Mishael Morgan Teases Amanda’s ‘Y&R’ Return: ‘She’s Going to Make Some Waves’

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Mishael Morgan didn’t hesitate when The Young and the Restless asked her to reprise the role of Amanda Sinclair, who will first appear on May 16.

“They didn’t really tell me much about what Amanda would be doing, but they said, ‘We’d love to bring Amanda back to Genoa City. There’s a great storyline that we want her to be a part of,’” Morgan recalls. “I just finished my Hallmark movies [the Hearts Around the Table series], so I was like, ‘I think this might be the perfect time to get back to L.A. and get away from all of the horrible weather in Toronto. Let’s do it!’ ”

As for what brings the legal eagle to town for a visit, Morgan teases, “Well, she’s always representing somebody, and she represents high-powered people in society. So, Amanda’s coming back to represent somebody very mysterious, definitely high-powered, and she’s going to make some waves while she’s there.”

Morgan is well aware of the speculation that her character is connected to the enigmatic Aristotle Dumas, who has been mentioned frequently in recent episodes. “I was at my sister’s bridal shower [last month] and on her fiancé’s side, there was a fan there who told me all of her theories,” she relays. “It was very fun chatting with somebody who was an avid watcher and understanding of what’s going on. And between her and a couple of their family members, they had a lot of different theories as to why Amanda would be coming back and who she would be representing. And it was funny to watch. So, we’ll see.”

Howard Wise/jpistudios.com

The popular actress, who opted to go off contract in 2022 and last appeared in 2024, appreciates that the soap finds reasons to bring her alter ego home. “When I went down to recurring, I thought, ‘Well, I know that Amanda’s not a legacy character. She’s not really married to anybody in the show, so there is a huge chance that I’m just going to be phased out,’ ” she notes. “And every time I keep thinking it’s done, Y&R will have this amazing way of being like, ‘Hey, come back in and do a little bit more.’ That’s always such a pleasure and such an honor to come back, and it means a lot. Being an actor and your world being so unstable, sometimes it’s good to know that you have something that’s grounding and that they see your worth, and they’re willing to find ways to keep you alive in the story.”

And while she took home the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in 2022, Morgan confesses she had some jitters when she returned to the set. “I was talking to Christel [Khalil, Lily Winters], Bryton [James, Devon Winters] and Sean [Dominic, Nate Hastings], because I was in some scenes with them right when I got there, and I was like, ‘For the first time I feel nervous,’ ” she says. “And then Sean was like, ‘Yeah, I saw your eyebrows twitch,’ and I said, ‘I have not felt nervous on set for Y&R in years.’ So, it was actually really humbling, where I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, I forgot how fast we move.’ I felt like I had to shake some rust off, but I would say three scenes in, I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m here, I’m back, I’m good.’ By the time I got to the second episode, and then the third episode where I was working with Michelle Stafford [Phyllis Summers], it felt like I was back home and really was like riding a bike again.’”

Howard Wise/jpistudios.com

In addition to those actors, Morgan will also be sharing scenes with Melissa Ordway‘s Abby Winters. “Amanda thinks, ‘I might as well bump into Abby and make her uncomfortable,’ ” muses Morgan. “She does her rounds a little bit.”

While she may have battled nerves, stepping back into the role was effortless, Morgan shares. “It’s surprisingly easy to slip back into Amanda,” she reports. “I think I made her so different than Hilary [Curtis, Amanda’s twin sister, who Morgan played from 2013-18] that I’m not slipping into Hilary, but I am trying to continue to grow in Amanda. Even though I’m gone for a long time, every time I come back, I want to allow the fans to see a little bit more of who she is, and how she’s evolving and changing. Things are happening off camera — her mom has passed away, she has this new job, so there is a lot of growth happening for her.”

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Morgan has been keeping busy in her time away from Genoa City as well. Earlier this year, she appeared as Shari in four of the Hearts Around the Table movies for Hallmark, headlining the second film in the series, Shari’s Second Act. “That really came out of nowhere,” she recalls. “I was in Miami doing a wellness retreat, just kind of Zen-ing out, and then I got a call from my agent that they wanted to do this ‘wheel’ is what they called it. They said I would be one of four siblings from a foster background, and we would all have our own love stories, but then our stories would intertwine with each other. And this being a foster family, it was a chosen family, where everybody was from all different backgrounds and ethnicities. I just loved the idea that we’d be able to bring that to Hallmark and bring that diversity, but also connect everybody. I thought it was a really cool project, so I jumped right on board, and it was really fun. From the beginning to the end, we all got along like siblings. It was so seamless and amazing.”

Which is also how she would describe her current work situation. “It feels like I have the best of both worlds,” she reflects. “When I started on Y&R, I really took the soap because I felt like it was the perfect playground for me to hone my craft and to work those muscles every single day. So now that I’ve done that for almost 10 years and I’ve left, every time I go back, I feel like it’s such a great opportunity to stretch those muscles again and practice on set in this safe space with an amazing fanbase that love us and allow us to play. Then I can go off and take all that I’ve learned and put it into different characters. So, it really is a dream.”

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