Days of Our Lives’ Deidre Hall has heard all the jokes about Marlena’s devil possession. In a new interview, Hall looked back at the moment she learned Marlena was behind the chaos in Salem. She discussed the one request she made before the show took one of its wildest swings.
Key Takeaways
- Deidre Hall looked back on Marlena’s famous devil possession story.
- Hall said the idea sounded ridiculous when she first heard it.
- She learned Marlena was behind the strange chaos happening in Salem.
- Hall asked DAYS to commit to the story and do it well.
- Fans still remember the possession story as one of Marlena’s most iconic DAYS moments.
Marlena Was Causing The Chaos
Hall spoke to People about the famous DAYS story and laughed at how strange it sounded from the start. She said, “So ridiculous, it’s so ridiculous.”
The setup was already odd, with strange things happening around Salem, including Christmas trees catching fire.
Before Christmas break, Hall was called upstairs to meet with then-executive producer Tom Langan and head writer Jim Reilly. That did not exactly feel comforting. She figured it was not good news, and then they told her, “You’re the one who’s causing all the chaos.”
The reason was the part that turned a meeting into soap history. Hall recalled the explanation plainly: “Because you’re possessed by the devil, as one is.”
That is the sort of sentence only DAYS can hand an actor with a straight face. Marlena Evans was Marlena Evans, and suddenly she was also Salem’s supernatural problem child.
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Hall Wanted It Done Right
Hall said her reaction was not to shut it down. Instead, she focused on ensuring the show did not treat the story as a cheap stunt. Her request was simple: “Please do it well.” She admitted she did not even fully know what she meant at the time, but she knew the story needed commitment.
That was the key. If Marlena was going to levitate and terrify Salem, Hall did not want anything tossed off behind a curtain with everyone acting like that was enough. She wanted DAYS to go all in. The cast and crew even had a special ritual before filming, just in case the devil decided to stop being a storyline and start asking for a call sheet.
Fans clearly still remember every bit of it. One fan wrote, “Marlena being possessed is a part of my 5-year-old lore wdym,” while another admitted, “I was 12 and watching with my grandmother like it was nothing.”
Another viewer wrote, “I believed!!!” while one summed up the lasting affection for the story with, “Not ridiculous… awesome.”
