Young & Restless Recast Shocker: Days of Our Lives’ Lauren Koslow Stepping In as Jill

“Today the role of Young & Restless’ Jill will be played by… ” Lauren Koslow? Yep. The Days of Our Lives star is temporarily taking over for Jess Walton as the OG character, TV Insider reports.

Starting June 25, Koslow will be seen not only on Days of Our Lives, where she’s played Kate since 1996, but on Young & Restless, where she got her start in the mid-1980s as scheming Lindsey. Why didn’t the show bring back Walton as it usually does? The Emmy winner, who resides in Oregon, was unable to fly to L.A. to play out Jill’s next story arc.

For sure, Koslow will fit right in in as Billy’s Mommie Dearest. You’ll recall that, when she was cast as Days of Our Lives’ Kate, she stepped in for Deborah Adair — who had played Jill before Walton!

Per the report, Days of Our Lives was happy to help out Young & Restless by lending the show Koslow. It’s not the first time that the soaps have shared cast, either. Heck, right now Stacy Haiduk is front and center both as Days of Our Lives’ Kristen and Young & Restless’ Patty.

Days of our Lives Star Lauren Koslow Suffers a Deep Loss

The CBS soap’s now-solo-executive producer Sally McDonald and headwriter Josh Griffith reassured fans that Walton was still very much Jill. “We look forward to welcoming her back to Genoa City as her schedule permits,” they said in a statement to TV Insider, “and celebrating her extraordinary 40th anniversary as the iconic Jill Abbott.”