Are Johnny and Chanel Really Leaving Days of Our Lives—and Will Their New Baby Become the Heartbreaking Reason They Say Goodbye to Salem?

🚨 YES—THIS TIME THE GOODBYE IS REAL! 😭💔 Johnny DiMera and Chanel Dupree DiMera are officially heading toward the exit door, with Carson Boatman and Raven Bowens both confirmed to be leaving Days of Our Lives. The shocking casting decision was revealed in January 2026, when Boatman and Bowens were let go alongside Leo Howard and Ashley Puzemis. Because DAYS films many months ahead, Johnny and Chanel have remained on screen throughout 2026, meaning their departure won’t actually play out until late 2026 or possibly early 2027. (Soap Opera Digest) But the show has NOT revealed exactly how “Janel” will leave Salem—and that opens the door to an emotional possibility: after cancer fears, DiMera family chaos and finally welcoming their baby girl, could Johnny and Chanel decide that protecting their children means walking away from Salem—and from EJ—for good?

Key Takeaways

• Carson Boatman (Johnny) and Raven Bowens (Chanel) are confirmed to be leaving Days of Our Lives. (Soap Opera Digest)
• Both actors were let go as part of the same major casting shake-up that also affected Leo Howard (Tate) and Ashley Puzemis (Holly). (TVLine)
• Boatman described the end of his time on DAYS as “bittersweet” and confirmed viewers would continue seeing Johnny for quite a while because episodes are filmed far in advance. (Soap Opera Network)
• Current reporting places Johnny and Chanel’s on-screen departures around late 2026 or potentially early 2027. (Soap Opera Digest)
• The show has described the casting changes as part of its “long-range storytelling decisions,” but the precise exit storyline remains unrevealed. (Soap Opera Digest)
• Johnny and Chanel’s growing family gives the writers a natural reason to send them away together rather than killing either character.
• EJ’s increasingly destructive behavior could become the final reason Johnny decides he no longer wants his children raised inside the DiMera world.
• Chanel’s terrifying medical ordeal could convince her that she wants a quieter life away from Salem’s endless danger.
• Paulina and EJ could react very differently to the couple’s decision, creating an emotional battle over their grandchildren before the exit.
• Because the exact storyline remains unconfirmed, the scenario below is a fictionalized possibility for how DAYS could write Johnny and Chanel out.

For Johnny DiMera and Chanel Dupree DiMera, happiness has never lasted very long.

Every time they seem to reach solid ground?

Salem finds another earthquake.

But this time, the biggest change isn’t merely happening to Johnny and Chanel.

It’s happening to the actors playing them.

Carson Boatman and Raven Bowens are leaving Days of Our Lives.

The departures were confirmed following a surprising January 2026 cast shake-up. Boatman had played Johnny since 2021, while Bowens took over as Chanel that same year. (Soap Opera Digest)

And the decision clearly wasn’t something Boatman had been anticipating.

After the news became public, the actor spoke warmly about his years on the soap and called the closing of this chapter “bittersweet.” (Soap Opera Network)

So why are Johnny and Chanel still appearing?

Simple.

DAYS tapes incredibly far ahead.

The show acknowledged that its production schedule means casting changes take a long time to reach viewers, with reports suggesting these departures may not actually appear on screen until late 2026 or even early 2027. (Soap Opera Digest)

That means Johnny and Chanel still have plenty of storyline left.

And considering everything happening around them, their eventual departure could be enormous.

🔥 Because Johnny finally has something more important than being a DiMera.

His family.

After everything Chanel has endured—including terrifying medical uncertainty surrounding her pregnancy—the arrival of their daughter should completely change Johnny’s priorities.

Imagine Johnny standing beside the baby’s crib late at night.

Chanel enters.

“You’re supposed to be sleeping.”

Johnny doesn’t move.

“I can’t.”

She approaches him.

“What’s wrong?”

Johnny looks at their daughter.

Then quietly says:

“I don’t want her growing up like I did.”

Chanel immediately understands.

The DiMeras.

The lies.

The manipulation.

The endless battle over DiMera Enterprises.

And above everything else?

EJ.

Johnny has spent years struggling with the complicated reality of loving his father while repeatedly discovering how far EJ is willing to go for power.

But if EJ’s latest secrets finally explode?

Johnny may reach his limit.

Imagine the truth about Versavix becoming impossible to hide.

Lexie is dead again.

Abe and Theo are devastated.

Questions about EJ’s pharmaceutical activities continue multiplying.

Johnny confronts his father.

“You brought Aunt Lexie back knowing this could happen?”

EJ insists he was trying to save her.

Johnny explodes.

“YOU WERE TRYING TO PROVE YOU COULD BEAT DEATH!”

EJ tells him he doesn’t understand.

Wrong thing to say.

Johnny looks toward Chanel.

Then their child.

Suddenly he realizes something.

He doesn’t have to keep participating.

He doesn’t have to inherit Stefano’s empire.

He doesn’t have to spend the rest of his life cleaning up EJ’s disasters.

He can leave.

And Chanel might be completely ready.

After everything she’s survived, Chanel could finally admit that Salem no longer feels like home.

Not with their children caught between two enormously complicated families.

