Arianne Zucker Settled Her Days of Our Lives Suit … But What About Nicole?

News broke that Ari Zucker (ex-Nicole) has settled her wrongful termination lawsuit against Albert Alaar, Corday Productions, and Days of Our Lives.

Hopefully, Zucker got at least some of the justice she deserves, based on her allegations that she was wrongfully terminated when she spoke up about sexual harassment on the set.

However, for diehard Nicole fans, this is bittersweet news because it doesn’t change much about the character’s status on Days of Our Lives.

Nicole Has Been Missing From Holly’s Story — That Probably Won’t Change

While Zucker’s lawsuit was active, Days was in limbo regarding Nicole’s character.

They couldn’t recast while Zucker was claiming wrongful termination, and they also couldn’t rehire her while she was suing them.

For this reason, Nicole has been missing from a major story, and it’s been hurting her character even though she’s off-canvas.

The Nicole Walker we all know and love would do anything for her daughter. After Sophia made it look like Holly sent suggestive photos to Johnny, if it weren’t for this unfortunate behind-the-scenes situation, Nicole would have rushed back to Salem to support Holly and vow revenge on whoever was messing with her.

Since that wasn’t an option, Holly instead had a one-sided phone call with Nicole and planned to jet out to Paris permanently, but changed her mind when she learned Sophia had lied about Tate being the father of her baby.

These explanations for Nicole’s absence from the screen were necessary due to the legal situation.

However, it’s unlikely that the settlement of the lawsuit will change anything in that regard.

The soap has been dark for several weeks to reduce lead time, but it won’t make much of a difference — instead of being eight months ahead, Days of Our Lives will film six months ahead when production resumes.

Thus, even if the settlement included Zucker coming back to work, her scenes wouldn’t air for another half a year, and Holly’s story will continue to leave Nicole out.

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It’s also fairly unlikely that Zucker will return.

I can’t imagine she would feel comfortable after suing for wrongful termination, especially since the issue had to do with her belief that she was fired as retaliation for making allegations about sexual harassment.

Additionally, even if she were willing to return, Corday Productions might worry that she would sue again if they decided to write Nicole out in the future.

Thus, Zucker’s time with Days of Our Lives is likely over after over 20 years of playing one of the soap’s most popular characters.

Could Nicole Be Recast?

We don’t know the terms of the settlement, so it’s not clear whether Days of Our Lives has been barred from recasting Nicole.

If not, this is an option, but it might be difficult to pull off.

Soap fans are notoriously loyal to actors who play their favorite characters, and the more popular a character is, the harder it is to recast them.

Some people are so passionate about it that they’ll boycott the show or trash-talk the recast endlessly on social media.

Of course, Days of Our Lives has had several successful recasts recently, such as Cherie Jimenez replacing Camilla Banus as Gabi.

Still, Nicole is an iconic character, and a recast would be hard to get used to.

It would also be a constant reminder that Zucker is no longer part of the cast, which is not the kind of publicity that Days of Our Lives wants now that it has gotten past this incident.

Would You Rather the Role of Nicole Be Recast or Put to Rest?

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