"Y&R" Taps "Guiding Light" Vet
by Vlada Gelman
January 11, 2022


"The Young and the Restless" has found its new Ashland Locke.

"Guiding Light" vet Robert Newman will take over the role from Richard Burgi, who announced his exit from the CBS soap just days ago, Soap Opera Digest reports.

Newman will make his Y&R debut in February.

https://tvline.com/2022/01/11/the-young-and-the-restless-robert-newman-cast-ashland-locke/

Richard Burgi's wife is implying in comments on her most recent IG post (https://www.instagram.com/p/CYh_JkCJS3a/) that he was fired (https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/the-young-and-the-restless-2019.2062198/post-78404312). On Richard's own Instagram story (https://instagram.com/dick_burgi), he's saying that he was let get due to inadvertently breaking the show's Covid restrictions by returning to work too soon after testing positive over the holidays.

I miss Josh Lewis and Guiding Light. I was wondering if there might be any nods to GL that fans might pick up on. They didn't even wait for his first airing. A quick advertisement showed Robert Newman looking confused and said, "I don't feel like I'm in Springfield anymore." That was great!