‘The Young and the Restless’ Newcomer James Hyde Originally Auditioned for the Role of Tucker McCall
The Young and the Restless is currently rumbling through its latest season, and the show has significantly changed the cast. Susan Walters returned to portray Diane Jenkins and former One Life to Live star Trevor St. John signed on to become the new Tucker McCall. He wasn’t the only soap opera actor to join the show.
James Hyde is also a new member of The Young and the Restless, playing a mysterious new character tied to Diane’s past. Hyde is happy to be a part of the show in this capacity. But his first audition was to play a different role on the show.
James Hyde plays a long-lost mystery man on ‘The Young and the Restless’
Diane’s return to the show was a shocking development on its own. She was presumed dead for the last 10 years. While her son Kyle and ex, Jack, were willing to have her back in their lives, she still had a lot of work to return to the fold fully. Diane has a lot of secrets she’s attempting to withhold. But the arrival of Hyde’s character Jeremy Stark makes those revelations harder to conceal.
Jeremy and Diane met while she was in LA. Their relationship started wholesome, with Jeremy coming across as an empathetic man she could easily fall for. But love is never that simple in a soap opera. The truth is that Jeremy was using Diane as a money laundering mule.
Diane attempted to get away from him once she realized what was happening. Jeremy was able to blackmail into keeping the scheme going for a time before he was arrested and sent to jail. Jeremy never snitched on Diane for her involvement, but now that he’s a free man, he is looking for retribution from her while looking into how much evidence Tucker has about his criminal history.
Hyde’s first episode as Stark aired on October 21. Fans of the show will be interested to see how the character impacts the plot going forward.
James Hyde initially auditioned for a different role on the show
Hyde spoke to TV Insider on the eve of Jeremy’s debut to speak about his role on The Young and the Restless and other recent performances.
The actor referred to his casting as “partially manifestation.” He had a relationship with Y&R‘s casting associate Greg Salmon, so he always hoped he would end up on the show. Hyde reached out to his agent several times in the past only to hear “that’s not right for him, but we’re keeping him in mind for something else.”
He auditioned to play Tucker, and while he didn’t get the job, he left a good enough impression to be kept in mind for another part. Hyde explained:
“Greg sent me an email telling me I’d done a nice job and maybe they could incorporate me into the show [in another role]. When you get those emails, you tend to take them with a grain of salt.
A week or so later, they called with the part of Jeremy. I shot my first episode at the end of September and I worked with Susan. It felt so great to be back in this genre.”
James Hyde has experience on another big soap opera
Hyde is already a veteran of daytime TV. He played Sam Bennett on NBC’s Passions for the show’s nine-year runtime. When he wasn’t working as the chief of police in Harmony, he was dealing with plenty of drama at home due to the machinations of characters like Tabitha Lenox and Ivy Winthrop.
His biggest role since Passions was canceled was as Martin Ross on the Netflix series Monarca. He also appeared in many TV movies and showed up for small parts in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Station 19.
