Dimitri von Leuschner didn’t just walk back into Salem. He detonated it. His return to Days of our Lives occurred at the exact wrong moment for Leo, who had barely finished saying “I do” to Javi when the past showed up, breathing, unresolved, and very much not buried. The forged breakup letter, the months of silence, the prison time Leo never knew about, all cracked open at once. And in a new interview, Peter Porte makes it clear this isn’t about a flashy comeback. It’s about timing, regret, and what happens when love doesn’t wait politely for closure.
Key Takeaways
- Dimitri’s return collides with Leo’s new marriage, forcing unresolved history back into the open.
- Peter Porte says the comeback is about timing and regret, not spectacle.
- Dimitri returns emotionally frozen, unaware that Leo’s life moved on without him.
- Porte views Dimitri’s arc as learning that love doesn’t always wait or rewind.
Coming Back When the Door Is Barely Closed
Porte spoke to TV Insider about returning to DAYS and sounded relieved. “I was so pleased,” he remarked about getting the call to return. “I love working on this show,” he continued, adding, “I get to work with my friends. It’s such a legacy. I mean, we just celebrated our 60th anniversary, which is crazy in this town, so I was very disappointed to leave.”
Porte felt that Dimitri didn’t get a proper ending so much as a full stop in the form of a prison sentence in place of a goodbye. He shared that he always suspected the door wasn’t fully shut, especially when friends on the show kept texting him about Dimitri being mentioned in scripts. When the call finally came, he was told he’d be coming back in a big way, specifically to crash Leo’s wedding, which Porte immediately recognized as the most soap way possible to return.
He also didn’t object to the long ’80s soap hair, which feels like a subtle character choice all its own. Coming back now also meant returning to a different set environment. Porte described how his earlier run took place under COVID-19 protocols, with limited interaction and masked faces. This time, the set felt open, social, and newly energized, which made the return feel warmer and more grounded than he expected.
Dimitri, Leo, and the Cost of Lost Time
On screen, Dimitri isn’t swaggering in with answers. He’s arriving confused, driven, and emotionally behind everyone else in the room. Porte described Dimitri as someone who’s been stuck in the same emotional moment for a year, locked away and completely unaware that Leo’s (Greg Rikaart) life kept moving without him. The idea that getting back to Leo would make everything right again wasn’t just hope; it was survival, and now that belief is running headfirst into a reality Dimitri isn’t prepared for.
Leo has moved on with Javi (Al Calderon). The fantasy Dimitri held onto doesn’t line up with the present. Porte spoke about how natural the scenes felt with Rikaart and Emily O’Brien (Gwen), crediting their shared rhythm and willingness to play inside the moments instead of rushing through them.
During his hiatus, Porte returned to the stage, developed new projects, and poured energy into restoring a century-old home with his husband. That sense of building something feels reflected in where Dimitri is headed now. The actor said his character is finally being forced to accept that wanting something badly doesn’t guarantee you get it back the way it was. And that, more than the wedding crash, may be the real turning point.
