Young And The Restless Cliffhangers That Surprised Fans

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11. Cane’s Shooting

In an effort to stop his dad Colin from marrying Jill, Cane Ashby rushed to the church on the day of their wedding back in early 2011. Sadly, he was unsuccessful in stopping their holy union and was shot. Could Cane really be gone, forever? Lily was left devastated, and Y&R fans grieved heavily on this. So much so, many started a petition to get actor Daniel Goddard back on the show’s set. The good news is that the show hired Goddard back, and the storyline experienced a plot twist when viewers learned that it was his identical twin Caleb, and not Cane, who suffered the shot that fateful day.
©sean smith/jpistudios.com

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10. Out Of The Ashes

This cliffhanger took place in 2007 and was launched with a tremendous amount of publicity! It even had its own name, referred to as Y&R’s “Out of the Ashes” storyline. A resort and casino was being built nearby Genoa City in a town known as Clear Springs. There was an explosion in the underground parking garage that caused a building to collapse, and as luck would have it, many main characters were in the area at the time, most of which were injured in some form or another due to being ‘trapped’ from the incident. Would there be fatalities? Would anyone be drastically injured? What would happen to Vicky Newman, Kay Chancellor, Amber Moore, Sharon and Nick Newman, Jack Abbott, and others? It was one of those cliffhangers that rocked the Y&R and its fans to their very core.
©Aaron Montgomery/jpistudios.com

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9. What Happened To Brad Carlton?

There wasn’t a dry eye in any Y&R fan’s home the day everyone realized what happened to Brad Carlton that winter in 2009. The storyline was a heated one at the time: Brad followed a confused Sharon to the Abbott cabin to state his love for her only to be rejected. There was a terrible snowstorm in Genoa City (and surrounding areas) that night and, as he headed home, he stopped due to car issues and heard Sharon’s son Noah in need of help. Noah was drowning, and Brad saved him, but the aftermath would create shockwaves throughout Y&R. Noah was saved, but where was Brad Carlton and why was he not around? Carlton’s body was found shortly after, frozen under the ice. He had saved Noah from drowning but passed away as a hero suffering the very same fate the boy almost had.
©Aaron Montgomery/jpistudios.com

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8. Cassie Returns?

Actress Camryn Grimes made her official return to daytime and Genoa City back in 2014; however, when she began showing up on Y&R, fans were perplexed about the storyline around her. As the actress who played a character that had passed on, many wondered if she was appearing to Sharon as a ghost, as she always had been in the past, or was Sharon losing her mind again? It was crystal clear that something big was on the horizon during a cliffhanger episode where “Cassie” was shown to be aligned with Victor Newman. Cassie clearly wasn’t Cassie at that point, and the entire arc was spun into a larger storyline that involved a twin sister angle.
© sean smith/jpistudios.com

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7. Faith’s Father

Speaking of Cassie, when the teenager passed away in 2005, she relayed a premonition to her parents that they would have another little girl someday. Four years later, Faith Newman was born, and while the premonition came true, the child’s conception was contentious. Sharon was going through a difficult time in 2009. She was in love with Nick and the two had an affair, but she was also dealing with mental health issues. Around the same time that she slept with Nick, she also engaged in relations with Billy Abbott and her ex, Jack. This left a huge question mark around Faith’s paternity that lingered for a long while until a test proved that Nick was indeed the child’s father.

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6. Halloween 2015

It seems that Y&R does love its explosions! An incident that occurred during a Halloween Party dedicated to Delia Abbott and the Delia Project foundation in 2015 showed just that, and created a huge cliffhanger for viewers. A good chunk of Y&R‘s characters (and their kids) were at the party, so it left fans wondering if any other Genoa City kiddos would fall victim to any horrible accidents. The building caught fire, which resulted in an explosion with many heroes emerging from the episode. Thankfully, the incident caused a lot of drama, but all the children at the party made it out to safety.
© sean smith/jpistudios.com

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5. Colleen Carlton Passes Away

