After several weeks of hype, Greg Vaughan’s return as Eric Brady on Days Of Our Lives (DOOL) is already over!
According to Soap Opera Network, Eric will leave Salem this week after learning of Nicole’s (Arianne Zucker) affair with Xander (Paul Telfer). Following the episode on Monday, July 19th, in which Xander revealed his one-night stand with Nicole, Eric and his wife will have an emotionally charged confrontation on the episode for Tuesday, July 20th. It appears that Greg Vaughan’s exit from the canvas will occur then.
Viewers anticipated Nicole’s secret blowing up and hurting Eric, but the news of Vaughan’s departure — mere days after his character’s on-screen return — will surprise many. When Vaughan left DOOL last summer, after eight years on the canvas, he described himself as “a glorified extra in everybody else’s storyline”.
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“A lot of things that were said to me or promised to me never came to fruition. I didn’t feel like all of the things that were being told to me were being delivered,” he continued, at the time. “I never felt like Ari [Zucker] and I were given a, ‘Hey, you’re going to be our couple.’ So, it was time. My deal was over and that was it.”
His return, announced last month, stirred expectations that he and DOOL producers were finally seeing eye-to-eye about his character’s opportunities. There were even rumors that Vaughan’s character had his own secrets, from his time in Africa, to bring to future storylines.
The fabled romance between Eric Brady and Nicole Walker never really had a chance to enjoy marital bliss, as Eric spent much of their first year of marriage working overseas. Zucker recently sat down with Soap Opera Digest and provided her take on their marriage issues.
“There’s a lot happening emotionally between the two of them. The fact that he kept staying away in Africa and doing the work that he loves so much is a strain on the relationship,” she said, explaining her character’s position. “So even though she didn’t do the best thing ever, neither did he, as newlyweds. There’s just a lot of conflict in her heart.”
“I don’t think that’s what Nicole signed up for,” Zucker added, “being estranged from her husband and him being so far away and having to try to handle the lack of love and support from him not physically being there.”
Surely, Zucker’s character also didn’t sign up for a vendetta against Sami DiMera (Alison Sweeney), who orchestrated the bombshell revelation of the affair. Although fans will be disappointed that Vaughan is already off-canvas again, his emotional departure will serve to raise the stakes of that storyline.
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Ryan Pratt
Ryan is an avid runner, reader, hiker and music collector. When he isn't writing and editing for Fame10 Soaps, he's relishing in the fine company of his two cats, Penny and Gus.