‘Y&R’: Joshua Morrow on Nick Newman’s Near-Fatal Overdose & What Comes Next
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Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow) survived his shocking overdose on The Young and the Restless, leaving him in the most vulnerable place of his life.
Facing his mortal enemy, Matt Clark (Roger Howarth), coupled with his increasing fentanyl use, pushed Nick to the brink. “Nick has always been loose and confident and had a carefree attitude about a lot of things,” says Morrow. “He took some drugs to calm his nerves and to prepare for the moment, but he was not in a healthy state of mind to deal with something as dramatic as this. He just kept going further and further down this hole, and it all came to a head.”
Howard Wise/jpistudios.com
When Morrow first heard about Nick’s story — in which the character develops an addiction to pain medication following a car crash — from head writer Josh Griffith, he initially had reservations. “I was like, ‘I don’t know that it’s very Nick-ish, but let’s give it a whirl,’” he recalls. “I was a little nervous about it. I hadn’t been nervous about anything since high school, but I was concerned about how the fans would take it. They don’t want to see their hero fall in the way that he did, but I just ask that they take the story for what it is and enjoy the journey because from an acting standpoint, it’s been really difficult work to do, but I’ve enjoyed it, that’s for sure.”
Morrow appreciates that after more than three decades of playing the character, he’s been tasked with one of the most challenging stories of his career. “Most of the time, I come in here and do this job with my eyes closed because I don’t feel like there’s much of a stretch anymore between Nick and Joshua,” he admits. “But this is a completely different arena now and work that I’ve never really had to do, so it’s been very hard. I don’t want to make light of it. If you’ve ever Google-searched fentanyl, it’s terrifying to see what it actually does to people. That’s not quite the version that we can show on television, so I just want to be as respectful as possible and do as authentic a job as I can.”
Some of the story’s most memorable material for Morrow came in the sequences where Nick finally admitted the truth to his family — particularly Victor Newman (Eric Braeden). “It was brutal for me as an actor because all I could think about was me having to tell my own dad,” Morrow shares. “I couldn’t not cry in the rehearsal because Eric is like my father, and having to say those things to him, to see the look of disappointment on his face, it was just heartbreaking to me, and he was brilliant in the scenes.”
Revealing Nick’s addiction to his mother, Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott), and sister, Victoria Newman (Amelia Heinle), presented its own obstacles. “With his mother, he needed to be reassuring to her like, ‘I’m going to beat this. I know you went through this, too. I need your help, but I’m going to do it,’” explains Morrow. “And then with his sister, that’s his best friend for life, and that he let his sister down in that regard was just devastating for him. So, I just wanted all the reveals to feel very differently. I wanted to hit the viewers differently, and I was pretty happy with the way they all turned out.”
Howard Wise/jpistudios.com
Filming the actual overdose pushed Morrow to a place he had never been before as an actor. “I’d find myself for the first time in an extremely long time, unsure of what I was doing,” he confides. “But I just had to drop any inhibitions I had, any guardrails that I’d put up in life, and just go for it, and hopefully, it would allow the other actors to be able to react to what they were seeing. An overdose would be freaking terrifying, I think, to see in real life. I have not seen the overdose scenes, but I know that in the moment they felt like they had a lot of weight to them, so hopefully it was an effective mechanism to this story of Nick just completely breaking down.”
In the aftermath of the overdose, Nick realizes he needs to take drastic measures. “He finally knows that he has to do something; otherwise, he’s going to die,” notes Morrow. “Nick’s always very cavalier, with this sort of swag, like, ‘I can handle anything. I don’t need help. I got this. Don’t worry.’ And for the first time in his life, he’s like, ‘I need help. I almost died in front of my son.’ And I think that is the moment that he realizes, ‘This better get fixed soon, or my children are not going to have a father anymore.’”
Howard Wise/jpistudios.com
That emotional exploration led him to filming the most demanding part of Nick’s journey. “There’s a scene coming up, an AA meeting, that was very difficult,” Morrow previews. “In fact, I told them, ‘I can’t rehearse it. This is a one-shot deal, because after it, I’m gonna have to go and sit in a dark room.’ We got it in one take.”
