In many ways, the partnership between The Young and the Restless’ Billy (Jason Thompson) and Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) at Abbott Communications was foretold to fail. For starters, their history together, both professionally and personally, is littered with bad impulse control, manipulation and betrayal. The two may be brilliant creatively as a pair, but they fuel each other’s tendencies to go too far.
Then there’s the fact that no one in town really seemed to be in support of Billy and Phyllis working together again. Jack (Peter Bergman), Diane (Susan Walters), Victoria (Amelia Heinle), Lily (Christel Khalil), Kyle (Michael Mealor) and even Daniel (Michael Graziadei) have all recently predicted that at some point, the exes partnering up in this new venture would lead to disaster. Whether it be because Phyllis is a wild card or because Billy has a tendency to become obsessed with getting one up on Victor (Eric Braeden) and Adam (Mark Grossman), the ominous predictions were put out there.
We also can’t forget the bad feeling we get about Billy’s insistence on working with Aristotle Dumas. Billy is so focused on getting revenge on Victor and regaining control of Chancellor that he’s missing all the red flags waving around the mystery businessman.
Then, in The Young and the Restless episode airing on April 29, Billy tells Phyllis that she’ll no longer be a part of Abbott Communications moving forward. He grew frustrated with her constantly pushing her Daniel agenda and her appearing to spiral out of control, so he terminated her. She’s left devastated, and understandably so. Furthermore, when Daniel hears the news and pleads with Billy for his mother’s job, Billy remains unmoved and unwilling to change his mind.
It’s worth noting that arguably since being terminated from Marchetti, Phyllis hasn’t had a constant source of employment in town. Every time she thinks she’s on the verge of fully launching her next big act, something happens that leads to her being terminated or quitting. She quit Chancellor originally after Daniel was let go, then when she was rehired under Billy’s leadership, Jill (Jess Walton) sold the company to Victor.
With all that being said, we’re wondering about Phyllis’ next move. This is the perfect opportunity to bring up our previous theory that Phyllis would eventually land a job working with Sharon (Sharon Case) at Cassidy First. The two have truly forgiven each other for their sordid past and trauma-bonded thanks to Martin (Christopher Cousins). Plus, Phyllis is very tech-savvy and would be a natural fit at the company. Additionally, in the previously mentioned episode, Mariah (Camryn Grimes) returns after a work trip, and her demeanor seems a bit off, as if she’s worried about work. She may need a hand while Sharon is in London with Nick (Joshua Morrow), so it’s possible Phyllis could come to the rescue.
If Phyllis doesn’t land at Cassidy First, then we think one of two things could happen. First, if Chelsea (Melissa Claire Egan) accepts Adam’s job offer at Newman Media, Summer (Allison Lanier) will be in need of some help at Marchetti. So perhaps Phyllis could return to the company, and therefore, back at Jabot. We can only imagine how much that decision would irritate Diane.
Our last guess is that Phyllis becomes vintage Phyllis and does a bit of scheming. Feeling burned by Billy, she could reach out to Aristotle herself and offer her unique skillset as an employee if he teams with her in either stealing Abbott Communications for herself. Or, she could offer to use her hacking abilities to gain useful information on Victor in exchange for Aristotle giving her a top job at Chancellor should Aristotle acquire it.
Again, Phyllis’ next move for now lies in the realm of theory. However, as you can see, she has some options.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus the next day.