Amanda’s relationships with the people of Genoa City changed somewhat on Young and Restless when she returned to town to announce that she was now working for the mysterious Aristotle Dumas. Of course, the subsequent reveal that the reclusive businessman was actually Cane Ashby affected those relationships even further. One thing that hasn’t changed is Mishael Morgan’s relationship with co-star and good friend Christel Khalil, though the connection between their alter egos of Amanda and Lily is now going to look a little more like the contentious rivalry between Lily and Amanda’s twin, Hilary, the role Morgan played from 2013-18.

Lie of Omission

When Lily found out that it was her ex-husband, Cane, behind the entire Aristotle Dumas deception, she was furious with him, and Morgan previews to Soap Opera Digest that Amanda isn’t getting away scot-free. “That will extend onto Amanda as well, because I think she was being manipulated by two people,” the actress shares. “Amanda and Lily have had a pretty good relationship up to this point. So I think that there is a lot of betrayal that she feels on her side that [Amanda] didn’t just come out and tell her.

“There’s things that Amanda has to keep in confidence because this is a man that she works for, and from a legal standpoint, she can’t disclose anything that he doesn’t want her to disclose,” Morgan continues. “But trying to get Lily to understand that, I think, will be an uphill battle for sure.”

Backstage Banter

Of course, no matter how bitter and angry the dialogue may get between Amanda and Lily on Y&R, what fans don’t get the opportunity to see is how Morgan and Khalil keep things light and fun while shooting.

“We always joke around about our backstories with our characters on set in between takes,” Morgan reports with a chuckle. “I’m like, ‘Why are you so mad at me, Lily?’ And she was like, ‘Well, look what you did. You’re lying to me this whole time.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, you killed my sister. I should be more mad at you!’ ” The actress laughs harder as she adds, “I’m like, ‘You killed my sister and I got over it.’ And then she’s like, ‘I didn’t kill her! It was an accident!’ ”

On a more serious note, Morgan explains that the close relationship she shares with her castmate is what allows them to go to such fiery places on screen. “They’re so cathartic, because you just get to be angry and yell at somebody and get everything out, and then there’s no consequences,” she says of those kinds of angry scenes. “So they’re always a lot of fun to play. I think the better your rapport with the person as an actor, the easier it is to go there because you know that nothing is personal. I think if you don’t have that great rapport, that’s when it can start to feel a little like, ‘Are you acting or are you being real right now?’ But it’s so much fun to play with Christel because we have such a great relationship.”

Moving Forward

Lily might now dislike Amanda almost as much as she did Hilary in the past, but Morgan says that she’s really feeling the difference between her two Y&R alter egos since taking on the role of Hilary’s twin in 2019. “What’s been interesting is just playing that kind of angry side or this person who has to stand up for what she thinks is right in a different way than Hilary,” she relates. “And I think that was harder for me when I first got on the show and became Amanda. But I am surprised how Amanda has become her own person inside of me. I feel like it just comes off so differently because she’s a lot more grounded in the way that she deals with confrontation. She’s able to handle these situations because she is an attorney, so they don’t feel the same as the Lily and Hilary dynamic when they were angry with each other. It feels a lot more elevated and mature, I guess, is the best way to put it.”

Now that Amanda’s connection to Cane has been exposed and she continues to work with her boss, she’s going to have her work cut out for her if she wants to regain the trust of her friends, particularly Lily. “I think there’s a lot of layers that we can play with as we go forward and as we see how they recover from this — if they recover from this,” Morgan previews. “I know that Amanda is invested in repairing that relationship with Lily, but we’ll see where Lily’s head’s at as the story plays out.”