Young and the Restless brought several characters back from the dead and these resurrections were really, really problematic. Some were unpopular, some were just flat-out ridiculous. Obviously, surprise resurrections are commonplace on soap operas.
But sometimes they’re just so poorly written that they are just preposterous. And we’re going to talk about some of those that just didn’t land well for various reasons.
Diane Jenkins’ Controversial Return: A Deep Dive into the Problematic Resurrection
The first back-from-the-dead character we have on our list of problematic returns is Diane Jenkins (Susan Walters). And to be very clear, I love Susan Walters. And I’m glad she’s back to Young and the Restless. She was great on Vampire Diaries, Teen Wolf. She’s been on so many things. She’s phenomenal.
Her original run as Diane ended when Susan didn’t renew her contract. She decided to go pursue other projects and she wrapped her run as Diane in 2004. Six years later they recast Maura West as Diane. Maura is a phenomenal actress. I love her. She’s still on General Hospital right now. She is amazing.
Diane Jenkins Dead on Young and the Restless
So, her run ended with a rock to the head that killed her from blunt force trauma. And many people were suspected of killing Diane and it came out in the end that Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott) had killed her in self-defense.
Then, 12 years later, they did this major retcon and they brought back Susan Walters and said that she faked her death. And it was insane in the way they did it. It was a clear and obvious and final death. But Josh Griffith did it anyway. And initial fan reaction was a mixed bag. Some people were happy and some were very displeased to have Diane back.
Initially, I think fans were very opposed to her return because her resurrection was nothing short of nonsense and she had been such a troublemaker. And she’s turned out great. They have drastically changed her character. I like her now, but it was a nonsensical retcon.
The Unkillable Sheila Carter: More Lives Than a Cat on Y&R and Bold and the Beautiful
All right. The second character resurrected on Y&R that was a hot mess is a bad, bad, bad woman who has more lives than a cat. I am talking about super she-villain Sheila Carter (Kimberlin Brown). First, Kimberlin Brown’s character was presumed dead in a farmhouse fire and then she was trapped in a bomb shelter that caved in and Sheila was presumed dead again.
But then she was at a plastic surgeon’s office ready to get a new face. That was when they resurrected Sheila and recast her at the same time. They had Michelle Stafford playing the character of Sheila instead of Kimberlin Brown. And the premise was that Sheila had plastic surgery to look exactly like Phyllis Summers. Because she was Lauren Fenmore’s (Tracey Bregman) best friend at the time.
And then Sheila was exposed for impersonating Phyllis. And then Lauren shot and supposedly killed Sheila. From there, Sheila was really supposedly dead and then she’s come back to life two more times over on Bold and the Beautiful.
Many fans love Kimberlin Brown as Sheila. I love Kimberlin Brown. She’s a phenomenal actress and either you love her or you love to hate her. But the sheer number of times that Sheila has come back from the dead on Young and the Restless and on Bold and the Beautiful is just insanity.
Matt Clark’s Unbelievable Comeback: A Ridiculous Resurrection on Young and the Restless
All right, number three is a brand new resurrection. Matt Clark with a recast that went from Rick Hearst to Roger Howarth. Both of them veterans of General Hospital. Both of them actors I adore. And let’s be real, Matt coming back from the dead is ridiculous because he was most definitely dead. He was shot by a friend of Sharon Newman’s (Sharon Case) that he had raped.
But then, Matt tried to pin the shooting on Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow) and then Matt left town and he returned four years later. So, originally he was played by Eddie Cibrian who originated the role and then when they brought him back it was Rick Hearst in the role and they said Matt Clark had plastic surgery. He was using the name Carter Mills. He got a job at Crimson Lights.
Matt Tricks Sharon & Nick on Young and the Restless
He got close to Nick and Sharon and then another of Matt’s victims drove off a cliff with him in the car trying to kill herself and Matt both. She died, but he survived and made it to the hospital.
