What to Expect From ‘Y&R’ in 2025: Life or Death for Sharon & Phyllis, Kyle’s Love Triangle, and More

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As 2024 comes to a close, The Young and the Restless executive producer and head writer Josh Griffith previews what’s ahead and looks back on the highlights from the year that was.

“I feel really good about the fact that we were able to reestablish the Phyllis [Summers, Michelle Stafford]/Sharon [Newman, Sharon Case] battle dynamic and rekindle the friendship between Nikki [Newman, Melody Thomas Scott] and Jack [Abbott, Peter Bergman] over her alcoholism,” Griffith reflects. “Him helping her out, especially that wonderful two-hander episode that we did in the in the hotel room [in May] with Peter and Melody, just knocked it out of the park.”

Heather Stevens’ [Vail Bloom] murder, which took place in September, had a ripple effect through the town, but especially on Sharon, and was a story driver. “With the whole arc of Heather’s murder and Sharon’s belief that she was guilty and all the people that were affected, I felt like I got to tell my Hitchcock movie finally,” Griffith muses. “The momentum kept going and I just kept finding new directions and new twists to spiral out, with just a killer performance by Sharon Case. Bringing back Linden [Ashby] as Cameron [Kirsten] as sort of her vision and muse yielded much more story and much more excitement than I even thought it would. I was excited about it going in, but I wasn’t prepared for how well I think it spun out. And the return of Ray Wise [Ian Ward] and Colleen Zenk [Jordan Howard] was a real plus for me.”

Sonja Flemming/CBS

There was one storyline that hit close to home for the scribe. “I was very proud of the Connor Newman [Judah Mackey] OCD story because that’s a very personal story for me,” Griffith reveals. “A couple of years ago, my daughter was diagnosed with OCD. The journey that my wife and I went through with her, learning how severe and debilitating it is, and how so many people are unaware of it, made me feel it was important to tell that story. I was really proud of the story and really proud of how Missy [Claire Egan, Chelsea Lawson] and Mark [Grossman, Adam Newman] and Judah handled it.”

Another absorbing tale was Ashley Abbott’s (Eileen Davidson) journey through Dissociative identity disorder. “I loved the Ashley DID storyline,” Griffith says. “I thought she just knocked that out of the park. I thought it was engrossing, it was exciting, and it was wonderful to watch her dig into the material, so I was really happy about that.”

Griffith also got to pen the show’s 13,000^th episode on November 13 which included a rebuild of the Newman ranch that burned down in 2012. “Bringing back the Newman ranch has been a long time in the works,” Griffith says. “And I’m thrilled that finally we could pull it off for Nikki and Victor [Newman, Eric Braeden] and for Mel and Eric to have that back. I want to give special kudos to our art department, who just did an amazing job of recreating the old ranch even grander and more opulent.”

Griffith says he is well aware that it was not the most popular decision all those years ago. “I was part of the regime that burned it down and it got us a good Adam/Sharon story, but let’s just say all has been rectified,” he notes.

As for what to expect in 2025, Griffith declares, “It will be even better than 2024. It will be a whirlpool of romance, suspense, and family conflict.”

© Howard Wise/jpistudios.com

Sharon Newman, Nick Newman, Phyllis Summers, Mariah Copeland, and Tessa Porter

“This story is going to explode over the next month or two in a major way, with a lot of surprising reveals as to what really happened over the course of the last six months. It will shake up Mariah [Copeland, Camryn Grimes] in a huge way and affect her relationship with Tessa [Porter, Cait Fairbanks], and it will bring Sharon and Nick closer than ever. He is the one who’s determined to find out what happened to her. He’s leading the charge, so it’s going to be very exciting and very suspenseful. Sharon and Phyllis will be thrown into a life-or-death situation where they’re both going to have to reevaluate their relationship.”

Jack Abbott and Victor Newman

“For the longest time, they seemed to have reached a détente. But one of the things that I loved about how Nikki’s alcoholism and Jack’s involvement in that spun out was that I was able to reignite, in a very organic and dramatic way, the rivalry and the hatred between Victor and Jack. That’s going to continue, and in true Jack/Victor battle history, just as one thinks they bested the other, the other one comes up with another strategy. So, the war is going to escalate. Victor’s going to go after Jack where it hurts, which is [his company] Jabot, and unfortunately, in a big Romeo and Juliet type story that we’re going to tell, Claire [Grace, Hayley Erin] and Kyle [Abbott, Michael Mealor] will be caught right in the middle.”

Claire Grace, Kyle Abbott, and Summer Newman

“Claire and Kyle are going to have to fight the fact that Victor doesn’t want them together and Jack is worried that they shouldn’t be together because of what Victor might pull. Summer [Allison Lanier], in true ‘I’m Phyllis’s daughter’ fashion, will A, feel a pull back to Kyle and B, sense an opening, so if Victor and Jack weren’t enough for Kyle and Claire to have to worry about, Summer’s decision of, ‘Maybe I want Kyle back,’ is going to throw another wrench into that. We’re going to see Summer sort of return to her Phyllis attitude.”

The Newmans

“As we build this powerful Romeo and Juliet story, they will all be affected — Nikki, Victoria [Newman, Amelia Heinle], Victor — and Nick will be heavily involved in the next arc of this Ian fallout for Sharon.”

© Howard Wise/jpistudios.com

Billy Abbott, Sally Spectra, and Phyllis Summers

“I’m really intrigued by this. They’re coming together off this mutual sense of betrayal by Adam and by Chelsea and it puts them in a very interesting and romantic situation. I think Sally [Spectra, Courtney Hope] is going to be a very good influence for Billy [Abbott, Jason Thompson], and as we slowly introduce Phyllis into that mix, Phyllis becomes the sort of darker angel on one shoulder of Billy’s while Sally is the lighter one on the other.”

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Chelsea Lawson and Adam Newman

“They really emotionally rebonded as parents as they dealt with Connor’s OCD. They had that one night in Baltimore, and they’re going to find it harder to isolate that night as just a one-time thing that came out of fear and grief, and realize that there’s more to their relationship that still exists beyond being parents.”

The Winters Family

“[New hire] Nathan Owens, who’s fantastic, is just the first step in a major, evolving mystery for the entire Winters family. It will have major impact on Nate [Hastings, Sean Dominic], on Devon [Winters, Bryton James], and especially on Lily [Winters, Christel Khalil], but we’re going to find out that maybe Audra [Charles, Zuleyka Silver] has some more skeletons in the closet as well as we get into this mystery.”

Sonja Flemming/CBS

Daniel Romalotti

“Daniel [Romalotti, Michael Graziadei] has to find a way to get full closure from the death of Heather, find a way to totally forgive Sharon, and set himself off on a new path with a potentially, I don’t want to say romance, but a but a bit of a walk on the on the emotional wild side.”

Ian Ward and Jordan Howard

“We’re headed for a wild ride and a massive showdown between this diabolical duo and the Newmans. Look for major showdowns between Nikki and Jordan and Victor and Ian.”

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