Hunter King Ponders Her Future — at Young & Restless and Beyond: ‘I Feel So Excited for What’s to Come’
Tuesday, January 17th, 2023
The world is King’s oyster, and she’s ready to shuck it!
Even though Hunter King has moved on from playing Summer Newman on The Young and the Restless, and is happily indulging in her multi-picture deal with the Hallmark Channel, we just had to ask her the inevitable question: Would she ever return to the show? We know, we know… Summer is currently being played by the talented Allison Lanier, but we also know that stranger things have happened. Heck, should King decide to return, the writers could easily create a whole new character to play!
Related Story
King, who hears from Young & Restless fans every day, is as aware of those possibilities as anyone. “People do come and go and paths seem to cross in the soap world,” she said, “So never say never, but right now, I am just so incredibly happy and honored and thankful to be with Hallmark.” Calling her new contract with the network “a dream come true,” she’s “so excited for what’s to come over there and getting to have all these different stories.” Does that means there might be more Nikki & Nora style series of films ahead? Or maybe a sequel to her princely A Royal Corgi Christmas? It’s quite possible — but don’t worry — she still cherishes her time in Genoa City.
“I feel so lucky to have had those years over at The Young and the Restless,” she gushed. “So for now, that chapter is closed and who knows what’s going to happen. We’ll see.” In our minds, that leaves the door open to a soapy return, whether to the show she formerly called home or perhaps one of the other daily dramas.
Meanwhile, you can check out more of our chat with King above. And to relives some of Summer’s best (and, let’s face it, worst) moments, check out the gallery below tracing her life and love in photos!
Most Popular
Advertisement
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
1/18
<p>Born in 2006, lil’ Summer (originally the Kerwin twins, Elara and Rhea) was the adorable byproduct of the relationship that married man Nick Newman struck up with Phyllis Summers after his and wife Sharon’s daughter met an altogether untimely end. Despite the couple’s formation of a mom-and-pop operation, the on-again/off-again couple never seemed to tire of practicing to give their child a kid brother or sister — as you can see!</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
2/18
<p>Given the trouble magnets to whom she was born, it shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise when Summer (then Samantha Bailey) was targeted by Patty Williams in hopes of driving a wedge between Phyllis and her ex, Jack Abbott, aka the object of the madwoman’s obsession. Not only did Patty turn Summer into a bona-fide mop top, she ate a peanut-butter cookie, then kissed her, thus triggering a severe allergic reaction in the youngster.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
3/18
<p>After recovering from Patty’s deadly smooch in Switzerland, Summer (then Lindsay Bushman) returned to Genoa City, only to watch her parents’ relationship crumble over allegations — truthful ones, we might add — that Phyllis once attempted to use nemesis Christine Blair and Paul Williams as speed bumps. To cover her tire tracks, Phyllis faked an affair… which had become real by the time Summer walked in on Mommy getting busy with someone other than Daddy.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
4/18
<p>In an effort to stick it to Mom’s lover Ronan Malloy, Summer (then Hunter King) began messing with the mind of his ward, Jamie. Though she eventually realized, “Gee, I’m kinda being a jerk to someone totally innocent,” coconspirator Fen Baldwin didn’t get the memo and continued tormenting Jamie to the point of a suicide attempt. See also: what’s the matter with kids today.</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
5/18
<p>When Summer took an interest in Kyle Abbott (then Hartley Sawyer), Nick was dead set against it. Not because he disliked Jack’s son with Diane Jenkins especially, it was just that… well, Nick knew that there was a pretty good chance that Summer was actually Jack’s daughter, not his, meaning that she was hoping to lose her virginity to… her half brother.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
6/18
<p>On the plus side, there was no chance that Summer’s next love interest was in any way related to her. On the minus side, Austin Travers (Matthew Atkinson, whom <em>Bold & Beautiful</em> fans will recognize as Thomas Forrester) not only kidnapped her aunt, he shot Paul Williams. And sorry, folks, messing with Paul, never mind shooting him, is something that just can’t be tolerated, no matter how good you look in a set of sheets.</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI (3)
7/18
<p>We don’t wanna say “We told ya so,” but Summer, we did. We so did. After Austin’s murder, his bride discovered that he’d been carrying on with her Aunt Abby. (There’d better have been more than 20 bucks in that next birthday card! Just sayin’.) As Summer mourned, to the rescue rode Kyle (then <em>Station 19’</em>s Lachlan Buchanan), and since by then they knew that they weren’t half siblings, they dulled their pain with sex. (Not pictured: any semblance of sex.)</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
8/18
<p>Summer’s subsequent relationship with Luca Santori was… Gosh, how to put it that won’t sound mean. Disastrous? Unfortunate? Any way you sliced it, it was not a great idea for the ingenue to get mixed up with the cad who was responsible for the destruction of Newman Enterprises’ oil rigs. Also of note: Newman Enterprises has oil rigs? How very Ewing Oil of them!</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
9/18
<p>Eventually, the chickens came home to roost where Summer’s childhood and adolescence were concerned. In other words, she took out her resentment of Phyllis by revealing that Mom had schtupped ex-husband Nick during his return engagement to Sharon and had herself “tucked in” Phyllis’ latest lover, Billy Abbott.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
10/18
<p>When Billy insisted that his night with Summer had been retaliatory against Phyllis, not romantic toward her daughter, the young woman took off for Dubai. Upon her return to Genoa City, she set out to reclaim for herself Kyle (then Michael Mealor). If that meant giving her liver to his new girlfriend Lola Rosales in order to strong-arm him into marriage, so be it!</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
11/18
<p>Color us shocked. Kyle did not stay in his marriage of inconvenience to Summer. On the rebound, she hooked up with Theo Vanderway, who turned out to be related to her latest ex in a roundabout way. The relationship started nowhere and ended in the same place, but damn, they sure made us want lemontinis.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
12/18
<p>Eventually, Summer and Kyle gravitated back towards one another. This time, there was no liver at stake. No life-or-death extortion. Just a couple of exceedingly attractive people admitting that they were exceedingly attracted to one another. What could possibly go wrong, right?</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
13/18
<p>No sooner did Summer start making plans for her life with Kyle than they learned that he was the father of Ashland and Tara Locke’s baby boy, Harrison. Quicker than you could say, “D’oh!” Summer had removed herself from the family portrait, lest her true love miss out on the chance to be a part of his son’s life. Of course, Tara’s status as an outsider and persona non grata was as obvious as her refusal to adhere to the color theme of the day.</p>
Image: CBS screenshot (2)
14/18
<p>Eventually, Kyle learned why Summer had really dumped him and fled overseas, and the two of them were able to start over. Well, over-over. They got their 22nd second chance. And this time, they swore, no matter what calamities came their way, they weren’t going to blow it. “We’ll be the judge of that,” replied the audience, already displeased at the fact that they’d left Genoa City for Milan.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
15/18
<p>After Kyle’s mother Diane Jenkins returned from the dead in 2022, he and his bride (now Allison Lanier) ignored all of the flashing signs blaring “Bad idea! Bad idea!” and returned to Genoa City. Spoiler alert: It was a really bad idea.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
16/18
<p>As if to ensure that the kind of trouble to follow would be big, Summer and Kyle hired both of their mothers at their new fashion house, Marchetti. In no time, what with Phyllis and Diane being sworn enemies and all, the nemeses had risen to the challenge of redefining the term “toxic workplace.”</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
17/18
<p>After her mom died, Summer cried river upon river. But she had a mission to accomplish: to make Diane pay for poisoning Phyllis before the ambulance crash that left her remains unidentifiable. There were just one or two teensy problems with this.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
18/18