He was not expected to survive. And then while Nick was in his hospital room, Matt pulled out his breathing tube, killing himself again to frame Nick. But fortunately, the Newmans got out from under that. But he was well and truly dead. And now he’s back. And it’s insane because Matt was dead as a doornail. He had all these traumatic injuries from that car wreck and then yanked out the breathing tube that was keeping him alive.
And it’s twice as silly because it’s hot on the heels of Cameron Kirsten (Linden Ashby) coming back after all those years gone and Ian Ward (Ray Wise) coming back after all those years gone. It’s like all Josh Griffith can do is write blasts from Sharon’s past to torment her. Nothing unique there. I do love Roger Howarth. I think he’s absolutely killing it as Matt, but the resurrection is so unrealistic.
Adam Newman’s Nine Lives: Analyzing the Many Resurrections of a Fan-Favorite Character on Y&R
All right, the fourth unfortunate resurrection I want to talk about is Adam Newman (Mark Grossman). Not because I don’t like the character, not because I don’t like the actors who have played him but just based on the sheer volume of resurrections for the character and the manner in which he has died permanently and they’ve undone it. In the Michael Muhney days, he was presumed dead during an explosion at a masquerade ball at the GCAC. But in that case, Adam had faked his death.
Billy Goes after Adam in a Rage on Y&R
And then in 2014, Billy Abbott (Jason Thompson) was enraged at Adam. He had blamed him for Delia Abbott’s (Sophie Pollono) death. And so Billy drove crazy and they got into this fiery crash. He was intending to kill Adam who was indeed burned to a crisp and presumed dead, but he had plastic surgery and then he returned using the name Gabriel Bingham (Justin Hartley).
And later, he was revealed as Adam. That was how they swapped over to Justin Hartley. And then when he decided to leave Y&R to pursue primetime projects, which of course, you know, he’s killing it. He had This Is Us, then he had Tracker, but then they killed off Adam again. This time in an even more permanent way. They had Chloe Mitchell (Elizabeth Hendrickson) drug Adam, and handcuff him in a cabin, I think to a radiator because she also blamed him for Delia’s death.
And then Chloe blew up the cabin and DNA showed that Adam was inside it and he was supposedly 100% dead. Three years later, Adam was in Las Vegas going under the name Spider and they had recast him with Mark Grossman and the character had amnesia. I love Mark Grossman as Adam, but that’s just a whole lot of resurrections. Too many.
Claire Newman’s Shocking Rebirth: A Sloppy Retcon and Villain-to-Heroine Arc on Young and the Restless
All right, the fifth and final bad resurrection is another fairly recent one. Claire Grace Newman (Hayley Erin). Back in 1998, Victoria Newman (Amelia Heinle) gave birth to Cole Howard’s (J. Eddie Peck) baby, but their daughter died of complications from a premature birth. Fast forward 25 years later, out of nowhere, Josh Griffith did another big sloppy retcon and wrote that Cole’s crazy aunt Jordan Howard (Colleen Zenk) kidnapped Claire as a baby and raised her to be her revenge tool to wield against the Newmans on Young and the Restless.
Jordan had a grudge over her dead sister. She was blaming Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) and the Newmans for Eve Howard’s death, even though her cause of death was encephalitis from a mosquito bite. Unless Victor has mosquitoes on the payroll, I don’t see it. That was a huge retcon that had nothing foundational to pin it to. Even worse, they resurrected Claire as an evil villainess bent on revenge against all the Newmans because Jordan had raised her to hate them.
Claire Tries to Kill the Newmans on Y&R
Claire thought Victoria and Cole didn’t want her and she tried to kill Cole and the whole Newman family. And after Jordan’s lies came out, Claire turned on her and poisoned her great aunt’s tea and killed her. After Jordan’s death, Y&R’s mediocre head writer, Josh Griffith, then pivoted and started writing Claire as this goody-two-shoes that nobody blames for her crimes.
So, not only was Claire’s resurrection unrealistic, so is how they have just twisted her character around to make her this heroine, this golden little angel. And again, I love actress Hayley Erin. Loved her on General Hospital so much. Loved her in all her work. As with most issues on Young and the Restless, it’s down to the bad writing.