In the fall of 2009, insane Patty Williams went on a rampage and kidnapped Colleen Carlton. Desperate to get away, and stranded in the middle of a lake on a canoe, Colleen was able to break free from Patty. Sadly, she bumped her head on the canoe as she tried to swim away and fell underwater in (what seemed like) the same lake her dad (Brad Carlton) drowned in years ago. What proceeded after that was a dream-like sequence of eerie segments where Colleen was visited by those she was close to, including her late grandfather and father. While Jack did ‘save’ Colleen at the lake, Y&R viewers sat at the edge of their seats during this cliffhanger to see if Colleen would live or if her life would end in a similar fashion to the way her dad’s did. In the end, Colleen was pronounced deceased when she arrived at the hospital, which devastated family, friends, and Y&R fans.
©sean smith/jpistudios.com

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4. Victor Has a Heart Attack

There is no love lost between Victor Newman and Jack Abbott; it’s the way it has always been and it is the way it will always be. So, it’s not that unexpected to see Jack leaving Victor at his weakest moment and not give it a second thought – especially with all that Victor has done in the past. A pretty interesting cliffhanger happened in the mid-‘90s during a confrontation between Jack and Victor. Victor collapsed from a heart attack and Y&R fans were shocked when Jack simply left Victor behind, without the inkling to help or call for assistance. Victor turned out to be okay, and Jack did end up going back to help his nemesis, but at the time the cliffhanger left fans wondering all sorts of “what ifs.”
© Aaron Montgomery/JPI

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3. Billy And Mac’s Wedding

In 2003, Billy Abbott was absolutely in love with Mackenzie Browning! So much so, the two young lovebirds were headed to the altar with a bright future ahead. Until Jill found out that she was Katherine Chancellor’s daughter, which would make the couple kissing cousins. Yuck! Jill tried with all her might to stop the wedding, but would she make it back to town in time to ensure they didn’t consummate the marriage? She did not stop the wedding, but she did stop anything else that might happen afterward, and let’s just say Billy and Mac did not make it on their honeymoon. The good news is, in the long run, the two were not related at all when a second test was done years later, proving that Kay was not Jill’s mother! Phew!
©Jesse Grant/JPI

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2. Delia’s Passing

Genoa City mourned the demise of little DeeDee Abbott in 2013, as there were hopes that the little girl would or could potentially pull through after Adam Newman accidentally hit the child one night in October. After all, hadn’t she just survived cancer a year earlier? This cliffhanger – as parents, stepparents, and family prayed for Delia’s recovery – had a sad conclusion and perhaps a bone-chilling scene when Delia’s mom Chloe relayed the news in the hospital to dad Billy Abbott, essentially blaming her for Delia’s passing.
© Sean Smith/jpistudios.com

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1. Skye Lockhart And The Volcano

In 2010, Skye Lockhart was involved in an over-the-top storyline where everyone thought she had passed, but she ended up alive, only to fall into a volcano! At that point in time, Shadam ruled Genoa City and Sharon was desperate to prove the innocence of her boyfriend, Adam. He was locked up in jail for supposedly killing his then-wife, Skye. Sharon would parade off to Hawaii in search of Lockhart to help get Adam off the hook and she found her — but not before Skye tried to steal Sharon’s proof that she was alive, and then accidentally fell into a steamy hot lava volcano. Meanwhile, Adam was cleared of all charges, as footage revealed that Sharon might have murdered Skye. This cliffhanger left fans wondering for months (and months … and months) if Sharon would ever be cleared. She eventually was, but in typical soap fashion, there were many twists and turns along the way!
©sean smith/jpistudios.com

Dorathy Gass

Dorathy Gass is an avid fan of daytime drama and has been watching Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, and Young and the Restless for over two decades now. As a full-time freelance writer, she gets to combine her love of soap operas and writing through her Fame 10 articles. Also a mother of two busy girls and a mommy blogger, she's been published multiple times over in Huffington Post Parents and Scary Mommy.