Days of Our Lives recently broke the exciting news about Bo and Hope’s return.
The iconic couple, both of whom have been sorely missed on the long-running soap, will star in five new episodes of Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem on Peacock TV during the summer of 2022.
But with Bo having died in Hope’s arms of a brain tumor back in 2015, how can he return now? That death seemed awfully final, but read on for our speculation about how the series might pull this off.
There are several ways that Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem could handle this situation. Hopefully, they won’t make it overly campy!
While Bo’s return from the dead can’t be realistic, it can be believable in the story’s context, or it can be so silly that it isn’t worth watching.
Many Bope fans are so thrilled with the idea that Bo and Hope are returning that they don’t care how Bo comes back, but other fans’ hopes may be disappointed if the series goes in a goofy direction.
We’ve come up with six possibilities, from the ridiculous to the heartbreaking. Read on to learn what they are.
It’s all someone’s dream.
Days of Our Lives has done over-the-top dream sequences before, most notably when EJ confessed his affair with Abigail to Sami in a dream. Some fans find dream sequences clever, but it likely won’t be well-received if Beyond Salem goes this route.
It’s a cop-out, for one thing. There’s a reason that “it was all a dream” is one of the most annoying tropes in TV history.
And in this case, it would be cruel.
Bope shippers have wanted these two back on screen and back in love for years, and if they get their wish only for it to be snatched away forever at the end of the fifth episode of Beyond Salem Season 2, that’ll be doubly heartbreaking for them.
Will’s writing another movie, and Bo is a character in it.
The Beyond Salem Christmas special featured Will writing a movie where everything was all mixed up. It was creative, fresh, and fun… but it might not work twice.
At its core, this gimmick would be a less annoying variation of the dream sequence trope, so you’d still have the problem of Bope fans being sorely disappointed.
On the other hand, if Will penned a tribute to his late uncle, that might be all kinds of awesome, even if the series isn’t being marketed as a tribute to Bo.
That wasn’t Bo who died — it was a doppelganger created by the Dimeras.
Knowing the current head writer’s penchant for doppelganger stories, this one is far more likely than some other theories. It’s not the best way to go. Days of Our Lives has beat this trope to death if you’ll excuse the pun.
The last time Bo showed up was after being held hostage by the Dimeras for years, and Hope recently fought with her evil look-alike, Princess Gina.
So this may be the easiest way to explain Bo’s resurrection, but it certainly won’t be the most compelling!
This person isn’t really Bo. He’s a doppelganger.
Similarly, how many cases of mistaken identity can one town have?
There have been over a dozen doppelgangers in Salem in the last few years. Let’s not add a fake Bo to the list.
Besides, that would totally crush the hearts of everyone who is excited about a Bope reunion. It would almost feel like false advertising to them if this guy turns out not to be Bo!
Bo was resurrected using one of Rolf’s drugs.
This is a logical suggestion since Rolf has resurrected several people using those drugs, including Will.
For the most part, Rolf has only resurrected members of the Dimera family, though he also resurrected Ava Vitale for reasons unknown, and Will was not a Dimera either.
The Dimeras could have some diabolical plan involving resurrecting Bo, but what would it be? It would make more sense for them to send a fake Bo to mess with Ciara if that’s the case.
Bo isn’t alive. Hope is dead.
This would be the most heartbreaking twist of all.
Before this announcement, there had been speculation that Days of Our Lives would kill Hope off since Kristian Alfonso appeared uninterested in returning to the series… ever.
If so, this Sixth Sense-like twist would be a way to do it while also paying tribute to Bo and Hope’s long relationship. Still, though, does anyone want to see this?
The Devil has resurrected Bo for its own purposes.
At Christmastime, it was nice to spend time with a non-possessed Marlena, so let’s hope the Devil stays away from Beyond Salem.
However, we know that on the regular series, the Devil is obsessed with Ben and Ciara’s baby for reasons nobody knows.
Could resurrecting Bo be part of its nefarious plan? The evil demon seems determined to get its hands on that baby.
Your turn, Days of Our Lives fanatics. Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know what you think about these theories.
If you’d like to chat more about Days of Our Lives, be sure to check out the latest Days of Our Lives reviews and Days of Our Lives Round Table discussions.
Days Of Our Lives: Beyond Salem will air on Peacock TV starting on July 11, 2022.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.