Entertainment

Martha Madison Confirms ‘Days Of Our Lives’ Departure As ‘Bloodbath’ Character Clearance Generates Buzz

Published on: March 22, 2016 at 2:56 PM
By Stacy Carey

Days of Our Lives fans have received quite the shocker this week, as a handful of characters have just been axed from the show. While the soap itself has yet to confirm the cuts, some of the actors involved are taking to social media to confirm the reports. What’s the scoop?

As Daytime Confidential shared, Days of Our Lives has reportedly fired Martha Madison, Brandon Beemer, Marie Wilson, and Sal Stowers, who play the characters of Shawn-Douglas Brady, Belle Black, Summer Townsend, and Lani Price. The move is seemingly a result of the newly-formed writing regime of Dena Higley and Ryan Quan. While Higley has been in place on DOOL for a bit now, Quan took over after Josh Griffith’s departure a few weeks ago.

Soap Opera Digest detailed that with Griffith’s departure as co-writer alongside Higley, staff writer Quan was promoted to that co-head writer position. From the looks of things, this new writing team has significant shifts in mind, and viewers are feeling a bit anxious about what may come next.

Martha Madison returned to as Belle last fall, and initially, Jason Cook returned to the role of Shawn. He had agreed to reprise the role for just a short time, though, and the show managed to snag Brandon Beemer to step back into the character once again upon Cook’s departure.

Summer only recently popped up and seemingly had a big storyline ahead as Maggie’s surprise daughter. As for Lani, she arrived in Salem last fall and certainly had ties to the community as well, being Abe’s surprise daughter and entering into a new romance with Beemer’s character. Now, however, the writers are cleaning house, and all four characters will hit the road.

DOOL has not officially confirmed the departures of Madison, Beemer, Stowers, and Wilson, but confirmations have come out via social media. Martha tweeted out the initial report, adding a goodbye and noting that this is a permanent cut.

A follow-up post by Madison thanked fans for all of their support, and she added hashtags indicating that she will be keeping her chin up as she moves onward. Sal Stowers also posted a tweet once the news broke, thanking everybody for making her feel so loved. So far, Brandon Beemer hasn’t posted about the news, nor has Marie Wilson.

From the sounds of things, Stowers actually has been done filming for a few months now. Given the fact that DOOL tapes about six months ahead of when the episodes air, she is still on-screen and in the early stages of this Lani and Shawn romance, but it seems that will fizzle out relatively soon. There’s no word yet just when viewers will see the other three characters exit the canvas.

These dismissals come on the heels of plenty of other show shifts. Greg Vaughan will depart as Eric Brady soon, and the show is facing the challenge of recasting Abigail Deveraux with Kate Mansi’s departure . Chloe is said to be returning soon, and many expected some juicy action with Philip, Chloe, Belle, and Shawn all hanging around Salem.

Fan reactions to this news so far have been fairly mixed, with many antsy to see some of the teens axed as well. Of course, with Madison and Beemer out, some would figure that Olivia Rose Keegan may be out soon as Claire heads out of town with her parents, but no word has come out on that front yet.

Daniel Cosgrove is returning as Aiden Jennings again soon in a twist-filled storyline, and viewers have heard that Matthew Ashford will be back briefly this spring as Jack Deveraux. It will take a while yet to see how all these arrivals and departures play out, but Days of Our Lives fans are definitely buzzing about what comes next. What do you think of the news that Martha Madison, Brandon Beemer, Marie Wilson, and Sal Stowers have all been reportedly let go from their roles?

[Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]

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