Young & Restless Exclusive: Michael Damian Promises There’s ‘Something Really Wonderful Planned’ for Danny and [Spoiler]

In daytime, it ain’t over till… Well, it ain’t ever over, now is it?

They say that you can never go home again, but they’re — hmm, how to put it — wrong. Just ask Michael Damian, who is reprising his Young & Restless role of Danny Romalotti starting December 22. Returning to the show, where he was a regular for nearly 20 years, “was like going to a reunion, class reunion,” he tells Soaps.com. What’s more, “the writing is exceptional. I’m just really blown away by the the scripts that I received and how true they were to the character and the history.

“And it’s really fun,” he adds. “It’s deep. It’s emotional. And I love all the beats of it. One of the lines I think I might have had was ‘It feels like no time has passed.’” Same for the actor!

They’ve still got it. Or look like they wanna get it!

Credit: ©sean smith/jpistudios.com

The One That Got Away

As longtime fans would hope, the years away have not changed in the slightest Danny’s feelings for Christine, to whom he was married when Phyllis decided that she had to have her favorite rock star by any means necessary. “Absolutely, he still has feelings for Christine,” Damian confirms. “There’s no denying that. The chemistry and the magic is there.

“We’ve gone our separate ways, but I mean, she was Danny’s first love and I think vice versa,” he continues. (Don’t tell Phillip.) The powers that be “played me a couple of flashbacks, and it was really incredible and emotional to get a little taste of my character’s past.”

Danny’s future is looking pretty interesting, too. Young & Restless hasn’t just brought him back for a nostalgia trip, it would seem. “The writers have something really wonderful planned,” teases the daytime vet. “And I think the audience will not be disappointed.”

“Sure, son, Mommy and Daddy tolerate each other very much.”

Credit: ©Brian Lowe/JPI

Danny and Phyllis 2.0?

Young & Restless also has in store for Danny a family reunion with Phyllis and their son, Daniel. How they all came together back in the day is a sordid story. On the road, “Danny was blindsided by Phyllis,” Damian recalls. “He was touring and going a million miles an hour, and she sort of caught him at a weak moment.” (Read all about it in a photo gallery of her checkered past.)

Of course, all of that is ancient history now. So when we see Daniel and his parents together again, “they’ve grown, and there’s an interesting dynamic that I think the audience is going to experience for the first time,” Damian says. “It’s not going to be just be rehash or ‘Oh, I remember those scenes.’ This is something really new and fresh.”

Could they hit the stage together again?

Credit: CBS/Getty Images

Music to Longtime Fans’ Ears

Given that Danny has never gotten over Christine — and her current marriage is a dead end — and the times, they are a-changin’ for him and Phyllis, perhaps there’s room in Genoa City for Damian to stick around. He could even get mixed up with Chancellor-Winters’ music division. Who better to guide it, right, than a recording artist with a home full of gold records like Danny? “I love that the show has kept music alive. Remember, we did the first full-scale concert years ago,” says Damian, whose cover of “Rock On” hit No. 1 in 1989. “Any time you can go back to something that touches on the magical format that Lee and Bill Bell created, it’s going to work.”

Agreed. But is it going to happen? With Danny? “I will say there has been a discussion of music,” his portrayer allows. “I can’t get into details, but there are some musical aspects that have been talked about and will be talked about.” Now that’s music to our ears!

Review Danny’s entire history in Genoa City, with Phyllis, Christine and his original fangirls, in the below photo gallery.