Days of Our Lives fans were shocked this past fall when the Peacock soap opera released its annual fall promo, during the Day of Days fan event, as Johnny DiMera (Carson Boatman) learned that his father E.J. (Dan Feuerriegel) raped his mother Sami (Alison Sweeney). Now, months later the story is finally playing out.
On the episode broadcast March 14th, 2025, after 19 years of his family keeping his conception a secret, Johnny’s grandfather Roman (Josh Taylor) and step-grandmother Kate (Lauren Koslow) revealed the circumstances of how he came to be. This set off a chain of events ultimately leading to a heated exchange between father and son. Johnny’s life was sent into a tailspin and he was given the perfect motive to be a lead suspect in the tale of “Who Shot E.J.”
Boatman spoke with Soap Opera Digestand examined his recent story developments. Discussing what it was like preparing for the confrontation scenes with his on-screen father, Boatman said, “We tend to frequently run lines for a bit the night before a day of work. We’ll hit FaceTime for 40 minutes or so just to kind of get fresh on our lines. For these we spent a lot more time, a couple of days’ worth of prepping, just getting ready, and making sure that we had all the lines down. That way we could just focus on the scenes.”
When asked how he felt about being a suspect in his father’s attempted murder Boatman responded, “Well, you’re never happy to be a suspect in a murder case in real life, but on DAYS it’s kind of fun. It’s fun to be a part of something with high stakes.”
On the April 11th, 2025, episode Johnny got to have a real and deep conversation with his mother Sami (Alison Sweeney) and gained a better understanding of what occurred nearly twenty years ago. Speaking of those scenes, Boatman said, “I think having his mom tell him that she’s okay now helps Johnny a lot. Seeing that she’s kind of recovered from this and is able to even almost justify it makes Johnny feel a little more comfortable about it happening. He knows that his mom hasn’t been living with some kind of emotionally agonizing pain over it for the last 20-odd years.”
Boatman doesn’t believe that Johnny has completely forgiven his mother for the lies that she’s told him over the years. “There’s some anger there, definitely, because she lied to him. She was part of a group of people who Johnny holds dear that lied to him about one of the most important things that there could be to lie to someone about.”
Fans will remember back in December 2006, on-screen, Sami went on a romantic cabin getaway with her on-again/off-again love interest Lucas “Roberts” Horton (Bryan Dattilo) when tragedy struck, and Lucas was trapped under a tree. Desperate for help, Sami ran to the street to find help. There she ran into E.J. (James Scott), on the run for having shot her stepfather John Black (Drake Hogestyn). E.J. forced Sami to help him avoid a police checkpoint, and afterward offered to assist her and save Lucas’s life, but in exchange E.J. explained that he was tasked by his father Stefano (Joseph Mascolo) to “plant the DiMera seed” with the Brady of his choice, and Sami was to be given the honor. After discussing the situation, Sami gives in to E.J.’s demands, thus conceiving her son John “Johnny” Roman DiMera. E.J. proceeds to hold up his end of the deal and saves Lucas’s life.
Now, 19 years later, the sins of the father have come back to the forefront, the secret of his actions have been revealed, and with the town against him, someone took the golden opportunity and attempted to murder E.J. Only he survived. Now, the question on everyone’s mind is: when E.J. wakes up will he remember who shot him?
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available 24 hours a day through RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
Days of Our Lives airs weekdays on Peacock.
