‘The Young and the Restless’: How Bryton James Felt About Devon Getting Katherine’s Inheritance Back

Bryton James is one of The Young and the Restless‘ longest-running serving cast members, playing Devon Hamilton for many years so far. In an interview, he spoke about one of the character’s biggest moments — finding out he was Katherine Chancellor‘s grandson.

Devon Hamilton is played by Bryton James on ‘The Young and the Restless’

When the character of Devon first introduced, he was in a group home for foster children. He was taken in by Drucilla Winters and her husband, Neil, and stayed with the couple and their daughter, Lily. Eventually, he would go on to be officially adopted by the Winters famliy.

A few members of Devon’s biological family were written onto the show year later down the road. These characters include his younger sister, Ana Hamilton, who initially was thought to be his first cousin. His mother, Yolanda “Harmony” Hamilton had a supporting role around the time the character was introduced. The character was slightly retconned returned in later years as well.

When Harmony was reintroduced and her story was tweaked, Devon’s storyline was also retconned. Devon’s origin and background were changed and he was revealed to actually be the biological son of Tucker McCall, who was the long-lost son of Katherine Chancellor.

Devon being a member of the Chancellor Family has been a big part of his overall storyline on The Young and the Restless since it first happened.

Devon Hamilton becoming Katherine Chancellor’s grandson was a key storyline on ‘The Young and the Restless’

In an interview with TV Insider last year, James reflected on his time playing Devon on the long-running show, including things such as his introduction and what he thought about Devon getting back Katherine’s inheritance.

“There’s so much story and opportunity they’ve created for Devon because of the money and him wanting to do good with it,” the actor said. “He understands where he came from and appreciates where he is. He wants to put that back into the world. Having a character of any color or background represent that is a good thing. I’m very happy that they’ve continued that with him.”

The storyline was a long-time coming for the actor, who first auditioned for the role of Devon on The Young and the Restless when he was just 17. “I couldn’t imagine what I’d be doing because there [on the show] were all these adult storylines on the show,” James said of his audition. “They pulled scenes from old episodes for my audition They had nothing to do with Devon. The scenes were about a character confronting his father for having walked out on the family.”

Bryton James recalls his first audition for ‘The Young and the Restless’

He also said that his first audition didn’t necessarily go as planned because the casting director at the time stopped him in his tracks because he was doing so well.

“My first audition was with then-casting director Marnie Saitta,” the actor reminisced. “She stopped me halfway through my reading and said, ‘Finally! Someone reading the character the way it’s supposed to be read!’ A few days later, I went in for a screen test. The show had given me four new scenes from the audition to the screen test, which was with Christel. I got through it. Christel put in a good word for me and the rest is history.”

The Young and the Restless airs weekdays on CBS.