Days of Our Lives’ Eli actor Lamon Archey slams show over how they handled his character’s exit
DAYS of Our Lives actor Lamon Archey has slammed the show over how they handled his exit from the show.
The 41-year-old has been starring as Eli Grant on the soap opera since 2017.
Not only did Friday’s episode of Days of Our Lives say goodbye to Lani Price (played by Sal Stowers) but also to her husband, Lamon’s Eli, as well.
Lani has been written off the show with a jail sentence in Maryland, after she recently confessed to killing her biological father, TR.
Lamon’s character, meanwhile, is leaving Salem with his and his wife’s kids, Jules and Carver, and moving to be closer to where she’ll be serving her time behind bars.
Speaking with Soap Opera Digest about leaving the daytime show, the actor revealed it didn’t all go as he would’ve liked.
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To start with, he didn’t necessarily want to leave the series but said DAYS had issues with keeping him on in a recurring status.
As the actor has also been starring on The CW’s All American and keeping his eyes open for other opportunities, he only wanted to be on DAYS part-time.
That ended up not being enough for the show.
Lamon told his agent that he “didn’t want to do a contract anymore” with the soap but would be “down to do recurring.”
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He continued: “I just didn’t want to be tied down and not have the freedom to pursue other jobs, play other characters.”
In the end, the actor said, “it was something [DAYS] couldn’t deal with.”
“They ultimately made the decision that they couldn’t keep me on recurring status and that was that,” he added.
Sal, who played Lamon’s onscreen wife Lani, also opened up to the outlet about her departure.
She had a different reaction to their exit plot and said she “loved the whole story.”
The actress continued: “This is hands-down probably my favorite story of my seven years being there.
“I think my last episode is probably my best work. I felt very ‘leading lady’ in those scenes.”
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Sal added: “I was so connected and so present. Eli and Lani are a big part of Salem, and I wanted all of that to play. I think it did.
“You can see the beauty and how these characters evolve in the last few episodes.”
