A little more than a year after Days of Our Lives’ AlexAnn Hopkins made a sudden and unexpected exit from the Peacock soap, she took to social media with an announcement: “Surprise!” she said. “I’m back!”

The actress hadn’t even been with the show for six months when she was surprisingly written off as Chloe’s kid sister Joy and sent packing to New York. But even then, her departure practically had “return engagement” written all over it, as Craig and Nancy’s daughter exited stage left secretly pregnant with Alex’s baby.

Hmm… and a comeback a little more than nine months later? Yeah, all of us who have ever watched a soap before can see where this is going, eh?

More: Days of Our Lives just teased a very eyebrow-raising twist

“You thought Joy was gone,” Hopkins teased in the video revealing her Salem homecoming. “She’s back in Salem. To find out why, you’ll have to tune in to Peacock.”

Her return, which kicks off on April 24, comes during a time of great change for Days of Our Lives. The soap recently shocked fans with the news that it had let go Carson Boatman (Johnny), Raven Bowens (Chanel), Leo Howard (Tate) and Ashley Puzemis (Holly). (Read more on that here.) And although we can all guess who’s being resurrected in EJ’s mystery pod, her identity hasn’t yet been revealed.