Steve Burton Exits ‘Days of Our Lives’ After a Year

January 4, 2024 @ 10:13 PM

Steve Burton is once again leaving Salem. The actor announced on Thursday that he’s leaving “Days of Our Lives” just over a year after he announced his return to the long-running soap.

“Wow. Well, I just shot my final scenes here at ‘Days of Our Lives,’ and I just want to say thank you so much to the cast, to the crew, to ‘Days,’ everybody. It’s been amazing. I can’t believe it’s been a year already. So thank you so much to the fans. It’s just, I’m always so full of gratitude. So, thank you,” Burton said in a video posted Thursday.

“Stay tuned,” he added. Watch the clip at the top of the page.

Burton first joined “Days” in 1988, playing the character Harris Michaels. He reprised Michaels in 2022 on the Peacock spinoff, “Days of our Lives: Beyond Salem,” before returning to the flagship show in 2023.

Between his original appearance on “Days” in the 80s and his performance on “Beyond Salem,” Burton spent three decades playing Jason Morgan, a fan-favorite character on “General Hospital.” He was fired in 2021 after refusing to comply with the show’s COVID vaccine mandate.

“Unfortunately, ‘General Hospital’ has let me go because of the vaccine mandate,” he said in a statement at the time. “I did apply for my medical and religious exemptions and both of those were denied, which, you know hurts, but this is also about personal freedom to me.”

At the time he said he would be happy to return if the mandate was ever lifted. It’s unclear what his next move is.