Seeing double on Days of our Lives: Big surprises in store for Rafe's doppelganger

Arnold Feniger is back on Days of our Lives and giving EJ DiMera a run for his money. When Arnold first appeared at the DiMera mansion door on Tuesday, EJ thought he was dealing with the former police commissioner, but boy was he in for a big surprise.

Arnold Feniger is alive and well

As far as Salemites and DAYS fans were concerned, Arnold Feniger was dead and buried back in 2011 after a fatal beating in prison. Now, it turns out that EJ (Daniel Feurriegel) arranged the whole thing and shipped Arnold off to parts unknown with a hefty bankroll that's been depleted.

Arnold wants cash, and he wants it now, while EJ just wants Arnold out of his hair so nobody finds out that the man he once hired to impersonate Rafe is back to cause trouble.

DAYS fans will recall that EJ and Stefano (Joseph Mascolo) hired Arnold and had him undergo extensive plastic surgery to look just like Rafe. They also arranged for Rafe to be injured in a car accident. While Rafe recuperated, Arnold took his place as an unsuspecting Sami's (Alison Sweeney) husband. The plan was to blow up Sami and Rafe's marriage so that EJ would get custody of his and Sami's children, Johnny and Sydney.

During Arnold's reign of terror over Salem, he even murdered Nicole's (Arianne Zucker) mother, Fay (Valerie Wildman). Fortunately, a recovered Rafe, along with Bo (Peter Reckell) and Hope (Kristian Alfonso), were able to prove Arnold was an imposter and sent him to jail. With Arnold allegedly dead, nobody had mentioned him in years, but now he is back, ready to make EJ's life a living hell.

A whole new Arnold on Days of our Lives

Galen Gering was in for a big surprise when he learned that he'd be bringing Arnold back to the DAYS scene. The producers told him what was coming ahead of time, so he didn't learn about the comeback from a script. However, he did decide to change the character a bit and make him more fun this time around.

"I went back and looked at stuff because I had played this guy many years ago," Gering said in an interview with Soap Opera Digest. "Then I was like, 'You know what? I think we’re going to take a few more liberties this time. I think we were going to make him more ridiculous and extreme.' The original version of Arnold was a little more subtle than the new and improved guy."

With Rafe being a straight-laced cop (and not a straight-laced private investigator), being able to play his polar opposite was a joy for Gering. What Gering decided to do with Arnold this time around became a joy for the DAYS crew.

"People honestly would be like, 'Can this guy stay and Rafe leave? He’s way more fun.'" Gering admitted. "I just kept doing stuff on set that was befitting for the character, but totally wholeheartedly ridiculous and over the top. I feel like I was pushing the limits, but they were loving it. They’d always be like, 'Do it again. Do it again. We love it.' It was really fun to have the producers and directors be behind it and say, 'Okay, let’s go for it.'"

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What trouble will Arnold cause for EJ when he moves into the DiMera mansion and makes himself at home? Stay tuned to find out.

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

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