Days of Our Lives has finally put Doug to rest with a touching memorial service and farewell. It’s also introduced a new legacy character with Doug Williams III, and tomorrow, Hope gets to meet her surprise nephew. You can read more about the family connection here, but time will tell if we’ll meet more of Doug’s family down the line, including his son — and Hope’s brother — Dougie.
But that feels like just the beginning as Doug’s memorial service brought a number of familiar faces back from the past to say goodbye and we caught up a bit with their lives. In the process, Days of Our Lives reminded us of the show’s rich, storied history. And it’s gotten us wondering about a whole slew of potential legacy characters out there who we could meet, from Liz Chandler’s daughter (and Sarah’s half-sister) Noelle and her two sons, to Steve’s son Spencer — and any other kids he might have fathered in his more-than four decades away from Salem.
In the end, as Julie reminded us at Doug’s memorial service and Susan Seaforth Hayes pointed out afterwards, it all comes down to family; Days of Our Lives‘ family and Hayes’ own. She wrote about it a bit on Instagram when she thanked fans for joining her in saying goodbye to Bill and Doug.
“For all of you who have joined me in spirit through the days of Billy’s passing and Doug’s memorial on Days of Our Lives, I thank you,” she wrote. “It was a privilege to share my joy in his life with so many via television. Our Corday Family honored us with a particular love story that began 54 years ago in front of a television camera and ended there, too. How amazing!”
“My darling was a steadfast, inspiring father to five children. He helped build a hospital in Africa, starred on Broadway for Rodgers and Hammerstein, conducted choirs… and I could never tell you the half of it. He held me up with love so true. That’s all that keeps me or Julie standing now… recalling those glorious yesterdays and looking forward to more tomorrows.”
There’s so much we’ve learned about both Bill Hayes and Doug over the past couple days, from Susan’s touching post to Julie’s beautiful eulogy that wove Doug’s history right into his portrayer’s.
So whether we see more familiar faces pop up down the road or meet more family members of Doug, Julie or beloved Salemites from years past, for now, we’ll take a page out of Seaforth Hayes’ book and bask in “those glorious yesterdays” as we look forward to the tomorrows yet to come.
