Days of Our Lives spoilers tease that Steven “Patch” Johnson (Stephen Nichols) wants to prove that Stefan DiMera (Tyler Christopher) set him up before returning to Salem, and be able to take him down when he does return. Although there has been no official word from either Days of Our Lives nor from Stephen Nichols himself, everything Stephen has posted on his social media lately seems to point to the possibility of his return.
The fact that Steve called Kayla Johnson (Mary Beth Evans) to let her know he’d been released from prison, but was not coming home to Salem seems to point to his eventual return as well.
Days of Our Lives films almost six months ahead, so even though an off-screen Patch made a phone call in the DOOL episode of December 13, the conclusion of the story may not be shown onscreen till sometime during 2019. Kayla had taken the phone call from Steve, and Steve’s son Tripp Dalton (Lucas Adams) walked in on the last part of the conversation.
Tripp realized when he heard Kayla use the word “released” and that she was talking to his dad, that he wasn’t quite in the whole loop of where his dad had been, and why he had left. Upon Tripp’s questioning Kayla, she finally broke down and told him the whole truth of what had happened, and that she blamed herself.
Kayla felt like Steve wasn’t coming back because of her part in causing him to go to prison for espionage, even though as Tripp assured her, it wasn’t her fault. She just wanted Steve to be able to see again and didn’t realize Stefan was going to use Steve’s bionic eyes for corporate espionage!
Steve told her he wanted to take care of the problem that put him “there” – meaning in prison – first, before coming back to Salem. Since so far no one has been able to prove Stefan’s hack of the bionic eyes, the fact that Steve is out of prison says a lot about his innocence in the situation.
Perhaps, off-screen he made a deal with the authorities to get the proof they need to take Stefan down for the crime. Stay tuned to Days of Our Lives and check CDL Days of Our Lives spoilers frequently to see if Steve “Patch” Johnson returns to Salem and takes down Stefan DiMera in the future!