Did being buried alive all those years ago make "Days of our Lives"' Carly crazy? Or did she really have a reason for stabbing her husband, Lawrence, who was holding her captive?

Now that the soap doc is back in Salem, fans will get a chance to find out.

"She knifed her husband. That is not who she is. She is a doctor. She saves lives. There had to be a threat for her to do that," Crystal Chappell, who plays the character says in defense of Carly.

It was back in 1993 that Carly was buried alive by Vivian Alamain (Louise Sorel), and dug up by Lawrence (Michael Sabatino, who is her real-life husband -- not stabbed).

"I don't know why [people] want to hold her captive and lock her up in little boxes," she tells ET. "We do talk about the buried alive thing. The relationship with Carly and Vivian [who is also back] is so delicious and so much fun. They joke about it the two of them, so it is certainly going to be discussed."

Carly was also brought back to Salem to spice up the storyline for Bo (Peter Reckell) and Hope (Kristian Alfonso). Bo fell in love with Carly back when he thought Hope was dead. Now that he and Hope are having relationship issues, Carly's return introduces a much-welcomed triangle.

"It is a perfect soap opera story," Peter says. "There is all that conflict and turmoil. Which direction do I go? When Carly was around before, Hope wasn't, so I totally fell in love with her. It is between a rock and a hard place. The fact that Bo and Hope are having problems, the feelings for Carly start to come up."

And Peter, who has been on the soap for more than 20 years, says that his fans are excited about the possibilities.

"I actually was really surprised at the response because the news came out when I went on a publicity tour for the Emmys," he tells ET. "Almost everybody I spoke to was really excited about Crystal coming back to the show."

"Days of our Lives" airs weekdays on NBC.