‘The Young And The Restless’ Fans Sound Off On Unexpected Casting Changes

Friday left The Young and the Restless fans shocked because actress and singer Loren Lott announced they’d watched her final scenes as Ana on the show. Then, news from Canada, which is a day ahead of the United States, showed that Tessa Porter actress Cait Fairbanks moved from contract to recurring status on the no. 1-rated CBS Daytime drama.

Across social media, Y&R viewers expressed their thoughts on the casting changes at the show. According to The Inquisitr, Lott created a beautiful video filled with clips of her time on the show. In her video, Lott used a song by Fairbanks as part of the background music. Fairbanks sings professionally under the name Ginesse.

“I was pissed off crying watching this knowing @YandR_CBS totally screwed over @lorensharice, but then I hear @caitfairbanks song. I had to leave my desk. I was ugly crying. #TheLoveBetweenFriends Ana may be gone, but Loren is in our hearts forever,” tweeted a fan.

Of course, mere hours later, news that the show moved Fairbanks off contract came as an absolute surprise for viewers.

“Firing @lorensharice and dropping @caitfairbanks is Bull Sh*t. If you think your numbers are down now? Just keep doing what you’re doing to the younger generation of actors, you won’t have a show. Yes, the older actors are great, but the show’s future is dependent on the young,” tweeted another viewer.

Overall viewers seemed upset by the upheaval they learned about yesterday. Both Lott and Fairbanks are part of the younger generation on the show, and without a vibrant group of young people, fans worry that Y&R will fail to attract younger viewers.

On the show, Tessa is Mariah’s (Camryn Grimes) girlfriend, and they are the sole LGBTQIA couple represented on the show, and some people worry that without depicting the diversity of daily life, Y&R could become irrelevant, especially for younger generations of people.

Likewise, Lott’s character, Ana, was part of the rapidly declining Hamilton Winters family. Last year, when Lily Winters went to prison, Christel Khalil moved to recurring, and now the character doesn’t live in Genoa City. In the same storyline, Hilary (Mishael Morgan) also tragically lost her life, and Morgan exited. Plus, when Kristoff St. John died, Neil Winters also passed, which leaves Devon (Bryton James) the only remaining member of the important family. Currently, Devon sees Elean (Brytni Sarpy), and their storyline is not all that integrated into the rest of the show’s storylines.

While there may be plenty of great things for the show coming up, fans are having a tough time with these two unexpected casting changes.