rising up

Miranda Wilson Recalls Her DAYS Gone By And Coming Home For BEYOND SALEM: CHAPTER 2.

- Janet Di Lauro

Despite the considerable length of time between her last DAYS appearance 1985 and her recent guest spot on the Peacock special, BEYOND SALEM: CHAPTER 2 in 2022, Miranda Wilson (originally credited as Cheryl Ann Wilson) never thought a return engagement was totally out of the question. "I was Stefano's daughter, and he was The Phoenix, so I knew there was a chance, that it was not impossible," explains Wilson, referring to the legendary character's propensity for rising from the dead.

After all, if daddy could be resurrected time and time again, why not his departed daughter? "When I came back for the 50th-anniversary party, it was just glorious," she recalls. "I thought, 'Wouldn't it be fun if ...?' Then several people started fan pages to bring Megan back, and I was totally on board with all of it. But you can't really hold your breath for things like that." Besides, Wilson anticipated that "whoever was writing the show [now] had no idea who Megan was." So when the call came to join BEYOND SALEM, "It did come out of the blue in that sense," admits the actress. "I got an email from my manager saying, 'DAYS has just come to us. What do you think?" I said, "Tell them, yessss." I was thrilled."

Wilson was eager to get started. "Obviously, I didn't forget Megan," she says. "I have the kind of mind that's like a steel trap. I even remember dialogue from 1984, 1985. My work over the last 10 years has not been Megan. None of my characters have been Megan, even the ones who have been a little bit dark, and I'm different as an actress. There was a part of me that was thinking, 'Am I going to be able to get her back?' Yet, as soon as I walked on that set, she was there. Literally, it's like Megan showed up. I was like, 'Whoa! That's funky.' She seriously came through me like this big wave."