Y&R Exclusive: Christel Khalil on Cane’s Donor Offer — A Lily and Cane Turning Point?
On The Young and the Restless, Lily is on a mission to find a bone marrow donor for her uncle/biological father, Malcolm (Shemar Moore), who is battling aplastic anemia. As hope of finding a compatible donor fades, “Lily has started to lose it,” notes her portrayer, Christel Khalil. But a magnanimous offer from her ex-husband, Cane (Billy Flynn), may prove to be the miracle she’s been praying for.
Playing with Matches
The 2019 death of Neil (Kristoff St. John), the man who raised her, has made Lily all the more desperate not to lose Malcolm, says Khalil. “I think it’s this thing of, ‘I couldn’t save my dad, now I might not be able to save my uncle. What am I going to do?’ She’s realizing that this is the last parental figure that she has around, and what if he dies? And that’s really scary.”
Lily was in the throes of despair when Cane overheard her on the phone with Malcolm on the April 23 episode and got her to reveal what’s going on. “I think at first, she was not telling him because she was really trying to keep Malcolm’s confidence,” Khalil explains. “It’s not her place to share that kind of news. But he can tell something has happened, and she ends up telling him.”
Cane and Lily have not been in a great place of late. “He is pretty upset with her about the whole fake kidnapping thing, which is fair,” says Khalil. But as Cane absorbs Lily’s news about Malcolm and his dwindling options for a donor, “This is what really matters,” the actress declares. “Everything else kind of falls to the wayside. When this comes up, [he’s like], ‘Let’s not even think about [the tension between us]. This is way more important, and I want to be here for you while you’re going through this.'”
His show of support does not go unappreciated by Lily. “I think it means everything to her,” Khalil notes. “It’s like, ‘Oh, wow. This person is really showing how much he has unconditional love for me.’ That’s a big thing for Lily and kind of makes her see him in a different light.”
Cane’s stock continues to rise with Lily when he offers to be tested as a donor, even though it seems like a long shot. “When he volunteers to do that, she’s thinking, ‘There’s no way he’s going to be a match. She’s not really wanting to get her hopes up, because her hopes were up when it came to Holden, when it came to the twins [Cane and Lily’s offspring, Charlie and Mattie, none of whom were matches].”
If Cane did prove to be a match, Khalil says, Lily would be “mind-blown. It would be shocking and amazing — a myriad of emotions.” Whether it would fast-track the duo back to a reunion, she’s not so sure, given that Lily is so focused right now on Malcolm’s health.
Still, she’s loving the journey Y&R has scripted for the new era of the two characters’ love story since Flynn took over the role last year. “It’s been great,” the actress beams. “I love working with Billy. He’s amazing! He’s so fun and funny, and we have a lot in common and get along, and so it’s been really fun to work with him. And to have it be a different version of Cane, like a whole new Cane, has been really fun to explore, [because] it’s a brand-new Lily and Cane. And,” she teases, “there’s some really exciting stuff coming up.”
Khalil is happy that the audience is responding so well to the on-screen chemistry between her and Flynn. “When you have chemistry with someone, I think you can kind of feel it when you’re acting with them, and I felt that way with Billy right off the bat,” she shares. “It was like, ‘This feels really good.’ And when you hear people say it, you’re like, ‘Okay, cool! We’re on the right track.'”
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Soap Opera Digest does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.