Xander on DAYS OF OUR LIVES is a charming rogue, but the guy has a checkered past some fans might not be aware of. Alexandros Kiriakis, aka Xander Cook, was introduced in March of 2015 as Victor Kiriakis’ nephew from his second brother, Titus, as played by actor Paul Telfer. He disappeared by the end of the year, but returned again for brief stints in 2016 and 2017. Xander returned in the spring of 2018 for another brief appearance, then again in October. Telfer returned to DAYS in April of 2019 and after causing more trouble, seemed to turn over a new leaf. But can this hunky leopard really change his spots?

When Xander first appeared in Salem, he was the head of an international blood diamond smuggling ring, running a European pharmaceutical company as a cover. He met and began flirting with Nicole Walker, and it was revealed that he’s been running criminal operations and laundering money for his Uncle Victor. But both Victor and Brady Black wanted nothing to do with their relative.

Nicole had no idea how much crazy was hiding behind that handsome! Howard Wise/jpistudios.com

Nicole used Xander to try and make Daniel Jonas jealous but it sent him into a rage and he plotted revenge. When Eric stopped his attack on Nicole, Xander trapped them both in the furnace room at Titan and tuned up the heat intending to kill them. Brady and the police rescued them as Xander was kidnapped by Victor’s henchmen. Victor chastised his nephew for bringing undue attention to his own criminal activities but stopped short of having him killed. The police couldn’t make the charges stick, so Xander remained free but hated by everyone in Salem. Theresa Donovan even seduced him and cried rape so that he would be arrested.

Determined to take revenge on both Theresa and Nicole, Xander managed to escape from his prison transport and returned to Salem. After he failed to strangle Theresa, Xander teamed up with fellow escapees Clyde Weston and Orpheus. They held Kayla and Joey hostage and when Steve tried to save them, he got shot and the trio abducted Joey. Later, Xander went off on his own, and Deimos helped him fake his death predicting Xander would be of use one day.

In April of 2017, Xander found Brady and Nicole in a cabin in Canada and held them at gunpoint. After shooting Brady, he left him for dead, taking off with Nicole and her daughter, Holly. He reported back to Deimos, who was pleased with his actions. Xander took Nicole and Holly to his private island on Greece, but thankfully Eric Brady showed up to rescue them. Xander’s men grabbed Eric and they locked him up with Nicole. Deimos showed up for Nicole, but she and Eric turned the table on Xander and escaped, locking him in the cage. When the authorities arrived, Deimos was arrested, but Xander lied and claimed he was working alone.

“Fancy meeting you here!” XJJohnson/jpistudios.com

Although Xander was locked up in a Greek prison when he was considered a suspect in Deimos’ murder, the hunk reappeared in Mexico when he ran into Theresa while doing business with Mateo. She convinced him that she could convince Victor to welcome him back into the Kiriakis mansion if he helped her escape Mateo and return to Salem. Xander tried to blackmail his way into the position of CEO of Titan, but Victor called his bluff. Not wanting to leave Salem empty-handed, Xander broke into the safe in the Kiriakis mansion, and while he was stopped from taking the cash, he did manage to abscond with a recording that turned out to be Brady yelling at Nicole about her killing Deimos.

Xander resurfaced when Eric tracked down Nicole and was shocked to find that the villain had used the recording to blackmail her into marrying him! But before Eric and Nicole could figure a way out of that mess, it was revealed that Xander was working with Kristen DiMera and there was an explosion at a warehouse that left everyone believing that they, along with Nicole, had perished!

Later, it was revealed that Xander not only survived the explosion, he also got Jack Deveraux out safely, and offered the amnesiac patient to Eve Donovan in exchange for a thumb drive containing documents that could ruin DiMera Enterprises and put Titan on top. Victor offered him money, but Xander wanted to be CEO of Titan, looking for power and respect. After he flirted unsuccessfully with Sarah Horton, Xander was briefly arrested for shooting Marlena at her wedding. Finding Sarah drowning her sorrows after having her heart broken by Rex and Eric, Xander made her feel better by taking her to bed.

Xander began working as an executive at Titan, a position Brady offered him in exchange for the recording of Nicole’s confession and divorcing her. But it was revealed that Nicole was really Kristen in disguise and she was working with Xander, who abducted Holly and staged a car crash to fake her death. On the other hand, he also befriended Maggie Horton, opened up to her about his troubled childhood and gave Dr. Rolf’s diary to her to help save Will’s life. Refusing Kristen’s orders to kill Ted and Kate, Xander instead locked them up under the DiMera mansion. And when Kristen’s crimes were exposed, he happily turned on her to avoid jail.

Xander was thrilled to play happy family with Sarah and Mickey. XJJohnson/jpistudios.com

Growing closer to Sarah, Xander supported her when she learned she was pregnant and considered getting an abortion. When she changed her mind but decided to leave Salem, Xander was desperate to get her to stick around and considered telling Eric she was carrying his baby. But after a year passed in the blink of an eye, Xander was with Sarah, pretending to be the father of their daughter, Mickey. Unfortunately, Sarah didn’t realize that her baby had died shortly after birth and Xander had plotted with Victor to swap her baby with Kristen’s! So even as Xander popped the question and Sarah agreed to marry him, the truth was hanging over them, threatening to blow their lives apart!

Stay tuned to find out what happens next and for more DAYS news, keep reading Soaps In Depth magazine!