"Roman" moved on, eventually getting engaged to Isabella Toscano. Around the same time, though, Marlena reappeared in Salem alive, and was reunited with "Roman". That same year, Wayne Northrop was recast as Roman Brady and the character that Hogestyn had been portraying for five years was retconned to be a soldier of Stefano DiMera who was brainwashed into believing he was Roman. Still suffering from a lack of memories, the character returned to the "John Black" name that he first used. Marlena reunited with the real Roman, and John resumed his relationship with Isabella.