What Remington Hoffman's Days Of Our Lives Departure Means For The Show
With a cool name like Remington Hoffman, you would think his "Days of Our Lives" character Li Shin would have had equally cool storylines. Sadly, his schemes to win the love of Gabi Hernandez (Camila Banus) backfired one after the other, including the time he tried to brainwash a newly resurrected Stefano DiMera (Brandon Barash) into forgetting that he and Gabi loved each other. Once she found out about that, she wanted nothing to do with Li despite his lame attempts to woo her over the succeeding months. Realizing he needed to rid himself of his obsession with her, he sought help from Dr. Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall). She helped him uncover a troubled past in which his father, Wei Shin (Clyde Kusatusu), didn't approve of his first girlfriend and forced her and her family to move away. This scarred Li, who later in life thought Stefan was taking Gabi away from him, thus the root of his obsession with her and hatred for Stefan.
On November 2, Soap Opera Digest reported that Hoffman would be leaving "Days" but didn't specify a date (via Soap Opera News). Fans were shocked on November 3 when Li was seen lying face down on the floor of his apartment with a large spot of blood on his back. The camera then focused on a bloody kitchen knife, and Stefan entered to find Gabi kneeling over Li's body, holding the knife and at a complete loss for words as she trembled.
Li's death may be the reason Gabi also exits Days
It's no surprise that Camila Banus is leaving "Days of Our Lives," since she announced in an article posted on Today on May 18 that playing Gabi Hernandez was taking an emotional toll on her. Now we have a possible reason for how she'll be written out. On the November 2 episode, Gabi and Stefan DiMera tricked Li into confessing that he plotted to have Stefan killed by brainwashing Harris Michaels (Steve Burton) into being his assassin. They recorded Li's confession, and Gabi and Stefan used it to blackmail him into giving up his shares of DiMera Enterprises so that the couple would gain control of Stefan's family business.
Li was visibly upset, and when Marlena Evans called him to check up on how he was doing, he gave a cryptic answer that Gabi was "dead" to him. When she questioned his use of words, he backpedaled, saying he meant he was no longer obsessed with Gabi — all the while holding a kitchen knife. Whether or not she actually killed Li, Stefan will most likely help her cover it up, dragging the mystery of Li's death out until she's finally revealed as the killer (or simply accused of it due to circumstantial evidence), providing the perfect exit for Banus. Alternatively, she could feel guilty and confess to the police what she did and go to prison! Regardless, both Gabi and Li's absence will certainly be felt by fans.