Young And Restless’s Melissa Ordway (Abby) Lands New Role: ‘Such A Dream’
Melissa Ordway on the set of her new project with (from l.) A Martinez (ex-Cruz, Santa Barbara, et al), Johnathon Schaech, Kristoffer Polaha and Jesse Hutch.
In November 2024 — the same day her Young and Restless alter ego, Abby Newman, married Devon Winters — Melissa Ordway shared on Instagram that she had been taken off contract at the show, where she had been playing the daughter of Victor Newman and Ashley Abbott since April 16, 2013. Now the star, who remains on recurring status on Y&R, has booked a new role.
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Ordway will be guest-starring on Blue Ridge: The Series, which airs on the digital cable network INSP and shoots in Charlotte, North Carolina. In the episode she’s shooting, she will be playing a character named Janet. The actress shared snapshots from the set alongside other members of the episode’s casts, one of whom is no stranger to the daytime world himself: A Martinez, a 1990 Daytime Emmy Award winner in the Lead Actor category for his work as Cruz Castillo on Santa Barbara. Martinez is also familiar to soap fans for his runs on General Hospital as Roy DiLucca, One Life to Live (Ray Montez) and Days of Our Lives (Eduardo Hernandez).
From the looks of it, Ordway’s new alter ego, Janet, is also an actress. Ordway wrote in her Instagram caption, “To be, or not to be, that is the question”…. 🎭 Thankful to be a part of this super fun episode of #BlueRidge 🎬 #daytwo ✌🏼.” On her third day of filming, she posted some video snippets of her day, and captioned the post, “Come with me for a day on the set of #blueridge 🎬 This show is such a dream and so much fun! ✨ So grateful to be a part of this fun episode! ❤️” Her Y&R mother, Eileen Davidson (Ashley), commented, “Yayyyyyy! You killed it I’m sure!” to which Ordway replied, “❤🥰 miss you so much.”
In an earlier Instagram post, Ordway wrote, “Pack with me to go film in NC and LA 🎬 Heading out of town to work on a couple super fun things… can you guess what it is?!” Y&R, of course, shoots in Los Angeles, so it’s possible Abby will be popping up again in Genoa City sometime soon. The actress made it clear after her contract status changed that she hoped to remain active in the Genoa City landscape, noting that being taken off contract was “not something I wanted but I love and respect my YR family and appreciate any time they ask me back.”
She continued, “I’m still playing Abby. I’m just not guaranteed episodes and can work on other projects. I’m still a part of the YR family and pray they continue to let Abby be a part of all the things in Genoa City. Trust me, I hope I’m still there all the time! I think they’re just focusing on other characters and storylines.”
The following day, Ordway made a video thanking fans for their support, In it, she said, “I honestly was not expecting the reaction that I woke up to this morning with all the news outlets kind of taking the story and running with it. It is true, I am no longer on contract, but I’m still on Young and Restless, I’m still playing Abby, it’s just in a different capacity.”
Check out the video of her day at work on Blue Ridge: The Series below!
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