Deidre Hall reveals how Days of our Lives will pay tribute to Drake Hogestyn

The soap world was shocked and devastated when Days of our Lives star Drake Hogestyn passed away on September 28 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Just days later, fans learned that Hogestyn's last airdate as John Black had passed just a few weeks prior. Now, Deidre Hall (Marlena Evans) has dropped some hints on how DAYS will honor her longtime co-star.

"Hours of flashbacks" for John Black

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According to Hall, DAYS will pay tribute to Hogestyn in a very special way in 2025. Since the soap tapes are more than half a year in advance, any memorial episodes to be filmed will not stream until next year. Bill Hayes (Doug Williams) passed away in January, and his memorial episodes will not air for another few weeks.

"We have shows coming up that are just hours of flashbacks of his history," Hall told People. "So it isn't coming up yet, obviously, because it doesn't come in until next year, but you're going to see some lovely tribute shows."

In the interview, Hall reminded viewers that DAYS is a family, and losing Hayes and Hogestyn was like losing family members—both to the cast and the audience.

"It is a family-run show, and it's a family-produced show, and that's reflected in everything that we do," she said. "We bring Christmas to people that don't have one. We bring Thanksgiving to people that don't have family. We are there, and when we lose a family member, you share it with us. We’ve lost Bill, we’ve lost Drake. You'll share that with us."

Hogestyn's Days of our Lives history

Hogestyn began his DAYS tenure in 1986 and played John Black off and on (but mainly on) until September. During his last months at work, Hogestyn had revealed to co-stars like Eric Martsolf and Christopher Sean that he was battling cancer. Martsolf and Sean play John Black's sons, Brady and Paul.

"He didn't want to be a burden, just tough as nails," Martsolf told Access Hollywood soon after Hogestyn's death. "It's just so beautiful to see the amount of people coming out of the woodwork who just loved this guy. He was my TV dad, and I will miss him horribly, just like the rest of the world will."

Hogestyn's last scenes were with Martsolf and Leo Howard, who plays John's grandson, Tate. Those scenes aired on September 9.

Catch all-new episodes of Days of our Lives weekdays on Peacock.

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