Days of Our Lives Spoilers: Salem Prepares for Its First Funeral of 2026 – and the Truth Will Change Everything

Salem has always been a town haunted by ghosts. Not the supernatural kind—although those are never entirely off the table—but the emotional kind. The kind made of unfinished business, buried secrets, and legacies so dark they refuse to stay underground. And now, as 2026 begins, Days of Our Lives is preparing to deliver its first funeral of the year—one that promises not just grief, but a reckoning that will ripple through Salem for months to come.

This isn’t just another goodbye.

This is the end of an era.

For weeks, viewers have felt a subtle but undeniable shift in the atmosphere of the show. The pacing has slowed. The music has grown heavier. Conversations between key characters carry an unspoken weight, as if everyone senses that something monumental is approaching. And at the center of it all are the DiMera brothers—Chad and EJ—who recently survived a nightmare that will change their family forever.

Their ordeal began in the most DiMera way imaginable: captivity in the catacombs beneath the DiMera estate. Trapped in the shadowy underworld of their own ancestral home, surrounded by stone walls that have witnessed generations of betrayal, manipulation, and bloodshed, Chad and EJ were fighting not just for escape—but for survival.

And then they found it.

A skeleton.

Not a relic from centuries past. Not an anonymous corpse. But a set of remains hidden with deliberate intent, buried in the deepest, most secret part of DiMera territory. The discovery was horrifying not just because of what it was—but because of what it suggested. Someone important had died there. Someone the family never truly said goodbye to.

Someone who was supposed to be immortal.

Once rescued, the brothers could not let the discovery go. Chad, ever the moral compass of the family, felt a responsibility to uncover the truth. EJ, more pragmatic and emotionally guarded, understood the implications immediately: whatever those bones represented, they would shake the very foundation of the DiMera dynasty.

They turned to Rafe Hernandez.

Rafe, now one of Salem’s most trusted law enforcement figures, took the case seriously from the start. He knew better than anyone that nothing involving the DiMeras is ever simple. The remains were sent for forensic analysis, DNA testing, and federal verification. The waiting period became unbearable, filled with quiet scenes that carried more tension than any explosion ever could.

Whispers spread through Salem.

At the Brady Pub, regulars speculated in hushed tones. At the Horton house, old rivalries resurfaced. At the Kiriakis mansion, Victor’s absence felt heavier than usual, as if even the walls remembered who once ruled Salem’s darker side.

And then the results came in.

Rafe arrived at the DiMera estate with a file that felt more like a verdict than a report. EJ knew before a word was spoken. Chad felt it in his chest, a cold, sinking dread he couldn’t explain.

The skeleton belonged to Stefano DiMera.

The Phoenix is finally, truly dead.

In a show built on resurrections, memory loss, and miraculous returns, this confirmation hits differently. Stefano wasn’t just a villain—he was the villain. The architect of countless schemes. The man who brainwashed, kidnapped, manipulated, and terrorized half of Salem for decades. He was larger than life, larger than death itself.

Until now.

This revelation forces Salem—and the audience—to confront something Days of Our Lives has rarely allowed: permanent loss.

For EJ, the confirmation is devastating. Stefano wasn’t just his father—he was his blueprint. Every ruthless instinct EJ has ever embraced came from Stefano. Every hunger for power, every willingness to cross moral lines, every obsession with control. Losing Stefano means losing the anchor of his identity, even if that anchor was toxic.

EJ is forced to ask himself a question he’s avoided his entire life:
Who am I without my father’s shadow?

Chad’s grief is different but equally profound. He has always tried to be the “better DiMera,” the one who balances the family darkness with something resembling conscience. Stefano’s permanent death gives Chad the chance to finally step out of that legacy—but it also robs him of closure he never knew he needed.

Because no matter how cruel Stefano was, he was still family.

And that’s what makes this funeral so powerful.

This isn’t just about burying a body. It’s about burying history.

The DiMera family begins planning the service, and in true Days fashion, nothing is simple. EJ insists on a grand ceremony—St. Luke’s Church, black cars, international guests, and a spectacle worthy of a king. Chad hesitates, wondering if giving Stefano such honor glorifies everything he stood for.

Kristen, predictably, spirals. Her grief borders on hysteria. She refuses to believe the results, convinced this is another fake-out, another trick. She demands second tests, new evidence, conspiracy theories. Because for Kristen, Stefano’s death isn’t just loss—it’s abandonment.

Tony reacts with quiet devastation. Unlike EJ and Kristen, Tony understands that this time is different. He feels it in his bones. This isn’t another resurrection arc. This is final.

And Salem feels it too.

The Bradys, the Hortons, the Kiriakises—families who spent decades fighting Stefano—experience a strange mix of relief and emptiness. Their greatest enemy is gone, but so is the force that defined their conflicts. Without Stefano, the battlefield feels unfamiliar.

Who do you fight when the war is over?

The funeral itself promises to be one of the most emotionally loaded episodes in recent years. The church filled with black-clad mourners. The DiMera crest draped over an ornate casket. Soft organ music echoing through a room that has witnessed weddings, confessions, and betrayals.

EJ’s eulogy will be the heart of it all.

Not a sanitized version of Stefano—but an honest one. A man capable of love, but incapable of restraint. A father who taught his children to survive by any means necessary. A legend who built an empire but left emotional wreckage in his wake.

Chad will speak too. His words softer, more reflective. He’ll remember rare moments of warmth, fleeting instances where Stefano was almost human. Almost kind.

Kristen may collapse in tears. Or accuse someone of murder. Or both.

Because in Days of Our Lives, funerals are never just about mourning.

They’re about detonations.

Secrets come out. Old enemies reunite. New alliances form. Long-buried documents may surface—wills, inheritance clauses, hidden heirs. Stefano’s death opens a vacuum of power, and everyone knows what happens when a throne is left empty.

Someone will try to claim it.

This funeral is not closure.

It’s ignition.

EJ may inherit more than wealth—he may inherit unfinished schemes. Chad may discover that his family tree has new branches he never knew existed. Kristen may find evidence that Stefano left behind one last contingency plan, one final manipulation from beyond the grave.

Because even in death, Stefano DiMera refuses to leave Salem quietly.

And for the audience, this storyline marks something rare in daytime television: true finality. Not a fake death. Not a coma. Not a mind swap.

A real ending.

The first funeral of 2026 isn’t just a character’s goodbye—it’s Days of Our Lives acknowledging that even legends must eventually fall. And in doing so, it ushers in a new era of drama, where the shadows of the past no longer protect the villains of the present.

Salem is about to learn what happens when the Phoenix doesn’t rise.

And the ashes left behind may be more dangerous than anything Stefano ever did while alive.