Ultimately, Morrow takes pride in being handed such a rich portrayal of addiction and recovery. “When Griff came to me and told me about this story, I was like, ‘You guys trust me to take a beloved character to those depths?’” he says. “I felt really honored that they entrusted me with that story and so I took it very seriously. I worked my ass off on this, and stripping Nick down to that was interesting and not very easy, but I’m proud of a lot of the scenes. I’m proud of my coworkers. It just reminds you of how incredibly talented our cast is and how honored I am to be a part of it, so I’m very appreciative that the show gave me a chance to do something like this.”
And Nick’s journey is far from over, Morrow says. “OD seems pretty rock bottom-y, but the fans will just have to stay tuned,” he teases. “There’s still more runway here to go. This isn’t going to be a quick fix for him.”
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S
I’m in the medical and I gotta say, in all the years I’ve never seen someone who had CPR performed on him and discharged from the hospital the same day ! This is absolutely ridiculous ! Why isn’t he in rehab ?? And the family is ok with it !!!
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G
Notice no mention of having to break it to Sharon, Nicks true love?! Hes always been her hero and shes always depended on him to be strong and a protector?!
Josh Morrow always wants to seperate himself from her or her character?!
You dont see Bo without mention of Hope or Victor without mention of Nikki!
Yes,hes been amazing and heartbreaking in his portrayal but Sharon Case and fans of Sharon deserve better. Especially in light of how Matts involved in thus stoey which propelled the two to couple stardom
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A
I appreciate actors wanting to test and expand their acting skills, BUT...some real life situations need to be left for big screen films or streaming dramas. A REAL overdose is a HORROR SCENE! There's VOMITING, CONVULSING, EYES ROLLING BACK, etc! NONE of what most viewers would want to have to witness on an afternoon soap. Not saying they are insensitive to the whole sad saga of an addict or overdose, but it could be emotionally triggering for some, or emotionally draining to observe, as well as not fair to the viewers who know the REAL FACTS of what goes on in real life with the persons involved. PLEASE don't drag this story line out because you can't really portray it truly, so why drag loyal viewers along with this poorly represented journey. Josh Morrow, I like you, but this is not your venue.
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G
I work with addicts who od ALL the time, they turn blue , we have to shoot narcan up 6 times sometimes , the stuff takes the high right out of you !! And they sure don't want the ambulance even near them. Many, many including myself have narcaned them and did CPR , so you need to do more research
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B
Josh Morrow has it made so far! HE NAILED it! Cannot wait to,see his acting in the next few weeks.
But cannot wait for Nick to be back as Nick we all love. The Best actor and so handsome!,,
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G
I don't agree with the extremely quick hospital exit and getting rehab at home. How does that happen? However, Nick has met expectations well above never being an addict.
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S
Nick needs to go to rehab ! Enough of his addiction storyline ! His addiction “act” was horrendous ! Take a break, give us a break !!
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G
Exactly
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S
Nick’s character has always been solid and it needs to go back to that. He’s a loving father, who has beautiful kids and an amazing life. This drug problem he now has is very far fetched and not believable. Nick has always been his best with Sharon and they should put them back together. They have the right kind of chemistry to be the next super couple like his parents!!
This one night stand with a married druggie, who almost died is the worst storyline Y and R has ever come up with. Then Marie ends up at the same rehab centre as Nick, what a joke! Just keep Nick as the fun loving character he has always been who loves his friends and family and would do anything to help anyone. Why are you always trying to change the PERFECT character. The grass is not greener on the other side!!!
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M
yes we love Nick in this house hold he is a grea tactor but I did not want to see him high on drugs but I still l love him but even wrote about this matter to Nick because I was Worried with the kids watching and kids follow the actors so I hope Nick you get help and stay free of drugs. You know Marie Kelly loves you and so many fans as well.
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