Days of our Lives News: Tamara Braun Speaks Out On Salem Return

Daytime veteran Tamara Braun will be returning to Days of our Lives as Ava Vitali, the deceitful former lover of Steve Johnson, who supposedly died onscreen four years ago.

Tamara Braun On Her Comeback

The actress took to Instagram to share the news, posting a short video of a devious Ava decked in black.

“Well, well, well!! Looks like the cat is out of the bag! Ava and I are excited to return to Salem @nbcdays,” she wrote. “Hope you come along for the ride to see where the adventure takes us!”

Braun, who also played Carly on General Hospital, returned to play Dr. Kim Nero on the same show, and even played a different character on DAYS (Taylor) in between Ava visits in 2011.

Originally introduced in 2008 with ties to Steve (Stephen Nichols), the Mafia princess came on strong from the get-go, sabotaging the Johnsons’ plane while in Ireland and later kidnapping Hope, though her devious behavior was explained by her father drugging her. She settled into Salem and struck up a relationship with John Black (Drake Hogestyn) before fleeing the country due to charges associated with her role in the plane crash.

Upon a return to Salem in 2015, her bad deeds resurfaced. This time, she kidnapped Kayla (Mary Beth Evans) and lied to Joey Johnson (James Lastovic) that she had leukemia and was dying after he expressed his feelings to her. She also blackmailed Steve into sleeping with her, threatening to kill his Sweetness if he refused.

Once Joey learned what Ava had done, he smothered her with a pillow while drunk and is currently serving time in prison for her murder. Seeing as Ava is walking and talking now, perhaps we will see Steve and Kayla’s son back in storylines soon.

Then, of course, there’s Tripp—the son that Steve didn’t know he and Ava shared, who he eventually brought to Salem once learning the truth. Although we haven’t seen Ava and Tripp share any scene together onscreen, expect to see her mother’s instincts kick in. Days of our Lives (DOOL) airs weekdays on NBC. Check your local listings for airtimes.