Linden Ashby on His Shocking Y&R Return

The last time Linden Ashby played the villainous Cameron Kirsten on The Young & The Restless, he earned a Daytime Emmy Award nomination in the Outstanding Guest Performance category. But the last time Cameron was on the soap, the psycho was fatally stabbed and died. So his return in the Aug. 1 episode of Y&R was a bit of a surprise… both to Sharon and viewers!

Ashby told TV Insider he never expected to return again after Cameron’s violent end in June 2023. “No, I mean, I was dead,” he admitted. Still, he was excited when the soap contacted him about reprising the role. “I really like everybody on the set. I like my family here, real and imagined. And any time I get to carpool with [my wife] Susan [Walters, Diane], it’s a good day.”

However, Cameron isn’t back from the dead, or even appearing as a ghost to haunt Sharon, but a version of the man she’s imagining in her head. “It’s Sharon’s idea of Cameron,” Ashby explained. “He’s a manifestation of her internal world, to help her give voice to things that she’s afraid to say about loud, things she’s afraid to do. He’s that person who’s encouraging her to do things that maybe she shouldn’t be doing. It’s not quite what Cameron would do, but who knows what Cameron would do — it’s what Sharon believes Cameron would do.”

Although Sharon has promised her family that she would go to the doctor and stop herself from spiraling any further, that doesn’t seem to be what’s going to happen now. Her hallucinations of Nick have been supportive, but Cameron will obviously be very different. And just like her visions of Nick, she will continue to see Cameron as well, with Ashby’s latest guest turn on Y&R lasting for a while. “I’ve read quite a bit ahead,” the actor previewed. “I know where certain things are going and it’s pretty good stuff.”