Tyler Joseph Andrews will make his Days of our Lives debut as Theo Carver, who returns to Salem on September 9 after years of living in South Africa.

For Andrews, it marks his first soap role, but not his first audition at the Peacock show. “I had actually auditioned for Tate (Black, Leo Howard), and I screen-tested with Ashley Puzemis (Holly Jonas),” he begins. “I ended up not getting it, and I really wanted the job. A couple months later, I auditioned again, but they didn’t really tell me who I was auditioning for. I tested with Marissa (Reyes, Arianna Horton), and then about a week later, they let me know that I got the job. I was really happy because the first time that I had auditioned, I told my agent, ‘Look out for the email, ’cause I think I might get this one.’ And then when it didn’t happen, I was disappointed, so I was really grateful that they ended up calling me back in the audition once more.”

While the role was a welcome surprise, stepping into the soap world was unfamiliar territory for the Philadelphia native. “I come from a theater background,” he explains. “And this feels like live theater because you have a rehearsal and then you go to tape, but you only get to do it once. So, I was a little overwhelmed the first day.”

Luckily, he felt supported from the start. His first scene partner, Billy Flynn (Chad DiMera; Cane Ashby, The Young and the Restless), helped him get acclimated to the place of daytime drama. “He really made me feel comfortable and gave me the breakdown of how everything films here,” Andrews relays. “We did this scene in Brady’s Pub, which was funny because I had actually screen tested in Brady’s Pub about six months prior, so it made me feel a little bit more comfortable that we were going to be doing the scene there. It was a lot more relaxed than I expected it to be. Everyone just made it a very inviting environment for me.”

That sense of welcome extended to his on-screen father, James Reynolds (Abe Carver). “I love working with Jim; he’s really become one of my best friends here,” Andrews shares. “He’s been really great because he’s so knowledgeable, and he’s been doing this for so long. If you just watch him, he teaches you a lot about finding the camera and finding the light. I love being able to go to his room and talk to him because he’s always available and he’ll tell you the old stories about back in the day and how they used to film and all those things, and I really enjoy that.”

Andrews has cherished getting to know more of the cast — including a familiar face from his childhood. “Jackée Harry (Paulina Price) is someone that I grew up watching on Sister, Sister, 227, and Everybody Hates Chris,” he says. “I was excited to meet her, but I was also a little nervous to meet her. She is just so funny, and she makes it so enjoyable to come to work. And Casey Moss, who plays JJ [Deveraux], we’ve become good friends, and we joke around a lot.”

As for his character, Theo returns to town from South Africa, hot off his breakup with Claire Brady. “He’s coming back sort of lost, but he’s trying to find himself and he’s trying to find that purpose that he needs in life,” previews Andrews. “He’s maturing, and he wants to solidify something in Salem for the future.”

Theo will also be leaning into his darker family lineage with the DiMeras. “I really love exploring the DiMera side because I get to work with actors like Thaao Penghlis [Tony DiMera], who really welcomed me, and he’s really been like an acting teacher for me, just watching him work,” Andrews shares. “It’s a different energy working with that side of the family, and it brings a different behavior out of Theo. I think the more he gets involved with the DiMera side of the family, he might adapt some of those attributes that you’re used to seeing with them.”

Before booking Days, Andrews appeared in an episode of All American: Homecoming, but his road to Salem wasn’t easy. “I didn’t struggle in Los Angeles, but boy did I struggle in Philadelphia,” he says. “I just wanted to be an actor, and I was traveling back and forth from Philadelphia to New York. So, for about a year and a half, I just lived in my car, traveling back and forth from the theater.”

Despite those early challenges, his family has remained his biggest cheerleaders, and they were thrilled when he finally booked Days. But because of the soap’s unique shooting schedule, Andrews began taping in 2024 and had a long wait for his first episode to air. “Before I became an actor, I was just all over the place, so when I told them this, they were over the moon about it,” he says. “But were like, ‘Are you sure you have a job?’ I was like, ‘Listen, you’re not gonna see me on TV for, like, maybe a year.’ My mom, my dad, my brother, my sister — they’re the real reason that I was able to be an actor for so long because they just supported me constantly, especially my dad and my mom. They’re in my corner 24/7. They want to hear everything about it, what’s going on with the show, with my character, and they have friends that they know watch the show, so they’re really excited to be able to tell them that I’m on it.”

Now, with his first episode finally set to air, Andrews is ready for his family — and fans of the soap — to see what he’s been working on. “It’s a big relief,” he says. “I know my family’s going to really enjoy watching it because I’m so far away from them. I don’t really get to see them a lot, so it gives them something to watch me on daily. I’m really excited for it to come out.” 

Days of our Lives, Weekdays, Streaming on Peacock