After the Tears, the Death of Days of Our Lives’ Paulina Could Change the Very Face of Salem Itself

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There’s no two ways about it: Paulina’s fading fast on Days of Our Lives. She’ll need a heart sooner, rather than later, which isn’t looking likely right now. Luckily, she’s got a friend in Marlena, one of Salem’s kindest lights… and a trained psychiatrist who knows how to deal with grief and loss!

So naturally, on the Monday, March 4 episode, Marlena stops by to talk about legacy and mortality with Paulina and help her deal with the current health crisis. Afterwards, Paulina decides it’s time to put together her will. The real estate mogul isn’t without substantial means, so she’s got a lot of money to leave to folks. As to where it’s going, Jackée Harry spoke with Soap Opera Digest a bit about her character’s wishes.

“Ultimately it’s the grandbabies, the twins,” she explained, “that’s who’s going to get the money. She wants them to be taken care of because they’re the future. And she wants to leave a legacy to the town of Salem. So I’m sure she donates some money to charitable institutions there as well. That’s how I see it.”

Would Paulina’s death change things up in Salem as the town suddenly has some extra money to spruce things up? Just a few months ago, we would have said no way — but then the Horton house burned down and we’ve been promised a revamped home and set.

As Susan Seaforth Hayes explained, the decision to burn down the Horton house and rebuild it was pretty much a practical decision to revamp the set to be easier and quicker to put up and take down. If Days of Our Lives wants to keep doing that, Paulina’s death would be the perfect opportunity for more public sets, from the park to the square — without taking away Tom and Alice’s legacy.

Maybe Paulina could leave money to the revamp the park where she and Abe were married.

Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI

No one wants to see the town into a developer’s nightmare, but money left to honor Salem’s legacy and spruce things up would be the perfect opportunity to change things around. And with the new establishing shots of everything from the hospital to what seems like a bustling downtown Salem, this would give the show a reason to keep expanding the scope of Salem without having to set everything on fire.

Heck, maybe Sweet Bits could even get an inside so Chanel doesn’t have to hawk her baked treats outdoors in the middle of the winter!

Days of Our Lives is going to be ramping up to its 60th anniversary soon, and they could celebrate it by unveiling some incredible new looks that honor the show’s legacy — and also, we suppose, save some time and money by making the sets easier to assemble. Maybe that could even be a way to bring older, retired sets that just weren’t practical to use anymore back.

The town’s getting a lot bigger lately, so why not have some sets reflect that?

Credit: Peacock screenshot

The ironic part is that when Paulina first showed up, she wanted to remake the face of Salem by buying up property in the square. That was stopped before Salem became unrecognizable, but leaving money to honor the town’s “legacy” rather than bulldoze it and remake it, could be an incredible opportunity to give Days of Our Lives a little facelift.

What do you think? Would you like to see some more set changes on the show? If you could redesign a part of Salem, which would you want? Are there any retired sets you’d like to see brought back?