'Days of our Lives' 50th anniversary spoilers: Fan favourites return to Salem

For the 50th anniversary of “Days of Our Lives” (“DOOL”), there will be a number of surprises for fans. A few of their favourites will be returning to Salem, with some child characters having transformed into beautiful adults.

Spoiler alert! This article contains "Days of Our Lives" spoilers.

Five child characters in particular will be coming back as young adults, namely, Theo, Ciara, Claire, Joey and Chase, writes We Love Soaps .

“Young people are the lifeblood of any soap — especially ours as we head toward our 50th anniversary in November. By aging these children into young adults, we’re making them more relatable to our audience and more dramatically exciting. These are not ancillary characters, but young leads. None of them will be a goody two-shoes. Each is somewhat flawed,” executive producer Ken Corday told TV Insider .

Joey, who was last seen as a 6-year-old kid, will return on Aug. 28, 2015 as a troubled teenager, portrayed by James Lastovic. The grownup Ciara Brady (Vivian Jovanni) and Chase Jennings (Jonathon McClendon) will be featured on Oct. 30. Theo Carver (Kyler Pettis) will be seen in November, while Claire Brady (Olivia Keegan) will return on Nov. 25.

The returning characters will also look much like their parents. Joey will look a lot like Steven Earl "Patch" Johnson (Stephen Nichols) and will also be rebellious, while Ciara will also resemble her mother, Hope (Kristian Alfonso).

Soaps.sheknows.com notes that Bo (Peter Reckell), as well as Steve, will be coming back to Salem in the fall. Corday shared that Nichols will be seen on Aug. 28, while Reckell will appear again in September. Reckell was last seen on the show in 2012. His wife in the series, Hope, has been with Aiden (Daniel Cosgrove) since then. Nichols last appeared in 2009. He was rarely mentioned on the show by partner Kayla (Mary Beth Evans). Nichols is rumoured to stay on the soap for a while but there is still no confirmation on how long Reckell will be staying in “DOOL.”

Corday says that he is following the advice of his late mother, executive producer Betty Corday, to refresh the long-running soap opera with a new generation every decade or so. The returning characters are the descendants of favourite stars in the past and will be vital to the future of the show. The teenagers feature the fifth generation of “Days of Our Lives.”

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