The Young and the Restless characters Jack and Diane may be together on Beyond the Gates, as viewers saw in the crossover episodes this week, but she’s still missing in Genoa City! Now, a new character, played by sitcom star Jere Burns, is joining the Y&R cast as the search for Diane continues!
Dear John’s Jere Burns Comes to Genoa City
Burns, who co-starred along with Walters on the NBC sitcom Dear John, which starred Judd Hirsch, will play Dr. Laurence Markham, starting Monday, June 15. TV Insider was the first to report the news.
There’s been much speculation and some confusion as to where Diane has been. There’s been speculation that Patty Williams (Stacy Haiduk) kidnapped Diane, but perhaps Diane has voluntarily stepped away. She has been known to do that, right?
Years ago, Diane (then played by Maura West, now Ava on General Hospital) faked her death (with help from Deacon, played by Sean Kanan, now on The Bold and the Beautiful). Eventually, Diane and Jack (Peter Bergman) reunited in Los Angeles.
Diane reached out to Jack, hoping to reconcile, having rethought her reaction to catching Jack and Stacy in bed on a yacht — all orchestrated by Victor Newman (Eric Braeden).
Finding Diane
“I loved working with Jere Burns on Dear John, so I was thrilled when I was told that we’d be working together again on Y&R,” Walters said. “He was a fantastic scene partner in this upcoming story arc.”
Last year, Walters won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Y&R’s Diane. The actress began her soap opera career in 1983 as willful, spoiled Lorna Forbes on the half-hour soap opera Loving, which was headwritten by the late, great Douglas Marland.
After exiting Corinth, Walters went to star as Priscilla Presley in Elvis and Me. Her other credits include Good Trouble, The Flash, The Fosters, NCIS, Teen Wolf, How to Get Away With Murder, The Vampire Diaries, Melrose Place, and The Big Easy.
Catch all-new episodes of The Young and the Restless weekdays on CBS and Paramount Plus.
Edited by Michael Maloney