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Credit: Howard Wise/JPI

Ever since The Young and the Restless re-signed Michael Mealor as Kyle, fans had been wondering whether the CBS soap would next announce that it was bringing back Hunter King as Summer, too. Now they know: It ain’t happening.

On April 20, the show revealed that it had recast the role of Kyle’s bride with Allison Lanier, who you may recognize from Amazon’s Red Oaks or the indie flicks It Happened in L.A., Mia and Fish Bones. (If she wants to brush up on her new character’s history, our photo gallery is a fun-filled crash course in all things Summer.)

You may recall that when Young & Restless let go Mealor and King in the summer of 2021, the actress explained to Soap Opera Digest what had gone down thusly: “When these things happen [during contract negotiations], there’s a variety of reasons why they happen… It’s such an odd process [working out a business arrangement] but also feeling like it’s your family. It’s definitely weird.”

However, King said at the time that “I do hope to always have Summer in my life in some capacity. What that will continue to look like, I’m not quite sure yet, but I know that I hold her very near and dear to my heart.”

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Lanier (right) will pick up where King left off.

Credit: John Paschal/JPI, Christian Delfino

Once Young & Restless resurrected Diane — with Susan Walters reclaiming the role from her last portrayer, Maura West (Ava, General Hospital) — Mealor was put back on contract as the troublemaker and Jack’s son. But since Kyle had only recently married sweetheart Summer… Well, she had to come back, too, fans figured. The show had already married them off off screen, it couldn’t break them up again off screen, too!

Catch up on all of Young & Restless’ latest cast changes in our photo gallery of actors passing through the revolving door.