Days of our Lives fans have been ecstatic to have Victoria Konefal front and center as Ciara Brady these past few months, but that's about to change. The actress, who has been open about her desire to keep her schedule free for non-soap projects, reveals that she declined a request from the powers that be to stay in Salem another year.
As fans may recall, Konefal left DAYS just before the pandemic to pursue other opportunities, but she was lured back to the NBC soap when it became apparent that a lot of film and TV projects weren't moving forward due to the virus. At the time, DAYS asked her to return on contract, but, as she reveals in a new episode of the podcast Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig, she said no, which ultimately led to a 16-week deal, instead.
"They asked to have me back as a contract player, and I was like, 'Well, this is kind of tricky. I know I've been away for ten months, but I haven't had a chance to dip my toe [in other projects due to the pandemic]," she shares. "So, I agreed to a 16-week contact, and after that, they wanted me back for another year."
Unfortunately for fans, Konefal declined the offer. "I was like, 'Hey, I can't do it. I did quit for a reason. I love y'all, I appreciate you so much, but understand me and where I'm coming from,'" she says. "My artistic integrity was no longer being fulfilled. I needed a change, a switch-up."
Konefal is currently airing, however, thanks to her popularity with DAYS viewers, as well as the popularity of the supercouple that she's a part of with Robert Scott Wilson (Ben Weston), which fans affectionately call Cin.
"They agreed to have me not on contract, to have me as a recurring, so, I've been doing that for a couple of months," the actress says, adding, "I'm very grateful."
As for pursuing outside projects like she wants, Konefal reports that she's been auditioning but hasn't had much luck yet, mostly because auditions are quite slow at the moment. However, she does plan to step away from DAYS to take part in a film that a friend of hers is producing in the South.
"I can't really talk much about it or the storyline, but I like it, so, I think I'm going to go ahead and take some time off and do that," she shares. "I might be putting on my cowgirl hat!"
Check out Konefal's interview below, and let us know what you think in the Comments section at the end of the article.
How do you feel about Konefal's decision to keep her work at DAYS to a minimum so she can focus on other projects? How would you like to see the writers deal with the actress' decision to keep her status recurring? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
