Mishael Morgan helped mend the broken hearts of The Young and the Restless fans by returning to the show a few years back as Amanda Sinclair, twin of her late sister Hilary. Despite creating a dynamic new character and winning the Daytime Emmy for playing it, the star is well aware that fans still miss her original character.
Soap Hub asked Morgan if she is aware of the love fans still have for her original character, Hilary Curtis Hamilton. She’s well aware that to many, the favored twin is Hilary. “It’s definitely a double-edged sword,” Morgan tells Soap Hub. “I understand [how people feel]. Hilary has a special place in my heart. I understand why she has that in the hearts of the viewers as well. She was a fully fleshed out, full character.”
Morgan hastens to add that Amanda is, too, but she came to the landscape at a different time. “Amanda didn’t get the opportunity to have the same [introduction],” the actress adds, pointing out that the character’s success isn’t the fault of the show’s writing.
“When I came back, half of Amanda’s journey was [told] during Covid,” she says. During that time, actors had to keep a safe distance from one another. Love scenes were done sparingly, with real-life spouses stepping in to be body doubles for other players.
“Bryton [James, who plays Devon] and I worked very hard to make [our on-screen relationship] different,” Morgan says. Because Devon couldn’t be expected to fall in love with his late wife’s doppelganger overnight, their connection wasn’t as deep.
“I think Amanda was a little bit of a victim of the pandemic,” her portrayer suggests. “She wasn’t able to develop her clout and stand in her full [power].” Morgan briefly stepped away from playing Amanda due to an eye injury. Fan favorite Karla Mosley (ex-Maya, The Bold and the Beautiful) stepped in to play the role.
“I got some amazing scenes and writing closer to the end,” Morgan says about her run as Amanda. “I don’t think she had the time that Hilary had. Hilary had a lot of time [to develop], a lot of journeys. Hilary was in and out of everyone’s life. There was so much going on with her. The audience got to see so many sides to the character.”
For these reasons and more, Morgan fully understands the audience’s support of Hilary. Articles speculating how Y&R could bring Hilary back don’t phase her. In fact, she finds them flattering. “I totally understand,” she says. “I am not upset with them!”
It’s not Morgan’s job to find a way to resurrect Hilary. However, she can do the next best thing and look for ways to find similarities between the two women (hey, they’re twins! It won’t be jarring to see Amanda behave like Hilary.) “I try to make Amanda a little more like Hilary,” she reveals.
Y&R fans saw just how much drama Morgan can bring to Amanda from watching her most recent appearance. The scenes between Amanda and her ex, Devon, were rife with tension, mostly on Amanda’s part, as she’s still smarting from Devon’s betrayal with Abby (Melissa Ordway).
“Viewers remember how Amanda left,” Morgan says. “I want them to feel that [she feels] it’s unresolved. It’s going to take a special moment in time until it gets resolved. It really is.” The actress says that Amanda’s hurt feelings over Devon turning to Abby have started to change who she is. “Those are the nuances I try to bring. Even if I’m just coming back for a little while, I want to shake things up. That comes from a woman being scorned. I’m totally leaning into that. I’m dropping those seeds so that when I come back [for visits], we can have fun with it. We can watch her heal and grow.”
As for those theories on how Hilary could come back to the land of the living (maybe there were triplets, and a third sibling passed away in the hospital bed?), Mishael Morgan’s not sure about that. “I don’t know if Hilary would ever come back,” she muses. If and when Amanda returns, “I want her to have that ‘woman scorned’ in her underbelly a little bit. Allow her to have a little bit more bite to her. I think that’s what the audience loves about Hilary. As everyone gets to see other sides of Amanda, maybe they’ll want Amanda instead of Hilary. We’ll see if we can change their minds.”
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