DAYS Casting Shocker: Emily O’Brien In; Jen Lilly Out As Theresa

The rumor has been around on social media for a while that Emily O’Brien was going to be the one to replace Jen Lilley in the role of Theresa Donovan on Days of our Lives and now it has been confirmed.

Emily O’Brien Takes On The Troublemaker

As Soap Hub reported a month ago, Lilley already announced that she was unceremoniously replaced in the role of supercouple Shane (Charles Shaughnessy) and Kimberly’s (Patsy Pease) daughter. Originally slated to shoot a couple of months’ worth of material in a few weeks, she suspected that something was up.

“I’m getting nervous. This is so strange,” Lilley said during an interview with Soaps.com’s Kristyn Burtt, as she wondered how months’ worth of material would fit in with the number of scripts she received. She was right to worry because the show did indeed have other plans. Deadline caught the visual confirmation of the rumor (by noticing the October 2 episode’s credits) that has been swirling around the Internet for a while — Emily O’Brien is taking over the role.

What does this mean for the role of Gwen Rizczech? Her story could easily send the character away, now that she’s been betrayed by both her best friend and the man she loved and married. But there isn’t going to be much time in between the roles, if any. To help with the transition, Lilley revealed that the brunette who would be replacing her would wear a blonde wig.

Of course, playing a duel role is nothing new in daytime. Deidre Hall has played Marlena and Hattie, as Judi Evans has played Bonnie and Adrienne — but those characters’ physical similarities were part of the story. Then again, Robert Scott Wilson plays Ben and Alex, so DAYS has certainly done this before.

As for how O’Brien will fit in with Theresa’s crowd, remember that a while back, a dejected Gwen did interact with Brady (Eric Martsolf) at the pub, and there was a little spark there. Gwen also had a brief affair with Alex that was well-received by fans. So O’Brien should be able to keep the magic going with the current co-stars in Theresa’s orbit. Whether or not she’ll simply play out the previously agreed upon story or if everything changes and she’ll stay in the role indefinitely hasn’t been revealed.