What to Expect From ‘Y&R’ in 2026: Matt Clark Showdown, Big Decision for Billy & Sally, and More

After an explosive 2025 on The Young and the Restless, executive producer and head writer Josh Griffith has no plans to slow down.

“You’ve got to just keep that momentum going,” Griffith says. “It’s going to be a very exciting, suspenseful, and romantic winter and spring. It’s going to be jam-packed with intrigue, mystery, suspense, and love. We have some fun surprises up our sleeve for 2026.”

Check out what will be happening with your Genoa City faves in the new year.

Victor Newman, Nikki Newman, Jack Abbott, and Diane Jenkins

“I love that we’re back to reigniting Victor [Eric Braeden] and Jack’s [Peter Bergman] feud. There’s going to be massive, massive fallout for Jack and Diane [Susan Walters] off of some of Victor and Nikki’s [Melody Thomas Scott] actions to slap Jack down. Cane’s [Billy Flynn] return is going to force Victor and Jack from hating each other to have to work together for the greater good, which will be interesting to see if they can pull that off without killing each other. And as this whole AI story continues to unfold and wreak its havoc on the dynasties of Genoa City, we may be seeing Billy [Abbott, Jason Thompson] and Phyllis [Summers, Michelle Stafford] finally coming out on top, winning, getting something big, but at what price?”

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Billy Abbott and Sally Spectra

“I’m really enjoying the Billy/Sally [Courtney Hope] relationship, I think they’ve really found a spark with each other that’s exciting. But Sally is going to have to question whether she really knows Billy as well as she thought she did. That will also lead to big decisions.” 

Devon Winters, Abby Newman, Mariah Copeland, and Tessa Porter

“We’ve got a big mystery coming up with Devon [Bryton James] and Abby [Melissa Ordway] that will tie into Mariah [Camryn Grimes] and Tessa [Cait Fairbanks] and Daniel [Romalotti, Michael Graziadei], and it will pull in Christine [Blair, Lauralee Bell] where she’ll have to put back on her lawyer hat and help someone who’s in big trouble out of that story.”

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Nick Newman, Sharon Newman, Matt Clark, Noah Newman, and Sienna Bacall

“I think we’ve got a really exciting story coming up that’s the continuation of Matt Clark’s [Roger Howarth] reign of terror. Matt is going to make a lot of new enemies and cause even more problems for Nick [Joshua Morrow] and Sharon [Sharon Case], for Noah [Lucas Adams] and Sienna [Tamara Braun], and for the whole Newman family. And just when we think he’s out of the picture, we find out he’s not, and we’re heading towards a huge showdown that will incorporate a lot of aspects of the past in a very dramatic way.”

Victoria Newman and Nate Hastings

“We’ll see some romance back between Victoria [Amelia Heinle] and Nate [Sean Dominic]. They’re going to see if they want to try again after Victor kind of blew that whole thing up.”

Cane Ashby and Lily Winters

“Billy has been a terrific addition to the cast, and Cane has upended so many lives since he’s come back on the canvas. Is there a future for him and Lily [Christel Khalil]? Is there a way that Lily will ever be able to forgive him? We’ll see.”

Howard Wise/jpistudios.com

Adam Newman and Chelsea Lawson

“I feel we’re in a really good place with Adam [Mark Grossman] and Chelsea [Melissa Claire Egan]. I really like where that has settled, that they’re back together. There’s a lot of exciting stuff coming down the pike for them. Adam and Chelsea will be forced to tap back into the darker aspects of their characters to help Victor protect the Newman legacy.”

Claire Newman, Holden Novak, Audra Charles, and Kyle Abbott

“I think Holden [Nathan Owens] has brought a really nice dynamic to the Audra [Zuleyka Silver]/Claire [Hayley Erin]/Kyle [Michael Mealor] dynamic, and I’m really excited about where we can go with Holden. Audra and Holden are going to do everything they can to keep their past a secret, and Claire is going to do everything she can to bring it out into the light. And when it finally comes out, there’s going to be a lot of fallout.”

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Michael Baldwin and Lauren Fenmore

“We’ll play the continued push/pull between Michael [Christian LeBlanc] and Lauren [Tracey Bregman] as Michael continues to be sucked back into Victor’s world as things go really horribly wrong for the Newmans and how that affects his relationship with Lauren.”

Jill Abbott

“It’s going to be Jess Walton‘s 40^th anniversary [as Jill], so that’s a milestone that we will definitely recognize.”

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