Sally Spectra is about to get a visit from some of her family members when Patrika Darbo reprises her role as Shirley Spectra on “The Young and the Restless,” and newcomer Ashley Campbell takes over the role of Coco Spectra, replacing previous portrayer Courtney Grosbeck.

While an exact air date has not been announced, the daytime drama series notes that Sally (Courtney Hope) can expect their presence in Genoa City sometime next month.

Darbo’s return to the long-running soap opera marks her first appearance since 2021, when Shirley took part in several video calls with her granddaughter. Like Sally herself, Shirley was first introduced as a character in 2017 on sister soap “The Bold and the Beautiful.” Meanwhile, Darbo is best known to soap fans for her role as Nancy Wesley on “Days of our Lives,” and has extensive film and TV credits, including “Desperate Housewives,” “Dexter,” “9-1-1: Lone Star,” and “Me, Myself and I,” among others.

As for Coco, she is Sally’s younger sister, who had a romance with R.J. Forrester (then played by Anthony Turpel) during her limited run on the half-hour soap, with the character now making her first appearance on “The Young and the Restless” alongside her grandmother and elder sister. Coco was previously an intern at Forrester Creations.

In story, Sally is currently engaged to marry Billy Abbott (Jason Thompson), with the two expecting a baby and their wedding date set for October.

Note: The post Patrika Darbo Back To ‘The Young And The Restless’ As Shirley Spectra; Soap Recasts Coco Spectra With Ashley Campbell first appeared on Soap Opera Network.

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This'll be interesting. It is about time that Sally's extended family came to town. And nü Coco looks interesting. Hopefully better than Courtney Grosbeck.

I love Patrika Darbo so I'm always happy if she shows up somewhere. She said earlier this year she was hoping to get to play Shirley again and clearly wasn't that interested in more of what DAYS has done with her.

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

I love Patrika Darbo so I'm always happy if she shows up somewhere. She said earlier this year she was hoping to get to play Shirley again and clearly wasn't that interested in more of what DAYS has done with her.

The way RC took a bulldozer to Nancy and Craig for that offensive storyline should be studied.

21 minutes ago, Antoyne said:

The way RC took a bulldozer to Nancy and Craig for that offensive storyline should be studied.

One of the cruelest, most disgusting things I've ever seen on a soap

13 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

One of the cruelest, most disgusting things I've ever seen on a soap

And for no reason except that the Craig actor is gay 🤦🏾‍♂️.

3 minutes ago, Antoyne said:

And for no reason except that the Craig actor is gay 🤦🏾‍♂️.

And because RC never passed up the chance to make a female character look as pathetic as possible. I don't blame her one bit if she isn't interested in going back to Days.

36 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

And because RC never passed up the chance to make a female character look as pathetic as possible. I don't blame her one bit if she isn't interested in going back to Days.

Like honestly why would you ever trust the show again after that even with RC gone, because the Leo character is still featured heavily.

This is the new writers first move?

Short term supporting is fine-they need to add more of these characters to add depth to the story.

None of this would be needed if Courtney Hope had simply been a new character. Her being Sally really had no consequence.

I wonder which creative regime opted for this. I don't hate the idea of more young Spectras on canvas to freshen things up at Y&R, but I do think Sally is played out. (I would happily poach Courtney Hope for GH)

I think there was a way to do a coming out story for Craig and Nancy on DOOL that acknowledged the elephant in the room with Kevin Spirtas (not that you had to do that either). BITD at OLTL I often thought you could handle it with Tuc Watkins and David Vickers by simply dropping in a casual line that David was omnisexual, that Dorian has always known and neither of them mind. That could've also opened things up for David in future, if the marriage became open. With the Wesleys it should have been handled much more sensitively than that idea or than it was on that show, if at all.

Edited 9 hours ago9 hr by Vee