DAYS Casting Shocker: Brandon Barash Out As Stefan!
Brandon Barash, who began playing Stefan DiMera in 2019, then did a 2020-23 stint as Stefan’s twin, Jake DiMera, before switching back to playing Stefan last year, is exiting Days of Our Lives. The actor’s final air date is right around the corner, with his last episode is slated for Monday, October 28.
Moving On
The actor, who got his soap start playing Johnny Zacchara on General Hospital from 2007-13, shared in an interview with with Soaps.com that it was not his decision to leave, and he was taken aback when the news was handed down to him by co-Executive Producer Janet Spellman-Drucker during the middle of his contract. (Due to DAYS’s accelerated production schedule, the actor wrapped filming toward the start of 2024.)
The news will likely come as a particularly bitter pill to fans of “Stabi,” the Stefan and Gabi pairing, who had hoped that the duo would reunite. One half of the couple, Gabi, nwas recently recast with Cherie Jimenez (Camila Banus left the role in November 2023), but the actor felt they were doing well together. He told Digest back in July, “I don’t think I could have asked for a better scene partner. She’s everything I wanted and then some. It’s every actor’s dream to work with someone who is going to hit the ball back just as hard as you do.”
He was also enjoying the emerging triangle that Gabi cheating on Stefan with his brother EJ had presented. In his interview with Soaps.com, Barash discussed the reaction from his co-stars in that storyline to his being let go by the Peacock soap. “Yeah, they weren’t happy either,” Barash said. “I told Dan [Feuerriegel, EJ] in person because he was still in the building after it happened and I went into his room and I was like, dude, you’re never gonna believe what just happened and, and I mean, the look on his face was like someone died.” As for telling Jimenez, she had already left the studio, so he sent her a text. “She was, you know, also in shock and… not very happy and, you know, we made [our final scenes] work.”
The actor also addressed whether he would be open to one day returning to the soap. “I don’t know, this is the second time this has happened to me at Days of our Lives,” he responded frankly. “And, you know, it would, it would have to be very, very right. The terms would have to be right. The story would have to be right, the contract would have to be right and I would have to be able to trust them and I don’t. I’ve lost that. I’ve lost that ability to trust that team, quite frankly. And, you know, I think of it as, you know, when I make a business decision, first and foremost, I have to trust the person I’m going into business with. And I wouldn’t go into a marriage with a woman who I felt when the going got tough, she would just leave and the same goes for business.”
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