How Days of our Lives' Deidre Hall prepared to say goodbye to John Black

The time is finally here on Days of our Lives. John Black's final story has begun after his longtime portrayer Drake Hogestyn passed away last fall. Marlena got the news that John was missing and had to break the news to Brady and Belle.

John Black's last stand on Days of our Lives

After Hogestyn's death from pancreatic cancer just one day shy of his 70th birthday on September 28, DAYS Executive Producer Ken Corday revealed that John's on-screen death had already been written into the plot with Hogestyn's approval.

On Tuesday, Marlena learned that John was officially missing in action. He had been on a secret ISA mission for months, but Shane Donovan (Charles Shaughnessy) was supposed to get Marlena in touch with him via phone. Sadly, Shane has been unable to locate his old friend, sending alarm bells through the ISA and terrifying Marlena.

Not knowing whether her husband was dead or alive, Marlena told Brady (Eric Martsolf) that his father was MIA on the March 5, 2025, episode. Later, she prepared to tell Belle (Martha Madison). By the end of the week, Marlena and Steve are set to visit Shane in DC to get to the bottom of John's disappearance.

Deidre Hall's emotional moments

When it came time for Deidre Hall to tape the scenes in which Marlena told her kids about their dad, Hall explained that she and her fellow actors just jumped in and did their jobs.

"We didn’t talk about it, and we didn’t especially run the scenes very much," Hall told Soap Opera Digest in an interview. "We made sure we all knew the dialogue so it didn’t have to be done more than once. Then we stepped in and [did the scenes]. There may have been a hand squeeze. We’re big on no words and just eye contact and a hand squeeze."

Hall also admitted that the performers needed to walk a fine line between real and reel emotions.

"It’s hard to find the balance," she said. "You don’t want to tap into it deeply, because then there you are or you’re out of control." Still, she was pleased with how the scenes with Marlena, Brady, and Belle turned out — and heaped praise on the writers.

"I think the writers had a bigger challenge than we did," Hall said. "We just had to get through it. They had to create it."

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