Soap Opera Digest is reporting that Days of Our Lives has recast John Martin as Bill Horton for the upcoming Alice farewell storyline.

Martin is most known for his role as Frederick in The Young and the Restless.

For those who don’t know, the previous actors (most notably Ed Mallory and Christopher Stone) who played Bill both died in real life. So it makes sense to cast a new actor in the role because why would a son ever miss his mother’s funeral. Guess we could ask that about Tommy Horton, who pretty much hasn’t existed on the show in years. But the character is sill alive. I’m pretty sure.

So now all we need is Tommy, Sarah Horton, Josh and Jessica Fallon, Nick Fallon, Jeremy Horton, Soctty Banning, David Banning …. Shawn D, Belle, Claire, Marlena, John ……. the list goes on and on.

It occurred to me that even though I’ve posted who is returning for Alice Horton’s farwell, I’ve never really pointed out how it’s going to play out. The people at Days actually have something pretty fantastic planned. This is not going to be only one or two episodes.  It’s going to be a storyline farewell.

Days Executive Producer Ken Corday says that the former characters are returning before Alice dies. Some will be on for multiple episodes. Instead of having a group of people at a funeral and all getting a minute each for a eulogy, Corday says each will have scenes with a dying Alice. There’s no word how they’re going to make that happen since Frances Reid has already passed, but they’ll figure out something.

So there you go. Expect to see some of our favorite characters for an extended time during Alice’s farewell storyline. I hope everyone does reunite at the end for a memorial service though.

FYI: Melissa Reeves (Jennifer) began taping her scenes this week. So expect her to be the first to return to Salem sometime in mid to late May.

Spreitler, via Soap Opera Digest, has released a farewell message:

“I have enjoyed playing such a fun and ever changing character on daytime television and it has been an incredibly gratifying experience both professionally and personally,” she says. “My heart will always be in Salem. Wanted to say thank you to all my fans for your support. I would also like to say thank you to [DAYS] for letting Mia stay around in Salem longer than expected and for that I am grateful. I will be busy filming at [DAYS] the next few weeks so don’t forget to tune-in to see how Mia will leave Salem. Looking forward to the next journey in my career.”

I wonder where this leaves Chad, Will and Gabi. I say they ditch Gabi (who also has proven pretty pointless) and hook Chad and Will up!

Bo (Peter Reckell) fans will have to be without the character for three weeks coming up when he exits to help his sister Kimberly get through a cancer scare. The actor is taking a break from the show because his alotted screen time is about up and the show execs aren’t willing to pay him for more screen time.

No need to worry about him or Kimberly (Patsy Pease) as we’ll be seeing her return for Alice‘s farewell.

So far, the confirmed list of attendees for Alice Horton’s funeral include: Published reports are confirming former Days of Our Lives stars, Bryan Dattilo (Lucas), Christie Clark (Carrie), Jaime Lyn Bauer (Laura), Lisa Trusel (Melissa), Maree Cheatham (Marie)  Mary Beth Evans (Kayla), Melissa Reeves (Jennifer), Patsy Pease (Kimberly), and Roark Critchlow (Mike).

Thanks, Daytime Confidential for the tip.