Days of our Lives Comings & Goings: Sydney DiMera Gets Fresh Face – EJ’s Daughter Returns to Salem?

Days of Our Lives excites with comings and goings  as actress Sydney Malakeh arrives in Salem in the next few weeks. After months and months of taping. But none of us knew it, her character is finally going to make a splashy debut on the NBC Peacock soap. So, now everybody’s wondering who Sydney will play. Well, we’ve got a few theories.

Days of our Lives: Sydney Malakeh Debuts Soon

All right, let’s dive right in. So, Days of Our Lives just posted a little video of the new girl in Salem strutting her stuff backstage. She was spotted in her dressing room walking down some back stairs of the studio. Then they had her as her mystery character on the set near Brady Pub walking out of Sweet Bits and lurking in Small Bar. Maybe those are meant to be hints. But maybe not.

And Days captioned the video, “Who is Sydney Malakeh? Find out September 9th, which happens to be a Wednesday if you have a calendar in front of you.” So, the actress is 27. But that in itself is not a clear-cut sign of that she’ll be playing somebody that age because Ashley Puzemis who plays college sophomore Holly Jonas, is 25. Vico Escorcia who plays Arianna Horton is actually 30, and Cheri Jimenez who plays her mom, Gabi Hernandez, is only 39.

So, age is only a number on soaps. But, I do hope she’s not a recast Ari. I don’t think so, judging by her wardrobe choices and we haven’t heard anything about Vico Escorcia leaving. So, she may be a new character. But I’m leaning towards this actress Sydney playing a recast role.

DOOL: Chloe Lane Recast?

One candidate that I have to mention because of recent storylines, although I think it’s unlikely, is there’s an off chance she’s recast Chloe Lane (Nadia Bjorlin). Only because Joy Wesley (AlexAnn Hopkins) is on the front burner right now and recently she had a phone call with Chloe. But Joy didn’t tell her sister about her spinal stenosis.

Now, we know that Nadia Bjorlin wasn’t too pleased about all the stuff that happened backstage. She was driven out about the same time as Belle Black (Martha Madison) as Belle, although she finally came back and Gabi Hernandez was replaced. So, I’m not sure if Nadia is open to a return if Joy needs Chloe.

And the age would be way off if she were Chloe. And based on how they’ve styled the actress, Sydney, I don’t see her as a fit for Chloe. I had to mention it. But I don’t see it happening. I would absolutely prefer to see Nadia Bjorlin back if they want to do Chloe if they need her as a guest arc for Joy’s health crisis.

Days of our Lives: Claire’s Brady Returns?

Another possible recast that seems more likely than Chloe would be Claire Brady (Isabel Durant). As you know, Claire is currently in South Africa with a new boyfriend she hooked up with while cheating on Theo Carver (Tyler Joseph Andrews) and then Claire dumped him and Theo came back to Salem. But when Lexie Carver (Nikki Crawford) passes away, there’s a chance Claire may return to Salem to offer her ex-boyfriend Theo her condolences on losing Lexie.

And Claire may check in with her mom, Belle Black, also see her dad, Shawn Brady (Brandon Beemer). But I do think it would be a dramatic shift for her character. Claire has always been blonde. But they have done blonde to brunette recast before on Days, and Claire could explain it away by saying she just wanted a change if that is who this actress Sydney is playing. So, there could be a Claire and Theo reunion in the works. He’s not dating anybody and he’s grieving right now.

Days of Our Lives: Claire Spices Things Up

If it is Claire, I would hope she would not bring the guy to Salem that she cheated with when she was with Theo. And of course, Claire Brady is also a legacy character who has a literal insane streak. So, I always have enjoyed Claire’s crazy energy whenever they bring her back to Salem to stir things up. And Claire could even help Belle and Grandma Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall) solve the chessboard mystery with Chad DiMera (Connor Floyd).

However, again, I don’t think this is who it is. I don’t think it’s Claire. Nobody’s talked about her in quite a while. I have to mention just in case that Sydney Malakeh might be playing recast Abigail Deveraux (Marci Miller).

She was last played by Marci Miller and then of course Cat Greene (AnnaLynne McCord) showed up lying saying she was Abigail but is really Cat Greene. And the timing would actually be good for recast Abigail. Because Chad is getting much closer to Belle Black these days. Abigail’s been dead four years at the hands of murderous Clyde Weston (James Read).

And before he was shot and fell into a coma, he hinted that he knew what happened to Chad’s wife. Him saying that at all was a big red flag. Plus, Abigail’s grave was empty and they’ve never found her remains and it is Salem. So, it would make a lot of sense for this to be a comeback character like that. And Sydney Malakeh being brunette is no problem. Because Marci Miller played the role as a brunette as well.

Days of our Lives: Sofia Mattsson a Likely Abby Recast

However, I still suspect that new newcomer Sofia Mattsson, who debuts in early 2027, is more likely to be Abigail Deveraux, maybe with amnesia. Because we’ve been told Sofia’s playing a new character. But that doesn’t mean that she’s not Abigail with amnesia. Because she could start out as a new character and then we find out. All right.

Now, let’s talk about who I think Sydney Malakeh is actually playing. Because this character hasn’t been seen in five years and has been talked about a whole lot recently. The last time we saw this character was on Days of Our Lives: A Very Salem Christmas back in 2021. If you haven’t guessed, I’m talking about Sydney DiMera. It would be funny if they hired a Sydney to play a Sydney.

DOOL: Sydney DiMera Hints Everywhere

We know that EJ DiMera (Dan Feuerriegel) and Sami Brady (Alison Sweeney)’s daughter has been name dropped a whole lot lately just out of the blue. There was her broken arm she had to have surgery for and then EJ has been talking about Sydney coming to visit soon over the summer and then we had some one-sided phone conversations with her and EJ freaked out when he learned his murderous sister Kristen DiMera (Stacy Haiduk) has been calling Sydney and invited her to meet her in Paris for fashion week and some shopping.

But now Kristen is on the run from EJ to avoid being exiled to the DiMera Island in punishment for trying to have Johnny DiMera (Carson Boatman) killed. And Sydney has been living with her mom Sami Brady all this time. And now they’re in Italy where her mom’s engaged to Dante Vitali, some guy we’ve never met. But maybe Sydney is going to come to Salem and then sticks around until Sami returns in 2027 for her big story line.

Days of our Lives: Sydney on Her Way Back?

So, if you don’t remember the history, Sydney DiMera was born in 2009. So, she should be 17 right now. I’m guessing if this new actress Sydney is playing recast Sydney DiMera, she may be playing close to that age, maybe a few years older. Maybe they’ve tacked on a couple of years to 21 to age her up with the other young set and so she can drink.

In the little promo video that Days posted, they had her dressed very nicely, very stylishly, modestly, no cleavage showing. So, she may be playing somebody younger, somebody more innocent, somebody not provocative since she didn’t have cleavage showing. I’m sure Johnny will be thrilled to see his little sister.

Sydney is a Welcome Addition on Days

And if it is Sydney recast, she’d be thrilled to meet Johnny’s kids and his wife Chanel Dupree (Raven Bowens). And if they have her playing that age, you know, if it’s recast Sydney, she might even catch Aaron Green (Louis Tomeo)’s eye and compete with Ari for him. Plus, if Sydney Malakeh portrays Sydney DiMera, she would bring fresh energy as a next generation character of two legacy families, the DiMeras and the Bradys. And we’ll know more in just a couple of weeks.