Days of Our Lives: Holly's Life in Danger – Nicole's Explosive Return or Huge Twist?

Days of Our Lives hinting that Holly Jonas' (Ashley Puzemis) health problems could be fatal as her arsenic poisoning worsens and Tate Black (Leo Howard) recently said that Holly's mother, Nicole Walker (Arianne Zucker), had returned to the US and had arrived in Chicago.

However, it looks like the long shot is bringing Arianne Zucker back. We see Holly's life take a turn for the worse with EJ DiMera (Dan Feuerriegel), who is the only one who knows that she was killed by arsenic. And with Nicole in town and EJ in deep trouble, this is getting better.

Days of Our Lives: Holly's Arsenic Crisis and Nicole's Quest

So, Holly said she felt better, but that was a blatant lie she told Tate to go and do what she had to do. He didn't want her to worry about him. But when he left, Holly curled up in a ball in excruciating pain. We know that Sarah Horton (Linsey Godfrey) told Brady Black (Eric Martsolf) that it will be three to five days to get the test results, but EJ still has the test results.

Her son George said their water sample came back quickly because they knew what to test for: arsenic. Until now, Sarah doesn't know what's causing Holly's symptoms or how to treat her. And Sarah fears that Holly might die like her patient Destiny did. And when EJ asks George, “Can't Holly recover from the arsenic?” George gave EJ some very bad news. So, George said Holly's doctors may not be able to save her because they don't know they need to treat arsenic poisoning. So, it gets worse and he may die. And that leaves EJ in real trouble.

Days of Our Lives: Brady Suspects Repetition

By now all Brady and Sarah know is that Holly had Coriseal in her system and was drinking a lot of water. So, Brady wonders if Holly might be using illegal drugs again, just that she might have relapsed because of all this stress, including Sophia's death and Amy Choi's (Shi Ne Neilson) case. And EJ insisted twice because George saw Brady open Smith Island, and George said that Brady was taking a water sample.

What matters is Nicole's back in Illinois. Holly's death and EJ's family company is responsible for at least two deaths and maybe three if Holly doesn't pull it off this time. And Tate told Holly to expect Nicole to see her soon, but unless they do a temporary recap, I doubt we'll actually see Holly's mom.

Arianne Zucker was suing Days and Sony and Albert Allar and Ken Corde and I think others. They settled out of court with Arianne, but networks generally don't rehire people who sue them. I'm team Arianne on this one. However, I really doubt that he is back. I mean, fingers crossed, but it seems like a slim chance.

Days of Our Lives: Nicole May Not Be Seen

And it seems crazy to think about it, but they could have written this so that Nicole's stuff wasn't on screen. We heard that Holly was being visited by her mother, but then she went to take a shower. Or EJ comes in and says, “Oh, I just talked to Nicole and she's really upset about Holly being sick.” Crazy things like that. The reenactment would make a lot of sense because Holly needs to feel her mother's arms around her and comfort her because she is scared. He is in pain. And right now, Nicole, Eric Brady (Greg Vaughan), and their son Jude all live in Paris.

They did an off-screen Nicole back when Holly graduated from high school. If you remember, we only saw Greg Vaughan as Eric, and they said Nicole was mad at him and didn't sit next to him at the party and left.

Days of Our Lives Case

And, if you don't remember the whole backstory on this, Arianne Zucker sued them, claiming sexual harassment, discrimination, and I think a hostile work environment as well. And this was after Albert Allar was accused of very good things behind the scenes. And there was that bloodshed when he allegedly fired so many actors. Nicole was removed in mid-2023 after about 25 years Days of Our Lives.

And Arianne suspected that his firing was in retaliation for her complaint. She said there is a toxic workplace for women on set Days. Nicole Walker's last day is July 29, 2024, almost two years ago now. The court case was heard in October of 2025, but the terms were not made public. But Albert Allar's side say they are determined to end it.

Days of Our Lives: The Perfect Time to Bring Back the Real Nicole

Often such settlements come with a gag order. Therefore, Arianne Zucker would not be able to talk about the terms of the settlement. And for a long time Days of Our Lives fans would obviously love to have the real Nicole back in Salem. And this storyline would be the perfect time for it to happen.

But there is no way to know if Arianna Zucker would be open to returning to him Days. Although Albert Allar has been fired, Ken Corde, the guy who was supposed to prevent these so-called bad things from happening, is still very active. But since it's July sweeps, if they were going to bring Arianne's Nicole back, now would be the time to do it.

Days of Our Lives: Holly's Survival and EJ's Cover-Up

We do know, however, that Holly is unstoppable. Her co-star Ashley Puzemis and co-star Leo Howard, who plays Tate, were both fired. Days when they returned from Christmas break earlier this year. But that should put their release dates closer to September than now.

So, I tend to think that Holly survives. I expect Tate and Holly to maybe go out together in the fall. We could see him deciding that he's had enough of Salem after the drama between Sophia Choi (Rachel Boyd) and Amy. So, Holly might sign up The Sorbonne as he is received there, and Tate follows to teach defense against the French or something.

I think it would be great to see Arianne Zucker return as Nicole Walker, even if it was just for a few episodes, but again, I doubt it. I also expect we're about to get scenes from that big summer promo like the ones with EJ yelling at Sarah that she doesn't need her help and EJ firing Sarah. It's a possible scenario that Holly is the mastermind, and we know that at the end of this week EJ asks for Johnny DiMera's (Carson Boatman) help with the DiMera drug mess and soon he will break into and search Sarah's office.

Days of Our Lives: More Drama Ahead of Holly

So, I doubt EJ fires him this week, otherwise Johnny wouldn't have to sneak into Sarah's office to look around. Also, we know that Holly will survive the arsenic crisis, but she will face more drama soon. Another scene from the big promo has Tate and Holly in the hospital.

And he insists that those pills are not mine. And in front of Sarah, we will see Holly angry at Tate. Holly yells at Tate to get out when he asks Holly to talk about it, knowing he won't die. That points to Nicole's return possibly being something off-screen.

More than that, I think Days fans might back off and riot if they recast Nicole, especially after how the actress was allegedly treated. Fans went wild when Arianna was fired. So, EJ will probably find a way to get word that Sarah needs to treat Holly for arsenic poisoning. You know, maybe EJ can expedite the lab test results so Sara knows what to do for Holly.

Days of Our Lives: Holly Survives Poison

And if you look at the current story, it seems bad and points to Holly that she really needs her mother Nicole. But if you look at the timeline of Ashley Puzemis' exit and the spoiler scenes from the summer promo, it's pretty easy to figure out that Holly is on the mend.

So, Nicole is not needed in the deathbed scene and she needs to be there when her daughter dies and whatever. It almost sounds like it Days The writers are trying to get more points of July Sweeps attention by revealing the name of Nicole, but never put them that they will not play again for a few days, even if it will remove Nicole from the fans with a new Nicole. I mean, heck, Ken Corday might as well slap Arianne Zucker in the face by suing her.