It’s the top of an period for Days of Our Lives, because the beloved character John Black mentioned his ultimate goodbyes on Monday’s (June 2) episode, eight months after his portrayer, Drake Hogestyn, handed away.
Hogestyn died from pancreatic most cancers at his residence in Malibu, California, on September 28, 2024, however his character lived on in Salem, although his destiny had been sealed for some time. After returning to city in Could, a devastating lab explosion left John with life-threatening accidents.
In Monday’s episode, John’s spouse, Dr. Marlena Evans (Deidre Corridor), held her husband in her arms as he took his ultimate breath. For the reason that explosion, John’s face had been hid behind bandages; actor Allan Wayne Anderson portrayed the bandaged John. Within the emotional scene, Marlena instructed John he didn’t must struggle anymore.
Corridor took to Instagram on Monday to touch upon the scene, writing, “I do know. I do know. Hardest day ever.”
Followers jumped into the feedback to react to the heartbreaking episode, with one person writing, “What painful and uncooked scenes these will need to have been to movie realizing that Drake had already handed! Deidre you have been phenomenal right this moment, and held it along with such grace and energy..It’s actually an finish of an period for the present and for the followers!”
“So heartbreaking. These tears, have been actual. It wasn’t appearing. 🥺 Sending love. You have been completely wonderful, right this moment, Deidre,” mentioned one other.
“You have been chic and heartbreaking. Sending a lot love, Deidre. We love you . J&M will reside in our hearts without end,” one other added.
The top of John and Marlena love story
As reminiscences flashback John Black codes and passes away in Marlena’s arms
Marlena cries and holds John in his ultimate second
RIP Drake Hogestyn #Days #Jarlena pic.twitter.com/pQuWrn1nAO
— Chrissi Nielsen (@NielsenChrissi) June 2, 2025
One other wrote, “I’m in tears as I write this – I simply completed watching John’s dying and it was so unhappy and so touching on the identical time. I can’t think about how troublesome this was for you and the forged. Drake was fantastic and he might be missed. Bless you each.”
“Superb job, don’t know the way you bought via these scenes. I’m nonetheless crying. My ideas and prayers are with you and your complete forged. He’ll all the time be my favourite. RIP Drake/John,” one fan added.
Hogestyn performed the function of John on Days from 1986 to 2009 earlier than returning in 2011. His ultimate look got here on September 9, 2024 (filmed in February 2024), simply two weeks earlier than he died on September 28.
Chatting with Cleaning soap Opera Digest in November 24, Days government producer Ken Corday revealed that Hogestyn had signed off on John’s dying previous to his passing.
“We have been rolling the cube as a result of it’s troublesome to inform a narrative of somebody’s dying or a personality’s dying whereas the actor remains to be alive; albeit [Drake] was preventing, like a tiger, a really troublesome illness,” Corday defined. “And I made the selection to, ‘Okay, let’s inform the story.’ He hadn’t been on [the show] in 9 months. We wanted a motive [for John’s absence].”
“He and I have been in touch,” he continued. “I wished to ensure Drake signed off on this, and he was completely in favor of it. He trusted me. Had Drake, God prepared, overwhelmed this, he would’ve come again, and it will’ve been one thing totally different. However [the story] needed to be instructed. It was extraordinarily troublesome and painful for us to inform it — for the forged, for everyone. Drake was a giant a part of the present. The consummate actor. At all times a staff participant and fairly handsome, too.”
Days of Our Lives, Weekdays, Peacock