Before actor Drake Hogestyn died following a pancreatic cancer battle, he reportedly approved of his Days of Our Lives character also dying ... We needed a reason [for John’s absence].” Corday, 74, reached out to Hogestyn before writing the script.

“We were rolling the dice, because it’s difficult to tell a story of someone’s death or a character’s death while the actor is still alive; albeit [Drake] was fighting, like a tiger, a very difficult disease,” Corday told Soap Opera Digest. “And I made the choice to, ‘Okay, let’s tell the story.’”

The late actor approved of his character's death scene, which will air in an upcoming episode of the soap opera

The late Days of Lives soap star, who passed away on September 28, after a battle with pancreatic cancer, knew how his character John Black would be written out of the script.

Days of Our Lives has had to say a painful goodbye to too many beloved actors lately - and their legendary characters. But due, in part, to the show's advanced shooting schedule, the onscreen and offscreen farewells tend to be very far apart.