Marlena’s family had moved on from her “death.” It had been four long years, since she’d been abducted by the evil Orpheus and the plane they were on exploded in midair.

Her beloved husband, “Roman,” had finally opened up his heart, again, and found love with Isabella. In fact, he had asked Isabella to marry him. Little did he know that Marlena was actually alive, had made her way back to Salem, and was anxious to reunite with him.

After trying to reveal herself to “Roman” and having her efforts thwarted time and time again, Marlena wandered down to the pier. As fate would have it, Roman ended up there too. The date was August 16, 1991. It was a dark foggy night, when Roman heard a woman call out his name. He turned in stunned disbelief, immediately recognizing her voice.

“No,” he retorted, as his “dead” wife approached him. “Marlena,” she confirmed. Roman reached out and gently touched her face. “Doc, it’s you. Oh my God. It’s you,” he cried out. The twosome fell into each other’s arms. Marlena knew she was back where she belonged, and so did Days of Our Lives fans.

However, if the truth be told the big moment almost didn’t happen. After Deidre Hall had worked out a deal to return to the show, the Days brass sprung a bombshell on her: they wanted her to play another character; someone who was not sympathetic or redeemable.

“They were afraid [to bring me back as Marlena], since I was signing a short term contract,” explained Hall, who was against the idea.

“I thought it would not be fun for me to do. I love playing Marlena. One of the reasons I came back to Days was to play Marlena, not to go back to daytime... I feel totally free in playing her. Marlena’s feminine. She’s a professional woman. She can run the female gamut.”

So Hall walked away, the Days brass walked away, and the deal fell apart. But, eventually, the show relented and Hall got her wish to resurrect her beloved character.

As for how her first scenes with Drake Hogestyn (ex-Roman) went, Hall noted, “[We fell] right back into a pattern. There’s a tremendous sense of security between us on stage. We’re each other’s safety net. That’s the way it was before.”

And that’s the way it was again. “Our reunion scene was riveting,” said Hall. “As soon as I fell into his arms, it was as if I had never gone away.”