The fight over Chancellor (Abbott-Chancellor) is officially underway on The Young and the Restless. In one corner, you have Billy (Jason Thompson), the new sole CEO of Abbott-Chancellor who is on a mission to prove to everyone that he’s not the town screwup. He’s recently taken on Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) as his COO, and while she is an expert hacker and is quite savvy, as history has shown, the two of them together spells trouble.
In the other corner, you have The Great Victor Newman (Eric Braeden), who is more determined than ever to reclaim the company once left to him by his dear friend Katherine Chancellor (Jeanne Cooper). He thinks Billy will just run the company into the ground and destroy Katherine’s legacy, so Victor has taken upon himself to go after the business. The Mustache is rather confident that he’ll succeed in his mission, and promised Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) she'll soon be the company's CEO.
Then there’s Lily (Christel Khalil). She's felt wildly disrespected by both Jill (Jess Walton) and Billy, and her firing was the nail in the coffin. As has been said time and time again, Lily is a big reason Chancellor is a success in this modern era, and from her perspective, she’s not been properly valued. Given such is the case, she wants to undermine Jill and Billy and take back what she thinks she’s owed — the sole CEO position of Chancellor.
In her effort to do that, she’s aligned herself with Victor which could turn out to be a big mistake. He promised her the job title if she provided him with useful information to help strip Billy of Chancellor, and she gullibly told him about Billy’s deal with Odyssey Seven, believing the Newman patriarch would uphold his end of the bargain. Victor, of course, has no plans to install Lily as the head of the company, but he does hope to convince her to join Nikki as her number two.
When Lily shares her plans with Devon (Bryton James) and Nate (Sean Dominic) in The Young and the Restless episode airing on September 19, both men quickly caution her about trusting Victor. They correctly point out that Victor is ruthless when it comes to business and he’ll fire and double-cross his own kids, so that signals he shouldn’t be trusted. Nate goes further and notes that he believes Victor plans to acquire Chancellor and install a Newman as the head of the company, not her.
Lily rebuffs her family’s warning and insists she knows what she’s doing. Her confidence, bordering on hubris, left us thinking about the possibility that Lily actually has a secret plan in the works to combat both Billy and Victor in reclaiming what she thinks is hers. Taking on Victor and Billy would be virtually impossible by herself, so is it possible Lily has or will enlist a secret partner?
Let’s say that Lily, knowing she can’t fully trust Victor, went to him so he can have ammunition to use against Billy. Additionally, knowing Billy is ready to fight for Chancellor, she envisions the two men slugging it out over the company. Perhaps Lily hopes the two will be so distracted with each other, wounding each other’s reputations and plans in the process, that they don’t notice Lily getting her ducks in a row to swoop in.
We can imagine that realizing Victor is going to betray her, she lines up a second-option investor with pockets deep enough to buy Chancellor if the company becomes available for sale. Who might this person be? Tucker.
The last time viewers saw Tucker (Trevor St. John) he was licking his wounds after Audra (Zuleyka Silver) joined forces with Victor to take Glissade from him. It was an embarrassment for him in the corporate world, and he’s bound to want revenge. And what better way to stick it to Victor than to take something he sees as a prized possession?
Plus, viewers shouldn't forget that the last time Tucker blew into town, he wanted to steal Chancellor from Jill, feeling the company should be back in "family" hands. After all, Katherine was his mother. Considering he loathes Billy, he probably isn’t thrilled to see him run the company.
These are all selling points Lily could pitch to Tucker for him to throw his hat in the ring. Furthermore, Lily would hopefully be smarter this go-around and get Tucker to agree in writing to make her the CEO.
Now Tucker being Tucker, he may nudge Lily to sweeten the pot by asking her to build a bridge for him and Devon. While she wouldn’t normally get involved in that relationship, considering how badly she wants Chancellor, she may do Tucker’s bidding. So is a Lily and Tucker partnership in the future? We’ll have to wait and stay tuned.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus the next day.
