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The prodigal son returns! John-Paul Lavoisier is bringing Philip back to Days of Our Lives once again, and this time around, Victor’s son is a man on a

mission. It all begins with Philip’s homecoming this Friday, October 25th, and it’s no coincidence that it’s the same day that Xander’s seriously considering taking Kristen up on her offer to save Sarah!

“This is my third trip back to Salem,” Lavoisier shares with Soaps.com ahead of his return. “I realized that every single one of all three times that they’ve reached out to me, it’s all happened right around my birthday month, which is March.”

The show first reached out in late February, “much like the last time a year and a half ago.” It didn’t take much convincing for him to say yes, and Lavoisier was off an running by March. “My fourth day being there was my birthday. And the last time that I had been there for Victor’s funeral, I worked on my birthday as well. So it’s a little personal chuckle for myself, like, ‘Oh, I’m kind of new again here. And here’s my birthday!’ Days of Our Lives has been my birthday present the last two years, at least.”

A much more somber affair brought Philip home briefly last year.

Could it end up being a birthday present three times in a row? That’s a ways off yet, and still up in the air. But while he won’t say exactly how long Philip will be in town, Lavoisier lets us know that he’s sticking around for a bit, “as opposed to the last time that I had been back for Victor’s funeral. I knew I was on my way out almost as soon as I was going to be coming in. But this time around, I knew that I was going to be stepping in for sort of an unknown amount of time, which was intriguing.”

Last time, his portrayer notes, Philip came back for Victor’s funeral, revealed to his loved ones that he was still alive, convinced Brady to drop the charges against him and left town with Chloe. It was quick, but it positioned Philip where he needed to be for this latest return without having to worry about being hauled off to prison for framing Brady for his murder!

This return was a bit different as Philip’s portrayer wasn’t told the particulars of why he’d be coming back and sticking around, and didn’t find out until the scripts started rolling in. Fans who read Days of Our Lives’ Fall Preview teaser, though, probably have a pretty good idea about what Philip’s doing back in Salem. Because that preview, they’ll likely recall, teased control of Titan being up for grabs as someone challenges Xander over Victor’s will. And now we know that someone is Philip!

“He’s come back to protect Titan and hold up the honor of his father, the empire that his father built, and claim his birthright,” Lavoisier teases. He wants, “to keep Titan going the way he felt that his father would have wanted it to be, and to make it even better, to do things that maybe his father couldn’t have.”

The long and the short of it? “He’s back for the empire.”

And yes, this is a big switch-up from Victor’s funeral when Philip made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with Titan, especially since the company had a habit of eroding his mental health. At the time, Vivian had ostensibly been in control of it, but honestly, no one thought that would last, and she wasn’t exactly setting out to destroy the company.

Now, though, Titan itself is in jeopardy as Xander ponders giving it all away to Kristen in exchange for the serum. The two siblings have never exactly seen eye-to-eye, and that was before they had Victor’s inheritance to squabble over!

Last time, Philip left town with Xander’s then-fiancée, Chloe, after he broke her heart. This time? He’s back for Xander’s company. Or as far as Philip is concerned, his company!

Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI

“Philip may not have cared about the company during his exit,” Lavoisier explains, but, “he does care about it being ruined by the wrong people — which would be Xander. So he does feel the need to protect it.”

In the end, Titan “was his whole father’s life. It was so important to his dad. And he needs to step up for the honor of Victor.”

It wasn’t that long ago that we’d have thought Xander would surely come out on top. But now? He better get ready for the fight of his life — with, Lavoisier promises, more than a few twists and turns on the way!

Check out all of Days of Our Lives arrivals with our photo gallery here.