She loves Paulina.

She loves Abe.

She loves her life.

But she wants peace.

Johnny quietly asks:

“What if we went somewhere else?”

Chanel laughs initially.

“Like where?”

“I don’t know.”

“Johnny.”

“I’m serious.”

Now Chanel realizes he means it.

Johnny continues:

“Somewhere nobody cares that I’m EJ DiMera’s son.”

Chanel looks at him.

“And what would we do?”

Johnny smiles.

“Raise our family.”

❤️ And suddenly their exit doesn’t have to be tragic.

It could actually be one of the rare occasions where a Salem couple recognizes danger before it destroys them.

But leaving wouldn’t be easy.

Especially because of Paulina.

Imagine Chanel telling her mother.

“We’re moving.”

Paulina stares at her.

“Moving where?”

Chanel names another city.

Paulina laughs.

Then notices nobody else is laughing.

“Oh, absolutely not.”

“Mom—”

“No!”

Paulina looks at Johnny.

“This was your idea!”

Johnny tries explaining.

Paulina isn’t interested.

Her daughter survived cancer.

Her granddaughter has finally arrived.

And now Johnny wants to take them away?

Paulina Price would go nuclear.

But eventually, Chanel tells her something that stops the argument.

“Mom, I almost lost everything.”

Paulina goes quiet.

“I need to know what our life looks like when we’re not waiting for the next disaster.”

That’s when Paulina understands.

Her daughter isn’t abandoning her.

She’s choosing a future.

💔 EJ’s reaction could be very different.

Johnny tells him he’s leaving Salem.

EJ immediately assumes this is temporary.

“You’ll be back.”

“No.”

“Johnny—”

“I resigned.”

EJ freezes.

“From DiMera?”

“Yes.”

EJ becomes furious.

“This company belongs to you!”

Johnny shakes his head.

“That’s exactly the problem.”

Now the confrontation becomes about much more than employment.

Johnny has spent his life inheriting expectations he never asked for.

Stefano’s grandson.

Sami’s son.

EJ’s heir.

The future of DiMera Enterprises.

But becoming a father may finally teach Johnny that he doesn’t have to inherit the family’s cycle of destruction.

He can break it.

EJ desperately tells him:

“You are a DiMera.”

Johnny responds:

“I know.”

Pause.

“But my children don’t have to become one.”

🔥 That would absolutely destroy EJ.

And it could provide Carson Boatman with one incredible final confrontation before leaving.

But there’s another reason the show may want Johnny and Chanel to depart together.

Separating them would require yet another romantic catastrophe.

Another affair.

Another divorce.

Another betrayal.

Why?

After everything they’ve survived, perhaps Janel deserves something almost unheard of in daytime television:

a happy ending.

Soap Opera Digest confirmed both actors are departing, meaning the writers have the opportunity to write the couple out together rather than manufacture a breakup. (Soap Opera Digest)

Imagine their final episode.

Suitcases inside the DiMera mansion.

Johnny walks downstairs carrying the baby.

Chanel follows with Trey.

EJ stands across the room.

Paulina and Abe are there.

Maybe Marlena arrives.

Johnny takes one final look around.

This house represents everything.

His childhood.

His family.

His trauma.

His inheritance.

He puts Stefano’s portrait down.

EJ notices.

“You’re really doing this.”

Johnny nods.

Chanel takes his hand.

Paulina is crying.

She hugs her daughter.

“You better call me every day.”

Chanel laughs through tears.

“Twice a day.”

Then Johnny approaches EJ.

For several seconds, neither knows what to say.

Finally EJ asks:

“Do you hate me?”

Johnny shakes his head.

“That’s what makes leaving so hard.”

EJ’s eyes fill with tears.

Johnny hugs him.

Then walks away.

Outside?

Chanel looks back toward Salem.

“You ready?”

Johnny looks at his wife.

His children.

Then smiles.

“For the first time in my life.”

They get into the car.

And drive away.

No explosion.

No kidnapping.

No presumed death.

No DiMera resurrection serum.

Just Johnny and Chanel choosing each other.

Of course, because this is Days of Our Lives, leaving the characters alive also gives producers the easiest possible path to bring Boatman and Bowens back someday.

Contracts change.

Writers change.

Storylines change.

Salem’s revolving door never stops spinning.

So Johnny and Chanel could leave for several years and eventually return with older children—and an entirely new reason for becoming involved in DiMera family warfare.

But as of August 2026, the central casting question has an unusually clear answer:

Yes, Johnny and Chanel are leaving Days of Our Lives.

Carson Boatman and Raven Bowens’ departures are confirmed. What remains secret is how Johnny and Chanel will actually be written out when their final material reaches screens in late 2026 or possibly early 2027. (Soap Opera Digest)

And perhaps that’s where the biggest emotional twist lies.

Johnny DiMera has spent years trying to decide what kind of DiMera he wants to become.

Maybe the answer is finally:

none at all.

Because after surviving cancer fears, family warfare, EJ’s increasingly dangerous decisions and the terrifying possibility of losing everything they love, Johnny and Chanel may finally understand that the greatest inheritance they can give their children isn’t DiMera Enterprises.

It’s the chance to grow up somewhere far away from it.