It wasn’t that long ago when we thought The Young and the Restless’ Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) was finding her footing again after faking her death. Daniel (Michael Graziadei) and Summer (Allison Lanier) finally forgave her, she was getting over her heartache after Danny (Michael Damian) chose Christine (Lauralee Bell) and Phyllis even landed the COO job at Abbott-Chancellor working alongside Billy (Jason Thompson). Then things started to unravel.
Sharon (Sharon Case) allegedly killed Heather (Vail Bloom) and subsequently framed Daniel for the murder, completely devastating Phyllis’ family. To make matters worse, Jill (Jess Walton) learned that Billy hired Phyllis and the Abbott-Chancellor owner pushed her son to fire Phyllis and lure Lily (Christel Khalil) back to the company. Now Phyllis once again finds herself unemployed, and she’s desperately trying to prove her son is no killer.
We ultimately think Phyllis will prove successful in ensuring Daniel doesn’t spend the rest of his life in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, so we’ve been thinking more about the uncertainty surrounding her job prospects. At first glance, running through all the companies in town, things don't look good for her.
There’s no way Victor (Eric Braeden) would have Phyllis anywhere near his businesses. He can’t stand her and views her as a troublemaker. While she has experience working at Jabot, she’s still not on great terms with Jack (Peter Bergman), so that seems like a closed door for her as well. She’d also likely strike out trying to get a job at Winters, given Devon (Bryton James) is not a fan of hers. So where does that leave Phyllis?
One option that we can imagine: Phyllis relaunching Restless Style. Longtime viewers will recall she used to help run the fashion publication/sometimes gossip magazine, and that her tenure in the publishing industry was quite the chaotic mess. Given her extensive knowledge of all the main families in town and her already not being that popular, she may want to restart Restless Style as more of a gossip magazine and dish dirt on all the players of Genoa City.
We can also picture a disgruntled Phyllis teaming up with another pariah of Genoa City… Tucker McCall. Yes, he’s currently been out of town for months after being tricked by Audra (Zuleyka Silver) and losing Glissade to Victor, but it’s entirely possible that he returns to town soon with a few scores to settle. He could return as owner of a big new company and seek Phyllis out to be his number two. He previously wanted her to be an employee of Glissade when it was under his control, so he seemingly still knows her value in business.
If none of these come to fruition, then allow us to propose the wild idea of Phyllis coming into a top spot at Cassidy First Technology. While it seems like an absurd notion for Phyllis to work at the company of her mortal enemy, we can see a scenario in which it happens.
After it’s revealed that Phyllis is right and Sharon framed Daniel for murder, perhaps the Summers crew sues Sharon and she loses ownership of the company, or Sharon gives them the business out of guilt. Not for nothing, both Daniel and Phyllis are out of a job and have extensive backgrounds in the tech space. So Phyllis and Daniel working at Cassidy First makes sense. If you’re asking about Mariah (Camryn Grimes), she may not mind working for Daniel, but working with Phyllis is another story. Could Mariah wind up back at Jabot? The Abbott legacy business could certainly use the extra hands.
This is all speculation at the moment, but don’t be surprised if one of our theories rings true.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air on weekdays on CBS. If you miss an episode, you can catch up on Paramount Plus.
