Tetona Jackson is joining The Young and the Restless as Roxanne Barrington, the former girlfriend of Devon Winters (Bryton James), taking over the role previously played by Tatyana Ali. TV Insider exclusively revealed the casting, marking the first reported additions to the CBS daytime drama under new co-head writers Jamey Giddens and Dan O’Connor.
Jackson will make her Y&R debut in November, bringing Roxanne back to Genoa City for the first time since the character left town in 2013.
Introduced in 2007, Roxanne and Devon shared an on-again, off-again romance that spanned several years. Their relationship came to an end after Devon accused Roxanne of being a gold digger when she used a debit card he had given her. In reality, she had put down a deposit on a condo for the two of them. Devon eventually apologized, but Roxanne walked away.
Ali earned multiple NAACP Image Awards for her portrayal of Roxanne, including three consecutive wins for Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series. The actress is currently competing on Dancing with the Stars.
Jackson’s television credits include series regular roles on BET’s Boomerang and CBS’ Poppa’s House, along with a recurring role on Freeform’s Good Trouble. She has also appeared in Hulu’s All Night, ABC’s Home Economics, NBC’s Chicago Med, and The CW’s Dynasty.
Also joining the Genoa City canvas is Fareed Ward, who will portray Dr. Andrew Bishop, a new physician at Genoa City Memorial Hospital. He will work alongside Nate Hastings (Sean Dominic) and Stephanie Simmons (Vivica A. Fox), the hospital’s chief of staff.
Ward’s television credits include Will & Grace, CBS’ CIA, FBI, and S.W.A.T., as well as Netflix’s Graveyard. He also appeared on All My Children in 2010 as Larry.
Giddens and O’Connor were hired in July to replace Josh Griffith as co-head writers. Griffith stepped down from the head writer position in June after previously relinquishing his executive producer role.
Giddens is nominated for two Outstanding Writing Team for a Daytime Drama Series awards at the 53rd Daytime Emmy Awards for his work on Days of Our Lives and Beyond the Gates. He also co-created the OWN drama Ambitions with Will Packer.
O’Connor began his daytime career as a writers’ associate on One Life to Live before joining General Hospital in 2013. He went on to serve as associate head writer, breakdown writer, and co-head writer on the ABC soap before most recently writing for Days of Our Lives.
The new writing regime’s material begins airing November 11. The Young and the Restless airs weekdays on CBS. Check local listings.