List of Days of Our Lives characters introduced in the 2000s
Days of Our Lives is an American soap opera broadcast on the NBC network. Created by Ted and Betty Corday, the series focuses on the residents of the fictional midwestern town of Salem, USA. It premiered on November 8, 1965. This is a list of notable characters who significantly impacted storylines and made their first appearance between 2000 and 2009.
J.T. Reiber
J.T. Reiber, born on June 9, 2000, is introduced as the child intended to be adopted by Abe Carver and Lexie Carver. However, Lexie's father Stefano DiMera switches the infant at birth with Bo and Hope's son. After years of trying for a baby the natural way, Abe and Lexie Carver decide that they will adopt a child. When Lexie's father Stefano DiMera hears about the news, he is over joyed at the prospect of finally becoming a grandfather and asks that Abe and Lexie adopt the child of one of his distant relatives. The birth mother Marlo is in fact the niece of Dr. Rolf, Stefano's longtime assistant. However, none the wiser to Lexie and Abe, Stefano is planning a plot whereby Marlo's baby would be switched with the baby of Bo and Hope's who Stefano at the time thought might be his or John Black's. After the births of the babies, Stefano has Dr. Rolf switch Hope's and Marlo's babies birth tags. So, the baby is instead taken home by Bo and Hope Brady and named John Thomas, getting his names from family friend John Black and Hope's late grandfather Tom Horton.He was later reclaimed by his birth father Glen Reiber and new wife Barb.
Zack Brady
Zack Brady was the second son and child of supercouple Hope and Bo Brady, born June 9, 2000. For the longest time, Zack is known as Isaac Theo Carver, the long-awaited and much-beloved son of Abe and Lexie Carver. For years the two had tried unsuccessfully to have a child of their own with no success, until Lexie's father, Stefano, got them in touch with Marlo, a young pregnant woman. Abe and Lexie adopt the baby that Marlo has given birth to, unaware that Stefano had switched Marlo and Hope's sons.Zack dies on January 1, 2006, after being run over by Bo's SUV, which is driven by his daughter, Chelsea. Upon his death, his liver is donated to his niece, Claire Brady, and his corneas are donated to Abe Carver; Claire's life is saved and Abe regains his eyesight. Zack's death and the revelation of Chelsea as the SUV driver drive a wedge between Bo and Hope – as well as the rest of the Brady family for most of 2006.
In June 2016, Hope has a vision of a teen Zack at the age he would have been, had he lived, portrayed by Scott Shilstone.
Shilstone returned to the role in Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem as an angel to help Bo to convince his mom to return to Earth to help their family. In September 2023, his sister Chelsea returns to Salem for their grandfather Victor Kiriakis' funeral and she announced that she gave birth to her and Max Brady's son, whom they have named Issac after Zack. Brandon Butler will assume the role in June 2025, when Zack appears once more to Bo.
Bonnie Lockhart
Bonnie Lockhart is the mother of Patrick, Mimi, and Conner Lockhart. The role was originated by Robin Riker, who played the role from July 11 to 31, 2000. Kathy Connell then played the role from August 15, 2000, to June 7, 2002. Judi Evans, who previously played Adrienne Johnson Kiriakis, took over the role the following year; she is the most notable actress to play the role and has had the longest tenure. Evans played Bonnie from September 1, 2003, to March 1, 2007. A decade later, Bonnie returned to the show on July 21, 2017, when Evans was also portraying Adrienne Kiriakis. The character departed again on October 25, 2017, then returned on August 20, 2018, and remained on the show until November 6 of that year.The character of Mimi Lockhart's mother was introduced as "Maureen Lockhart" in 2002. Her storyline mainly dealt with the Lockhart family's homelessness due to her husband David's unemployment. The character was completely reconceived in 2003 with Evans's introduction as Bonnie Lockhart, a brash, trashy schemer and gold-digger. With David having abandoned his family, Mrs. Lockhart reclaims her pre-marriage identity and desists from David's demeaning use of her hated middle name, Maureen. Working as a housecleaner, Bonnie resents her employers and other established families in Salem, even the blue-collar Bradys, because of