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We know actors and characters come and go in the soap world, even if they’ve been around for decades. But even we’ll admit to being surprised when we learned Days of Our Lives‘ longest-serving DiMera, Thaao Penghlis, was exiting the show and would likely never bring Tony back. Both Tony and lookalike Andre have come and gone over the decades, but the thought of never seeing Penghlis in Salem again was just about unfathomable.

At the time, though, he’d suggested that if there were writing changes, he might come back someday. And so we had hoped he’d return — but we didn’t expect it to happen this quickly! Because it was just back in July that we got word that Days of Our Lives was bringing in a new writing team, headed up by Paula Cwikly and Jeanne Marie Ford. And then, just a couple months later at the beginning of October, we learned Tony and Anna would be back next year!

And it already sounds like Penghlis couldn’t be happier with how things are shaking out in Salem, which has certainly gotten us excited about what’s to come! The actor shared a behind-the-scenes pic on Instagram with his on-screen little brother, Billy Flynn (Chad), and their smiles alone told us just about everything we needed to know.

“So good to be back at Days working with one of my faves,” Penghlis wrote. “Billy is so special to work with. Thank you, my friend, for your warm embrace. The new writers are making a difference. DiMera is back.”

As wonderful as it is to see reunions and to know that the folks over on Days of Our Lives really do love each other, we have a feeling those last two lines are the ones that will get fans especially excited. Because knowing that the actors are happy with a writing team,

As for the DiMeras being back, we’ll be curious to see how it plays out onscreen. Are we going to get an end to the seemingly endless family squabbles? Is the company going to become a major force in town, rather than just a bauble for the siblings to pass back and forth? Will Stefano rise from the grave once again?!