The late actor approved of his character's death scene, which will air in an upcoming episode of the soap opera

“We were rolling the dice, because it’s difficult to tell a story of someone’s death or a character’s death while the actor is still alive; albeit [Drake] was fighting, like a tiger, a very difficult disease,” Corday told Soap Opera Digest. “And I made the choice to, ‘Okay, let’s tell the story.’”

Before actor Drake Hogestyn died following a pancreatic cancer battle, he reportedly approved of his Days of Our Lives character also dying. “We were rolling the dice because it’s difficult to tell a story of someone’s death or a character’s death while the actor is still alive;

Days of our Lives star Drake Hogestyn knew his alter ego, John Black, would die, and he was “in favor” of it. When Drake died in September, it came as a shock to fans, but his cast and crew members knew of his pancreatic cancer battle the whole time.