what she perceives as their privilege. Bonnie frequently interferes in her daughter Mimi's life. When Mimi's boyfriend Rex Brady is believed to be a member of the wealthy DiMera family, Bonnie encourages the relationship. But after Rex's true Brady family heritage is revealed, Bonnie discourages Rex from proposing to Mimi and persuades a pregnant Mimi to have an abortion without telling Rex about the pregnancy. After one of her employers, Maggie Horton, is seemingly murdered in late 2003, Bonnie gets Maggie's widower, Mickey Horton, to marry her. Mickey sets her up as the impresario of Maggie's old restaurant, Chez Rouge, which she reopens as a honky-tonk, Alice's, named after her new mother-in-law, Alice Horton, in hopes of ingratiating herself with Mickey's skeptical family. Mickey ends his marriage to Bonnie to resume his relationship with Maggie after she is found alive. Hoping to extort the Kiriakis family, Bonnie pays Mimi's surrogate Lauren to carry to term after accidentally being implanted with an embryo fathered by Philip Kiriakis instead of by Mimi's boyfriend Shawn-Douglas Brady. In 2007, the skeleton of David Lockhart's murdered corpse is found buried under a church. Bonnie reveals that Mimi killed her abusive father in self-defense years earlier and blacked out the incident. To protect Mimi, Bonnie confesses to killing David and sends Mimi to live in Arizona and look after Connor there. Bonnie stands trial offscreen and is jailed. Bonnie's scheme with Lauren comes to light after Bonnie's incarceration ends the payments, so Lauren abandons the baby, Tyler, who is adopted.
Bonnie escapes from prison in 2017 with the help of Hattie Adams and Anjelica Deveraux. It is established that Bonnie looks identical to Adrienne Kiriakis, which was not addressed in Evans's previous appearances as the characters. Anjelica abducts Adrienne and leaves her imprisoned in Bonnie's place while Bonnie impersonates Adrienne. Anjelica orders Bonnie to break up with Adrienne's boyfriend Lucas Horton and reunite with Adrienne's and Angelica's ex-husband, Justin Kiriakis, and then break his heart, enabling Anjelica to seduce him. Bonnie dumps Lucas, despite her attraction to him. This drives recovering alcoholic Lucas to drink, and when he drunkenly returns to Bonnie's hotel room, she welcomes him for a tryst. When Anjelica suddenly dies of a heart attack, Bonnie focuses on getting revenge on Maggie for, as she sees it, stealing Mickey from her. Using Justin to gain access to the Kiriakis mansion, where Maggie lives as Victor Kiriakis's wife after Mikey's death, Bonnie obtains incriminating information about Victor and attempts to blackmail him into divorcing Maggie and marrying her. Victor agrees, but secretly informs his loved ones about the blackmail, humoring Bonnie to buy time to eliminate the evidence of his crimes. To prevent parolee Sheila Watkins from honoring Adrienne's request to raise the alarm, Bonnie gives Sheila a job as a housekeeper. Victor rebukes Bonnie at the intended wedding, and Adrienne's brother Steve Johnson detects her impersonation and exposes her. She flees Salem before she can be sent back to jail.
The next year, Bonnie returns to Salem with a baby, also named Bonnie, she claims was conceived with Lucas in their one-night stand. A DNA test proves that the baby is Bonnie and Lucas's. Bonnie then hides "Baby Bonnie" and refuses to divulge her whereabouts unless Lucas helps extricate her from her legal problems. Bonnie is set to be released when the truth is revealed: the baby is really Emily, Mimi's daughter by Rex from their own one-night stand in a recent chance meeting. The DNA test produced a false positive due to the close relationships between Bonnie and her daughter, and between brothers Rex and Lucas. Bonnie's deal is rescinded, and Hattie convinces Bonnie to return to prison and serve out the remainder of her sentence.
In 2019, after the show's one-year time jump, Bonnie has been released from prison and written a memoir. Bonnie does not appear onscreen, but Hattie reads Bonnie's book, Love Made Me Loony. Later, Justin represented her and won a settlement for her and the two became close and formed a relationship despite his family's reservations given Bonnie's past transgressions.
In 2020, Charlie Mason from Soaps She Knows praised Bonnie's return, saying "Thankfully, when she was killed off, she left behind brassy lookalike Bonnie Lockhart to leaven our grief."