News broke this week that two popular soap stars are joining Young & The Restless. While fans are excited to see the actors back on screen, they also wonder if the soap will fire some vets to keep costs down.
Young & Restless Shake-Up: Two Stars In
The Young & The Restless lured actor Billy Flynn away from Days of Our Lives earlier this year. His mysterious role was later revealed as recast Cane Ashby. In a stunning turn of events, the soap opera just announced two more popular soap stars are joining the show.
General Hospital viewers last saw Roger Howarth in 2023 when his character, Austin Gatlin-Holt, was shot and killed. He previously played Todd Manning on the ABC soap One Life To Live. He briefly brought Todd to Port Charles before a copyright lawsuit barred General Hospital from using characters from OLTL.
Now he’ll play a mysterious role on the CBS soap. He is expected to start filming scenes for Young & The Restless soon.
Tamara Braun famously played Carly on General Hospital after Sarah Brown left the role. More recently, she played Ava on Days of Our Lives. She announced on April 1 that she was leaving the soap, and sadly, it wasn’t an April Fool’s Day joke.
Young & The Restless star Michelle Stafford posted on Instagram how happy she was about the new additions. She’s friends with both Roger Howarth and Tamara Braun.
One fan hilariously suggested that Tamara Braun might play Summer, the daughter of her character, Phyllis. The actress wrote, “ummmm” in response to the speculation.
The soap already revealed that Tamara Braun will play a new character, Sienna Bacall. However, the show did tease that the character has “personal connections” in Genoa City.
Fans Worry About Beloved Soap Vets Amid Several Exits
Hiring Tamara Braun and Roger Howarth is a huge casting coup. But Young & The Restless fans worry about the current cast, especially the vets. Billy Flynn’s arrival at the soap led to Conner Floyd’s exit. The Y&R star was cast on Days of Our Lives in Billy Flynn’s previous role of Chad DiMera.
Cole Howard (J. Eddie Peck) and Damian Kane (Jermaine Rogers) were also recently let go from the CBS soap. Many of the big-name vets, including Eric Braeden and Melody Thomas Scott, are likely safe. But fans are worried that some of the other popular vets might be fired to free up money for the newcomers.
The Young & The Restless continues to dominate the ratings for the four daytime soaps, despite behind-the-scenes writing changes.
Soap opera writer Alan Sarapa recently wrote a hit piece demanding the show fire head writer Josh Griffith. He’s been the head writer and executive producer of the CBS soap since 2019.
Do you think there will be more departures on Young & The Restless after the latest casting news?
Jennifer Havener grew up in a small town in Upstate New York. She earned her B.A in Writing & Literature from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. She always knew watching reality TV shows and soap operas, particularly ‘Days of Our Lives’, would come in handy someday. When she’s not writing, she’s playing with her dogs, Lola and Ruger