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Xander Kiriakis is a fictional character from the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives, portrayed by Scottish actor Paul Telfer. Created by head writers Gary Tomlin and Christopher Whitesell, Telfer made his debut on March 24, 2015 as a series regular. Telfer wrapped his first stint on August 25, 2015. Telfer would make a series of sporadic appearances between 2016 and 2019 before he returned as a series regular on April 29, 2019.

Xander comes to town as a diamond smuggler masquerading as a businessman. He blackmails Serena Mason (Melissa Archer) into stealing diamonds from Eric Brady (Greg Vaughan). In the meantime, tries to ingratiate himself to his uncle Victor Kiriakis (John Aniston) and becomes smitten with Nicole Walker (Arianne Zucker). However, Xander tries to kill Eric and Nicole when discovers Nicole only used him to make another man jealous. Xander goes to prison when Theresa Donovan (Jen Lilley) falsely accuses him of rape.

In 2016, Xander escapes prison along with Orpheus and Clyde Weston (James Read) to wreak havoc on their enemies in Salem. However, their plans are foiled and Xander narrowly avoids prison time. Xander resurfaces in Canada in 2017 where he shoots his cousin Brady Black (Eric Martsolf) and kidnaps Nicole and her daughter.

2015
Xander Cook comes to Salem in early 2015 and blackmails Serena Mason (Melissa Archer) into stealing blood diamonds from Eric Brady (Greg Vaughan) and is immediately smitten with Eric's ex-girlfriend, Nicole Walker (Arianne Zucker). Xander is later revealed to be the black-sheep nephew of Victor Kiriakis (John Aniston). Though Victor has seemingly retired from the mob, Xander oversees various criminal enterprises for the Kiriakis clan all around the world, including money laundering. While Xander is happy about reuniting with his estranged family, Victor and his grandson Brady Black (Eric Martsolf) keep him at a distance. Xander realizes Nicole is only using him to make Victor's beloved godson Daniel Jonas (Shawn Christian) jealous and decides to get revenge.

Creation and casting
Paul Telfer announced the casting and character on March 12, 2015 on social media. The actor had previously appeared in the short term role of hitman "Damon." Telfer's previous credits included appearances in episodes of The Vampire Diaries, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and NCIS.

Backstory

 * Episode: 6.3.19 - Xander's dad died when he was young. His mother turned to alcohol.


 * Xander's mother was Scottish, father was Greek.

Introduction (2015)
In May 2015, Telfer announced on Twitter that he had been let go from the series, even before Xander first appeared onscreen. Due to the show's advanced taping schedule, Telfer's departure would air sometime in August 2015. Telfer's released coincided with executive producer Ken Corday's rebranding of the show in which the head writers were replaced and several actors were cut from the cast. Of the casting cuts, Corday said "The cast on the show was no longer recognizable to me and those that were recognizable were doing nothing. So we had to flip that. We had to jettison stories that were not going over well with the audience and we had to give characters on the show who were more recognizable and powerful more story."

Reintroduction (2019)
In April 2019, it was announced that Telfer would soon reprise the role of Xander as a series regular.

Victor's death and paternity
In the wake of John Aniston's real life passing in 2022, the writers set out to pay homage to the actor and the character. Upon Victor's onscreen death in the summer of 2023, it is revealed that he has another son.