The character of Harris Michaels was on Days Of Our Lives back in the ’80s and didn’t resurface until 2022 on the second series of its spinoff, Beyond Salem before joining the soap proper again. !
Steve Burton originated the role in July 1988 and left in November of that year, to later find soap fame as Jason on ABC sudser General Hospital. He reprised the role for Beyond Salem in July 2022 and then joined the cast of DAYS once again in March 2023. Unfortunately for fans, his run came to an end in June 2024 as the actor returned to GH.
Harris Michaels went to school with Eve Donovan where he made a bet with his friends to see who could score with her first.
After numerous dates, he began to develop genuine feelings for her but when Eve discovered the bet, she attempted to kill herself with sleeping pills. Horrified, Harris tried to apologize and make up for what he’d caused, but Eve never forgave him.
In 2022, Harris resurfaced and was dating Hope Brady, much to the disapproval of her daughter, Ciara Brady. But this relationship was just part of his job working for the nefarious Megan Hathaway, which also included kidnapping John Black and Steve Johnson.
When Harris proposed to Hope, Megan wondered if he’d genuinely caught feelings for the target, so at the wedding, she had Thomas Banks assassinate her.
However, after a visit to the other side, Hope returned and time rewound to play out a little differently with Harris being the one shot instead.
He still tried to complete his mission to retrieve the prism for Megan, but when he hesitated to pull the trigger on Hope, he was arrested. When Hope later visited him, Harris claimed he did love her and thought perhaps Megan had brainwashed him like her other victims, but Hope left him to face justice.
In March 2023, Hope visited Harris in the hopes of helping break Megan’s brainwashing and inspired him to undergo electroshock therapy to deprogram him and restore his memories.
He remembered enough to lead John and Steve to Megan’s hideout while Hope remained behind to care for Harris. And Ciara was not happy to see him kissing her mother!
Harris went to Greece with Hope, but when he found Bo Brady, he was reluctant to tell her about it for fear of losing what they might have together. But he eventually did the right thing and told everyone Bo was still alive. Unfortunately, after being shot by his son, Bo slipped into a coma and Hope chose to remain by his side.
Learning that Kate Roberts was still alive, Harris joined Chad DiMera and Steve to track her down and rescue her from Dimitri Von Leuschner. He then moved to Salem to help keep an eye on Megan, though he declined Kate’s attempt to hire him to assassinate her!
Harris did agree to get rid of her, though a drunken Shawn interrupted his attempt to abscond with the villainess. Dr. Rolf brainwashed Harris, who attended Stefan DIMera and Gabi Hernandez’s engagement party to announce Li Shin had hired him to kill Stefan.
But he ended up shooting Megan when Gabi jumped on his back. After regaining his senses, Harris’ testimony cleared Li.
Harris went to Bayview for treatment where he encountered Eve. He also found himself helping Ava Vitali, who was struggling with her own issues in the hospital experiencing hallucinations of Susan Banks claiming she was still alive.
After he thwarted an assassination attempt on Ava, the pair escaped from the hospital and followed Susan’s instructions, going to London to talk to her ex, Edmund Crumb. He drugged them and imprisoned them where he was holding Susan, but with help from Rafe and Tripp, they escaped.
Now out of the hospital, Ava and Harris admitted their feelings for each other and began a relationship. Harris also landed a job working for the Salem P.D. When evidence went missing, Harris blamed himself, and later got drunk and spent the night with Stephanie Johnson!
They didn’t have sex, but Ava was still upset, dumping him and claiming to be dating Stefan. Hoping to stop Clyde Weston and stop the drugs in Salem, Harris struck a deal with Lucas Roberts to turn informant in exchange for getting released from prison.
Now knowing that Clyde was forcing Ava to go along with his drug smuggling, Harris worked with her to take the villain down but was shot by an unseen gunman!
He survived surgery and while EJ was the suspect, it was later revealed Clyde had forced Stefan to do it! He agreed to keep quiet about Stefan if he helped keep Ava from being implicated in the drug running they’d been doing.
Eventually, Harris, Ava, and Lucas went to Montana to track down Clyde, and he convinced Ava not to kill him and had to stop Chad from shooting him!
Upset over Ava lying to him and pursuing vengeance against Clyde herself, Harris broke things off with her and left Salem to pursue a lead on Megan.
Stay tuned to see if he ever comes back again!
