days of Our Lives but the soap’s spinoff series, Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem!
So which of her myriad of complicated characters will Davidson be playing this time? If you’ve been paying attention to recent developments, you’ve probably guessed that it will be — drumroll, please — Thomas Banks, as revealed in the promo below.
THEY KNOW BO’S ALIVE! Hope is on a path to finding Bo! Eileen Davidson guest stars as Thomas Banks! Watch #DAYS streaming now on @peacock! pic.twitter.com/EkAkWISN60
— Days of our Lives (@DaysPeacock) April 14, 2023
For those unfamiliar with the family history, here’s what you need to know: Thomas is the brother of Sister Mary Moira, Penelope and Susan. None of them are actually related to Kristen. Rather, Susan was introduced as a woman who — with the use of fake teeth and some accent readjusting — was a doppelgänger for Kristen.
Believe it or not, this, too, is a shot of Davidson!
Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI
During Beyond Salem: Chapter Two it was revealed that Thomas, a hitman, had been hired by Megan Hathaway, another of Stefano’s secret children. In her desperate quest for the prisms which she hoped would help her reclaim true love Bo Brady, Megan hired Thomas to shoot and kill Hope Brady. Her wicked plan actually worked… well, at least until Hope got to heaven, reunited with Bo and was given a literal second chance. (It’s a complicated story, but you can read a summary of how it all went down here.)
This time around, Thomas will be a threat to Stephanie and Chad, whose search for answers puts them on a collision course with the hitman. Look for Davidson to begin her latest stint on Monday, April 17.
Confused about who’s who in the DiMera family tree? Check out this gallery which explores every twisted branch!
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