moving Forward

Kristian Alfonso previews her new movies for Lifetime — ALL THAT GLITTERS and HIDDEN JEWEL — and looks back on leaving DAYS’s Hope behind for good.

- Stephanie Sloane

Soap Opera Digest: Let’s start at the beginning. When were you first contacted by Lifetime?

Kristian Alfonso: The project came about, actually, in January 2020. I was contacted for this series in the middle of January, and at the time, I had not signed my contract at DAYS OF OUR LIVES. Not that I was planning to leave — we had talked — but I had not signed anything by the end of the year, so I accepted this opportunity from Lifetime. We had no start date to go back to DAYS OF OUR LIVES [after the hiatus], so I thought, “This is perfect timing.” And DAYS being so open and great to me, this was not an issue. The producers of the Lifetime movies contacted Corday Productions to work out my schedule, it had been approved, everything was great. I would be able to go to Canada and come back. But then I received another call a few days later, stating that they really needed me to be available for DAYS, for the storyline. Even though I didn’t have a contract, my loyalty was to DAYS, so I said, “Of course.” I called my agent and I said, “You know what? We’re going to have to pass on this. I’m so sorry, but my loyalty is with DAYS and to Ken [Corday, executive producer].” So I passed on it, and lo and behold, Covid hit. Production shut down, then DAYS shut down, and I decided to leave DAYS. As I was cleaning out my dressing room, my phone rang. I was loading things into my truck and I had an offer from Lifetime, now for a different role. And I thought, “Oh, my gosh, this timing is impeccable.” Without really looking into the details of what it was, the timing was from the heavens, I am sure.

Digest: How did it feel to clear out your dressing room?