As Days of Our Lives enters a brand-new year, Salem is once again bracing itself for heartbreak, betrayal, and a tragedy so devastating it could redefine the show’s emotional landscape. Longtime fans know that the first major death of the year often sets the tone for everything that follows — and all signs now point to a chilling possibility: Chanel DiMera may be the one whose life is cut brutally short.

The question isn’t just who will die in 2026. It’s why, how, and who will be left shattered in the aftermath.

And the answers are more disturbing than anyone in Salem is ready to face.

A Beacon of Hope in the Crosshairs

Chanel DiMera has always represented light in a town built on shadows. Fierce, ambitious, and unapologetically emotional, Chanel has fought for every inch of happiness she’s earned. From launching her own business to weathering public scandals and romantic heartbreak, Chanel has survived storms that would have broken most people.

But nothing has made her glow quite like her recent pregnancy.

For Chanel and her husband Johnny DiMera, the baby symbolizes a fresh start — a chance to build the family they’ve always dreamed of after years of chaos, interference, and emotional whiplash. Their relationship, once fragile and filled with misunderstandings, finally feels grounded in love, trust, and shared purpose.

Which is precisely why it may now be doomed.

Because in Salem, happiness is often a death sentence.

Sophia Horton: From Tragic Teen to Salem’s Next Monster?

Lurking behind Chanel’s joy is one of the most dangerous characters to emerge in years: Sophia Horton.

Once introduced as a troubled young woman, Sophia has gradually morphed into something far more unsettling. Her emotional instability, untreated trauma, and obsessive tendencies have fused into a ticking psychological time bomb — and Chanel is standing directly in the blast zone.

Sophia’s resentment toward Chanel and Johnny dates back to one pivotal event: their decision to adopt her son, Trey.

What Chanel and Johnny saw as an act of compassion, Sophia perceived as theft. In her mind, they didn’t rescue her child — they stole him. And from that moment on, her life became a singular mission to destroy them.

Her revenge campaign was ruthless:

• A forged letter to Child Services painting Chanel and Johnny as unfit parents.
• A carefully orchestrated scandal framing Johnny as a predator using manipulated text messages.
• A breakdown that ended with her confined to Bayview Psychiatric Hospital.

But confinement didn’t cure her.

It incubated her hatred.

The Pregnancy That Changed Everything

Sophia discovering Chanel’s pregnancy was the moment everything shifted from revenge to obsession.

In her fractured mind, Chanel’s unborn child represents betrayal on the deepest level. Why should they get another baby, she wonders, when they already took hers? And worse — what if Trey becomes disposable once the biological child arrives?

This twisted logic convinces Sophia that she’s not a villain.

She’s a mother fighting for her son.

And in soap opera logic, that belief is often the most dangerous weapon of all.

Cast Exits That Spell Doom

Adding fuel to the speculation is the bombshell news that both Raven Bowens (Chanel) and Carson Boatman (Johnny) have been released from the show.

In daytime television, this rarely means a quiet goodbye.

It usually means:

• A shocking death.
• A tragic accident.
• Or a storyline so explosive it leaves scorched earth behind.

And given the carefully constructed tension around Sophia, Chanel’s pregnancy, and Johnny’s fragile happiness, a fatal outcome feels almost inevitable.

A Stormy Night in Salem…

Picture this:

Rain crashes against the windows of the DiMera mansion. Chanel sits alone, one hand resting protectively on her stomach, confessing to Johnny that she feels watched. Followed. Unsafe.

Johnny reassures her. Tells her it’s just nerves.

But the camera cuts to Sophia, standing in the shadows, finally free — whether by release, escape, or manipulation.

Her plan is in motion.

Will it be poison hidden in prenatal vitamins?
A staged accident on the stairs?
A tampered car brake that sends Chanel into a fatal crash?

The methods are endless.

The motive is clear.

A Death That Would Reshape Salem Forever

Chanel’s death wouldn’t just be tragic.

It would be nuclear.

Paulina Price, her mother, would be destroyed — likely spiraling into a vengeance arc that could turn her into Salem’s next ruthless force. Johnny would lose not only his wife, but his child, his future, and possibly his sanity.

The grief would ripple through:

• The DiMera family empire.
• The Price family legacy.
• The adoption storyline involving Trey.
• And even Sophia herself, whose victory might finally expose her as a monster she can no longer justify.

And if the baby survives? The emotional devastation would be even crueler — a living reminder of what was stolen.

History Repeats Itself in Salem

Days of Our Lives has a long tradition of shocking deaths that reshape the show’s DNA:

• Abigail’s brutal murder.
• Adrienne’s tragic accident.
• Lexie’s heartbreaking final moments.

These weren’t just exits.

They were emotional earthquakes that fueled years of storylines.

Chanel’s potential death feels poised to join that list — not as shock value, but as a deeply personal tragedy rooted in obsession, jealousy, and psychological decay.

Is This the Death That Changes Everything?

Chanel’s pregnancy was meant to symbolize hope.

Instead, it may have painted a target on her back.

Sophia believes she’s saving her son.

The audience knows she’s about to destroy multiple lives.

And Salem? Salem is standing at the edge of another irreversible loss.

Because if Chanel DiMera truly becomes the first death of 2026, this won’t just be a goodbye.

It will be the beginning of a dark new era — one where love becomes a liability, motherhood becomes a motive, and vengeance finally crosses the line into murder.

And once that line is crossed…

There’s no coming back.