Has Young and the Restless Gotten the Memo to Make the show More ‘Young’?

Young and the Restless stays on top by focusing on its veteran players. However, the show also knows that the future is coming. We’ve been seeing more young characters on the show and that’s a good thing!

The Next Generation

Traditionally, soaps have pushed younger characters onto the forefront during the summer months. Is that the reason we’re seeing more young characters on the show?

In recent months, we’ve seen Judah Mackey’s Connor deal with his OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) in a story that’s affected his parents Chelsea (Melissa Claire Egan) and Adam (Mark Grossman).

Y&R has played out how Claire’s (Hayley Erin) return has affected her siblings — Johnny (Paxton Mishkind) and Katie (Sienna Mercuri).

Kyle’s (Michael Mealor) son Harrison (Redding Munsell) played a kidnapping story with Aunt Jordan (Colleen Zenk), and his fondness for Claire has contributed to the rift between Kyle and Summer (Allison Lanier).

While not a kidnapping ordeal, poor Lucy (Lily Brooks O’Briant) felt the pang of peer rejection when Faith (Reylynn Caster) un-invited her to a pool party. (Ouch!) Fortunately, the two get along swimmingly (pun intended!) off-screen. Read about that here.

Soon, these youngsters may find themselves taking on even more challenging storylines. Y&R isn’t just trotting this group of children out for dinner party scenes and family gatherings. They’re all actively involved in driving story. Kudos to the show’s Daytime Emmy-winning casting team for finding young performers who are hitting it out of the park.

Curiously, Y&R lost quite a few new, young leading men over the last few years. Remember Daniel Hall (ex-Scotty), Tyler Johnson (ex-Theo), and Rory Gibson, whose character Noah is apparently still living over in England? We wondered how the show was preparing for the future with these losses.

Now, Young and the Restless is setting the stage for the next generation. Now, if we could actually see Christian, Nick’s son, who was fathered by Adam? Christian learning his true origins will make for big drama!