Days Of Our Lives
DAYS CASTING NEWS! Jacob Martinez Is Walking Into Salem as the New Javi Hernandez With a Real EMT License, a Carson Theatre Origin Story, and a Triple Threat Resume!
Jacob Martinez is the new Javi Hernandez and his resume includes a real EMT license and a Norfolk origin story that makes the recast feel cosmic.
JAVI HERNANDEZ RECAST IS THE BEST KIND OF COSMIC
TL;DR: Jacob Martinez is taking over the role of Javi Hernandez on Days of Our Lives on June 30 and his resume reads like a casting director’s dream board. Real registered EMT. AMDA graduate. Off Broadway musical credit at Joe’s Pub. Carson Theatre alum. Salem just hired the actor who already has Javi’s day job in real life.
The Hospital Collapse Sets Up the Cleanest Recast Cliffhanger
Salem is about to get a new Javi Hernandez and the timing is the kind of thing soap fans should know is never accidental. Al Calderon is filming his last episodes this month. Javi collapses at the hospital. Leo Stark rushes to his side. The cliffhanger writes itself. And then Jacob Martinez walks onto the Burbank Studios lot on June 30 and picks up the role like a relay baton already covered in tears.
The Javi Hernandez recast was rumored for months. The receipts started leaking from the Days holiday party where Martinez showed up tagged on the Instagram of half the Hernandez family. Then Deadline made it official. Now it is just a matter of getting Javi off the canvas long enough to switch faces.
Here is the part that got skipped in most of the casting trades. Jacob Martinez is not just an actor. He is the rare hire who actually shares his character’s day job in real life.
Got a wilder theory about how Jacob Martinez is going to handle his first big scene with Greg Rikaart? Send your most diabolical Javi Hernandez recast predictions to [email protected]. The more unhinged the better, and we just might publish yours next!
The New Javi Is an Actual Registered EMT
Martinez is a registered EMT. The same job Javi works in Salem. The writing room got somebody who understands the calls, the running, the gear, and the language. Calderon studied for the part. Martinez has been on actual emergency calls before he ever read a soap script. The minute he walks into a Salem ambulance bay, he is going to know how to lift the gurney without looking at the cameras.
That is not the only piece of his resume that should make Days fans pay attention. Martinez is a triple threat out of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. He sings. He dances. He acts. He starred in Joey Contreras’ off Broadway musical In Pieces at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater, where he was hand picked for the role of Grey alongside Antonio Cipriano of Jagged Little Pill and Stephanie Torns of Wicked. He played CB in Dog Sees God. He has a short film with Erwin Ordoñez called Memory Swim under his belt. And he is from Norfolk, Nebraska, where he came up performing on the Johnny Carson Theatre stage.
Carson’s Old Stage Is Where the New Javi Is Coming Home To
Carson taped The Tonight Show on the same Burbank Studios lot where Javi gets recast. The Norfolk kid is going home to a stage Carson built. Soap operas do not script coincidences this clean.
His commercial reel is also stacked. JCPenney. Target. Stila Cosmetics. The man has the on camera comfort of someone who has been booking work since his AMDA days. The hesitation that usually shows up in a daytime debut is not going to be on this tape.
The Leo and Javi Reset Is the Real Premiere
The recast also gives the writers a full reset on the Leo and Javi pairing. Rikaart spent the spring playing scenes with a Javi who was on his way out. Now he gets a Javi who is contractually here to stay. The chemistry test is going to happen in real time on screen, and the entire fanbase is going to be watching to see whether this version of the romance has a different texture, a different temperature, a different shape.
The smart money says yes. Recasts can re-breathe a couple. Martinez has the musical theater background that translates directly into the kind of high stakes scene work soap operas live on. Rikaart has the experience to lift a new partner in the first week. The first kiss between recast Javi and Leo is going to land like a season premiere.
Welcome to Salem, Jacob. Bring the EMT bag. The Hernandez family needs a paramedic, the Stark household needs a husband, and the audience needs a Javi worth fighting for.
The recast lands June 30. The chemistry test starts the second he walks into frame.
Are you betting on Jacob Martinez and Greg Rikaart having instant recast chemistry, or do you think the writers should give Leo a longer landing strip? Drop your verdict in the comments and tell us how you want the new Javi era to begin!
WATCH THIS: Whose baby is this?
@soapoperamag Whose Baby Is Joy Carrying Around? Wait, WHOSE Baby Did #JoyWesley Walk Into Salem With?! She showed up out of nowhere with a baby on her hip and a story she has not told anyone yet. We have THEORIES. #DAYS #DOOL ♬ original sound – Soap Opera Magazine
