AnnaLynne McCord’s tenure on Days of our Lives has been an entertaining mix of crypticness and quirkiness, resulting in her first Daytime Emmy nomination in the Emerging Talent category. The former primetime star, known for playing scheming vixens like Eden Lord on Nip/Tuck and Loren Wakefield on American Heiress, debuted on the Salem scene cloaked in mystery in June 2024.

Key Takeaways

• AnnaLynne McCord earned her first Daytime Emmy nomination for her captivating portrayal of Cat Greene on DAYS.
• Cat was introduced in 2024, pretending to be Chad DiMera’s late wife, Abigail, as part of Clyde Weston’s twisted revenge plot.
• Her deception unraveled during a shocking wedding-day reveal in Paris.
• Despite her crimes, Cat formed real feelings for Chad and later joined forces with him to find her mother and uncover the truth about Abigail.
• McCord’s nuanced performance blended danger, vulnerability, and heart, earning her a standout spot among this year’s Emerging Talent nominees.

Twisted Beginnings

McCord’s character was at the center of a twisted plot perpetrated on Chad DiMera (Billy Flynn). For months, she led the widower to believe that she was his late wife, Abigail Deveraux DiMera, who had miraculously been resurrected from the dead. She feigned amnesia and explained that her appearance had been severely altered when she underwent extensive plastic surgery following a car accident.

After a forged DNA test “confirmed” her identity, Chad slowly began to fall for her and vice versa. Meanwhile, viewers learned that she was really Cat Greene, the daughter of a woman named Catherina, and was being forced to impersonate Abigail by the evil Clyde Weston. Clyde was holding Catherina captive and threatened to kill her unless Cat and her brother, Mark (Jonah Robinson), did his bidding. Namely, get Chad to marry Cat, so Clyde could gain access to the DiMera fortune.

Wild Wedding

Cat began faking that her memories of Abigail were returning, and she and Chad prepared to marry in Paris. However, Cat’s true identity was exposed on her wedding day, when Mark burst in to shoot the groom under orders from Clyde. Steve (Stephen Nichols) raced in, took down Mark, and revealed the truth: Chad’s bride was an imposter. A second DNA test proved she wasn’t Abigail. Cat confirmed it was true, explaining that she’d been forced into the awful scam by Clyde, but along the way had developed real feelings Chad. Chad had no sympathy for Cat, nor her brother.

Farewell and Feelings

Cat and Mark were arrested and brought back to Salem, where Cat reunited with her siblings, Aaron and Felicity. Cat was quickly set free courtesy of a deal Chad made with Clyde. Chad dropped all charges against Cat and agreed to deliver her to Clyde in exchange for Clyde revealing what he’d done with Abigail’s remains. Cat feared Chad was sending her to her death, but he proposed they work together to get the information he wanted and find Cat’s mother. Although the pair tracked down Cat’s mother, Catherina, in Canada, she shot Clyde before he could reveal what happened to Abigail’s body.

Cat, Aaron, and Felicity later made plans to head back to Canada to visit their mother. Cat said a painful goodbye to Chad, temporarily ending their complicated relationship. However, she eventually returned to Salem, new layers of her character were revealed, and she and Chad began exploring their genuine feelings for each other