Emily O’Brien returns to Days of our Lives on July 8, reprising the role of Gwen Rizczech, which she originally played from 2020 to 2023.
The invitation to return as Jack Deveraux’s (Matthew Ashford) daughter came as a surprise to O’Brien. After Gwen left town in October 2023, the actress transitioned into playing Theresa Donovan, a stint that ended when the character went to prison in August 2024. “I thought that was it,” she recalled. “I was very emotional on the last day; I said my goodbyes.”
So, O’Brien kept herself busy during her time away from Salem. “I do motion capture and voice for a lot of animation and video games,” she explains. “That’s been my main job since 2008, and that’s what I started off doing. But then we had a strike in July [2024], so that sort of stopped, and then I wasn’t doing the show, so I put all of my attention into my house. I decided I was going to get my hands dirty and do a lot of it myself, so I taught myself how to tile, my dad taught me how to plumb, I was learned how to concrete patch, and I did a lot of painting and a lot of it.” lot of gardening. I made myself really useful, and I feel quite proud of that.”
While she was focused on home improvement, O’Brien received a call from Days’ casting director, Marnie Saitta. “She said, ‘Two things. Would you be willing to come back for two weeks to finish the story arc with Teresa? And then we have a storyline with Gwen; would you be interested? That would start October [2024],’” O’Brien recalled. “I’ve loved always playing Gwen, so it was an easy answer for me, really.”
She also grew to love playing Theresa. “It was incredible,” she raves. “That was truly a gift. I had a lot of scenes with [Robert Scott Wilson, Alex Kiriakis], whom I just adore. He is always ready to play, and he always delivers. And Eric [Martsolf, Brady Black]. I feel like you could put the two of us anywhere, and we don’t even have to say anything. There was a flow that we found that I think was so natural. I really got to know him during that time, and we became friends. And then I got to work with Deidre Hall [Marlena Evans], whom I hadn’t worked with ever really before, I had a whole new family that I was part of, and new sets that I was stepping into.
“When I was in it, I thought, ‘This is fun,’” she continued. “And then after it ended, I thought, ‘As stressful and weird as it was to be stepping into this new role, I ended up truly loving it.’ I gave it everything that I had, and I played it the way I thought fit for myself. I can’t emulate anybody. I could just be myself and I enjoyed it.”
Now, she’s ready to step back into Gwen’s shoes, a character whose fortunes have shifted dramatically since her last appearance, thanks to a windfall from her ill-fated marriage to Dimitri von Leuschner (Peter Porte). “Gwen has always been scrappy and always trying to find someone to love her, someone to use,” she points out. “But now, she doesn’t need that. Now, she has everything except for love, so she’s sort of back to where she was, but with a full wallet.”
Expect to see a very different Gwen, who has changed in surprising ways. “The new writers have refined her,” O’Brien previews. “She went away and spent time with the elite, and now she has knowledge and status, so that’s been a different twist to come back and play her. She’s spending time with new characters, and it’s been fun to discover where everything is going with her now.”
Although she’s no stranger to the set, O’Brien admits to having day one butterflies. “I was gone almost a year, and I was nervous,” she relays. “I had this fresh new haircut, and you’ve been looking at your lines for weeks, and you’re ready to go, and then you just walk in the halls, and you see these familiar faces, and it feels like you’re back in this bubble with a family again. I just instantly felt great seeing all the pictures on the walls and the ‘Hey, hi, how are you? What’s being happening?’ It just picked up where everything left off, and it took my nerves away because you’re just jumping back into it. It’s like riding a bike.”
O’Brien says she was especially happy to reconnect with Greg Rikaart (Leo Stark), whom she first met nearly 20 years ago when they appeared on The Young and the Restless together as Jana Hawkes and Kevin Fisher. “We looked like we had slept with hangers in our mouths after those scenes because we couldn’t stop laughing,” she reports. “It was great; really good fun.”
And while she’s currently mixing it up with actors she hasn’t worked with before, O’Brien has one costar on her wish list of scene partners: Jackée Harry (Paulina Price). “I love watching her when she’s on screen; I think she’s such a presence,” O’Brien praises. “We had one scene together, if I can even call it that, where I’m exiting the room and she’s coming in, and that was it. I just think she’s fantastic, and if there was room for even one scene with her, I would be delighted.”
As her first episode is about to air, O’Brien says she feels honored that the writers continue to find creative ways to include her into their storytelling. “It’s flattering,” she says. “I think anybody would be flattered to play two characters, and them putting their trust in me to do that. It’s fantastic. I can’t complain. I’m doing what I love, and I’ve been there on and off now for five years, and I feel incredibly fortunate. It’s the highest compliment, and I’m very grateful.”
