The Young and the Restless spoilers tease that Melissa Claire Egan (Chelsea) could have her contract non-renewed in 2017. After the Adam (Justin Hartley) character exited Genoa City, Nick (Joshua Morrow) appeared to be her only man option. Considering that Egan was hired by the past regime, new head writer Sally Sussman may not agree with that decision and therefore make Chelsea expendable.
Sussman appears to believe in promoting core Y&R characters, of which Chelsea isn’t one. Of course that doesn’t mean this soap will shrink to only original Newman’s and Abbott’s. But it does indicate that regular status characters who are extensions of longtime show fixtures are expendable.
Chelsea lost her husband for the second time when Adam died again earlier this year. Surely the last sentence could only be written inside a science fiction story, or as related to a soap opera. Adam’s apparent death meant that Chelsea’s life naturally changed dramatically. Former head writer Chuck Pratt, Jr. established Adam’s brother Nick as Chelsea’s go-to guy.
Thus the growing friendship between this pairing became acceptable to fans because they’ve had time to digest it. This doesn’t mean that Chick is certain to be a supercouple. Instead, recent relationship developments in this direction have been presented to the audience for consideration.
Sussman could opt to allow Chick to fly by spring. Surely audience reaction would be assessed along the way, as viability issues are explored. However, she could just as easily decide that Nick, who is a legacy character, should be written in a different direction. That wouldn’t be the absolute death knell for Egan’s character, but it would seemingly give Chelsea limited options.
Assuming Chelsea is written out of town; What better teaser than to imply, or directly state, that she left in order to be with Adam. Yes, details would be sketchy. But doing so would give fans a scrap of plot meat as a sizable contingent awaits word about its fictional hero.
Morrow and Egan have demonstrated initial signs of good on-screen chemistry. But they aren’t linked by deep history, as Nick and Sharon (Sharon Case) are, so Chick could be easily ended without much expected fan backlash.
Egan would be missed by this scribe, as she’s handled many arcs superbly since her debut on Y&R in 2011. To-date her best dramatic work has been done with Michael Muhney, who formerly played Adam, and his replacement, Hartley. However, Egan’s comic side has also been evidenced on many occasions as well. Moments with her mother Anita (Catherine Bach) come instantly to mind. Egan’s range has also been demonstrated on countless occasions, which has endeared her to many Y&R stalwarts as well.
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