Newcomers Lexie Stevenson and Noah Alexander Gerry have made their soap opera debuts as the teen versions of Mattie and Charlie, Cane and Lily’s kids on The Young and the Restless.
They were born in 2010 yet now they’re sophomores in high school. So, yes, once again two pre-teen characters on a daytime serial have come down with a case of SORAS (Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome)!
Fans are already weighing in on what they think of the changes.
“Mattie and Charlie look older than Lily” one fan posted online.
The technique is nothing new to soaps. For decades, serials have been aging young characters to their teen years in order to tell more compelling stories.
Y&R has plenty of instances in which characters have aged overnight. Lily herself was born in 1995, and a mere seven years later Christel Khalil took over the role when Lily was re-introduced as a teen character.
Male Vs. Female Aging
Other examples include Victoria Newman, who was born in 1982. Nine years later, Heather Tom joined the cast when teen Victoria came back from an overseas boarding school.
Vicki’s brother, Nicholas, was born in 1988, and he returned as a young man in his late teens just six years later in 1994 in the form of Joshua Morrow.
Colleen Carlton was born in 1993, and eight years later — in 2001 — she returned to Genoa City, as Lyndsy Fonseca.
Billy Abbot, who was also born in 1993, took about six years to grow up. The character was reintroduced to the canvas in 1999 as a teen after David Tom was cast in the part.
Fenmore Baldwin was born in 2006, and by 2012, he was aged to a teen when Max Ehrich joined the cast.
Girls Take It Slow
So while it takes the average boy infant on Y&R approximately six years to become a teenager, it usually takes girl infants a few more before the show decides to age them.
A Real-Time Case
One character that appeared to age in real time is Phillip Chancellor IV. Born in 1988, the character aged more slowly than other young characters. In 2000, a pre-Gossip Girl Penn Badgley played the part, but then left the show when Phillip moved to California with his mom, Nina.
When John Driscoll came on as Phillip (now called Chance) in 2009, it was 21 years after the character was born, and Driscoll, while a bit older in real life, certainly looked the part of a man in his early 20s.
Seven years is not an unusual amount of time for writers to wait before aging pre-teen characters. Perhaps this instance stands out a little bit more because the twins’ TV mom looks so young herself! After all, Khalil won the Daytime Emmy for Younger Leading Actress in a Drama Series a mere five years ago!
As one poster pointed out, “I don’t think (Mattie and Charlie) look older than her, (Lily) just looks too young to be their mom.”
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