Suzanne Rogers Returns to ‘Days of Our Lives’ as Maggie After Months-Long Absence

Salem has been missing one of its most important residents, but that is finally about to change. Suzanne Rogers is returning to Days of Our Lives as Maggie Horton Kiriakis, with the longtime cast member set to appear again beginning Monday, August 31.

And really, Salem needs Maggie back. Between the Kiriakis family drama, Sarah and Xander's never-ending problems and everything else happening around town, leaving all these people unsupervised for this long was probably not the best idea.

Maggie Is Finally Back in Salem

Rogers has been absent from the canvas for several months after taking time away from Days of Our Lives while dealing with a real-life health issue. The actress revealed last year that she had been diagnosed with Stage II colorectal cancer and underwent six weeks of radiation and chemotherapy after wrapping her final episode before her leave.

Thankfully, Rogers completed treatment and made it clear that she planned to return to the soap she has called home for more than five decades. Now viewers are finally reaching the episodes featuring Maggie's return.

According to casting information for the week of August 31 through September 4, Rogers begins airing again on Monday. Maggie will also be part of Tuesday's episode, when Julie reaches out to her as several Salem families find themselves dealing with new developments.

For longtime Days viewers, simply having Maggie back in the mix is significant. Rogers originated the role in 1973 and has

spent more than 50 years playing the beloved redhead, making Maggie one of the show's most enduring connections to its history.

There's Plenty Waiting for Maggie

Of course, Maggie isn't exactly returning to a peaceful Kiriakis household where everyone has been behaving themselves while she was gone. Please. This is Salem.

Her daughter Sarah has been dealing with the collapse of her marriage to Xander and the fallout surrounding their family, while the Kiriakis clan continues finding new ways to complicate practically everything. Before Rogers' absence, Days had positioned Maggie as an important sounding board for Sarah and as a central figure within the larger Kiriakis family, so there is certainly no shortage of material waiting for her.

Maggie's return also comes as Days continues leaning into its legacy characters alongside newer generations of Salem residents. Having characters like Maggie, Julie, Marlena, Steve and Kayla actively involved gives the show something daytime soaps should never underestimate: history that doesn't have to be explained because viewers have actually lived through it with them.

And with Rogers having played Maggie since Richard Nixon was president , yes, seriously, calling her a legacy character almost feels like an understatement.

Suzanne Rogers' Remarkable Days Legacy Continues

Rogers first appeared as Maggie Simmons on August 20, 1973, beginning what would become one of the longest runs by an actor in American daytime television. Maggie went from the young woman Mickey Horton met while suffering from amnesia to a cornerstone of the Horton family and, eventually, the wife of Victor Kiriakis.

Along the way, viewers watched Maggie survive more than five decades of romances, family drama, addiction, heartbreak and even death. And because this is Days of Our Lives, we're talking about the kind of "death" where she eventually turned up alive on an island because apparently even death looked at Maggie Horton and said, "You know what? Never mind."

Rogers also made Daytime Emmy history in 1979 when she became the first performer from Days of Our Lives to win an acting Emmy, taking home Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Decades later, she remains an integral part of the soap.

That's why seeing Maggie back isn't simply another name on a weekly comings-and-goings list. After Rogers' health battle and months away from the screen, there is something particularly special about watching her walk back into Salem and pick up where she left off.

Welcome home, Maggie. Salem has been entirely too unsupervised without you.