Hunter King and Michael Mealor Open Up About Leaving Y&R
After contract renegotiations with THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS reached an impasse for both Michael Mealor (ex-Kyle) and Hunter King (ex-Summer) back in the spring, both actors exited the canvas in August when their characters were written out and moved to Italy. Now, in an interview with Soap Opera Digest, Mealor and King opened up about what led them each to decide to leave Y&R, whether they would someday return to the soap, and what they envision Skyle’s future will be like.
Mealor explained that there are “so many factors” that go into renegotiating a daytime contract and at the end of the day, his camp and the Y&R team simply couldn’t find a middle ground. “We ended up not seeing eye to eye on certain aspects of it all, and we decided that this chapter as we know it, for Kyle at least, seeing him every single day on TV, it’s coming to a close,” he shared. “But that doesn’t mean that we [won’t] see Kyle again in the future. Who knows what happens?”
Echoing her co-star’s sentiments, King added that there are no hard feelings between her and the soap she called home for the past nine years. “It’s difficult to be in the middle with the show,” she admitted, “and that’s no ill will toward the show because they have to do what’s best for them and we have to do what’s best for us. But at the end of the day, I love everyone on that show. I cherish that time so much.”
Both actors admitted that they haven’t closed the door on returning to the soap. In fact, they will be appearing for a short time in October when Kyle and Summer come to Genoa City for a visit. “You’ll see Summer and Kyle visit from Italy sometime soon,” confirmed King, adding that she’s open for future return appearances. Likewise, Mealor shared that he will answer should Y&R ever call. “No matter where you call home, you’ve got to go on vacation. So if we’re calling Milan home, then we’ll need to come on vacations to the United States,” he suggested. “So maybe there will be a little vacation to Genoa City sometime soon.”
So keep watching to see what the future might bring for these two!
