Salem enters January 2026 with something that cannot be ignored:the audience’s hunger for memoriesAs the streaming war demands faster, more intense, and more addictive gameplay, Days of Our Lives faces a “life-or-death” dilemma — pullingNicole Walker and Abigail DeverauxReturning at a time when this town is as fragile as glass. Not to soften the story, but to…smash it.

Nicole Walker and the empty space shaped like a Paris suitcase.

Nicole left Salem at the end of 2024 in what seemed like a rare moment of peace: embracing Eric Brady, getting into a taxi, and carrying with her the promise of “happiness” in Paris. But Days didn’t write happiness to end it; Days wrote happiness to… prolong the pain. Since Nicole disappeared from the screen, Salem has been like a heartbeat, both selfish and genuine. And the most worrying thing isn’t Nicole’s absence, but…Nicole still lives with the vague reminders of others..

Holly Jonas and the news stories that drive fans crazy.
Holly is pushed into the perfect bridge. The snippets of the Paris visit, the vague accounts of a small apartment, the “peaceful” dinners, and a “changed” Nicole sound like tranquilizers, but are actually explosive. Days only needs to plant one piece of information in the right place for the audience to write the rest in their heads. And when the fandom writes it themselves, it means the writers are preparing.reap a return.

Arianna Zucker and the backstage door isn’t quite closed yet.
Nicole is inseparable from Arianna Zucker, who transformed the character into a creature both seductive and dangerous in a way only soap operas would dare to do. The real-life turmoil makes “bringing Nicole back” a sensitive move, but that’s precisely what makes it so… compelling. Just a cameo, just a scene of her walking into a pub with her heels clicking on the floor, and Days can turn Salem upside down in a minute. Nicole is the kind of character who doesn’t need a long plot; she just needs to appear and…all secrets convulse on their own.

Abigail Deveraux’s death is shrouded in mystery, stemming from her silence.

If Nicole was fire, Abigail was the storm. Since the fateful stabbing in 2022, the name Abigail has refused to fade away. In Days, death is often not a period, but a comma. The more silent, the more suspicious. The less of a body there is, the more likely another “truth” lies beneath the ground. And when people mention Abigail too much, too often, too deliberately, it’s no longer a memorial — it isbait.

Cat Green and the shadow that resembles Abigail

Cat Green appears like a mirror, leaving Salem unsure whether to trust her eyes or her memories. The resemblance isn’t just physical; it’s the way the story revolves around her, with a sense of being manipulated. For Salem, things like clones, brainwashing, and Dr. Rolf’s experiments aren’t legends, but “history.” And Cat becomes central because she allows Days to play the cruelest game: giving the audience hope that Abigail is alive, then making them pay the price for that hope.

Jennifer Horton’s return ignited a storm of controversy.
Jennifer Horton is linked to the pain of a mother, and Days knows how powerful that is. The moment Jennifer sets foot back in Salem, everything instantly weighs heavily. A hug with her nephew, a glance at Jack, then the moment she faces Cat—it’s a moment when the whole town holds its breath. Jennifer doesn’t need to find the truth right away; Jennifer just needs to.smelling the truthThat was enough to drag Salem into a whirlwind of testing, confrontations, and chain reactions of collapses.

2026 and a double blow could save Days or burn Salem to the ground.
Bringing Nicole and Abigail back in the same year is like dropping two lightning bolts on a town already full of gas. Nicole could bring with her cracks in the “Parisian paradise,” Eric’s secrets, and the resurgence of old grudges. Abigail could ignite a war of identity, a delayed revenge, and a Salem forced to confront its most agonizing question: who is manipulating life and death behind their backs? Nicole’s return is emotional cataclysm, Abigail’s return is structural disaster, and Days is on the verge of a moment where a single scene is enough to send the fandom into a frenzy.

Will Salem be the place where Nicole disembarks from a flight to Paris and where Abigail reveals herself as Cat Green at the same time?