Many ‘Young and the Restless’ Fans Prefer the ‘New’ Summer
Summer Newman has been a fan favorite for a while now. The daughter of Phyllis Summers and Nick Newman initially rode on her parents’ coattails, and it appeared as though she didn’t have her own story outside of her parents.
However, Summer managed to carve out her path, and The Young and the Restless fans have loved her character arc since then.
Hunter King played Summer from 2012 until she left the show in 2022. Alison Lanier took over the role, and although fans had difficulty adjusting, some claim to prefer the new Summer.
Fans like the new Summer better
Lanier began playing Summer in May 2022, and fans had mixed reactions to her performance, given they’d seen King in the role for years, and fans loved Hunter King’s performance. Although they had to adjust to seeing a new Summer, some fans now claim to prefer her over King.
Y&R recently tweeted an appreciation post of Lanier’s Summer and Michael Mealor’s Kyle, and fans couldn’t help but voice their love for the actor. One fan wrote that they “much prefer” Lanier as Summer, while others jumped in to voice their love of Lanier’s chemistry with Mealor.
Other fans echoed their love of Lanier’s Summer with Mealor’s Kyle, saying they love these two as a couple and think their chemistry is better than Mealor’s and King’s. It’s clear Twitter fans think Lanier is filling Hunter King’s shoes well.
Fans on Reddit applauded Lanier’s performance, with one saying, “I like her so far. She has a level of pleasant confidence that’s refreshing.”
Hunter King turned down the opportunity to return
King played the legacy character for nearly a decade and received critical praise and award recognition for her role on the show. King’s Summer had trouble with her on-again-off-again boyfriend Kyle Abbott, and things culminated when he discovered he was Tara Locke’s child’s biological father.
Tara started wreaking havoc in Summer’s life, and she blackmailed her into leaving Genoa City. Summer and Kyle called it quits but reunited and left the city when Summer landed a job in Italy as a handbag designer. In 2021, the show reduced King’s role on the soap to guest star, and in early 2022, news broke that the actor wouldn’t return to the show.
According to Soap Opera News, King and her co-star Mealor left the show after contract negotiations fell through. They were unable to negotiate new deals with the producers, and when offered a chance to return full-time, King turned it down.
Producers decided to find another Summer, and after much deliberation, they landed on Lanier. On the other hand, King has been busy as she filmed a pilot for ABC show Prospect and landed a role in Hidden Gems as Addy.
Summer Newman is currently dealing with her mother-in-law’s drama
Summer and Kyle‘s return to Genoa City coincided with the return of Diane Jenkins, Kyle’s presumed dead mother. She had been texting Jack for a long time and eventually decided to reveal herself, much to everyone’s shock.
Diane claimed she wanted to reconnect with her son, and Kyle seems to be giving her the benefit of the doubt and has welcomed her into his life. However, Summer is aware of her mother Phyllis’ and Diane’s rivalry and knows things between them haven’t always ended well.
She is, therefore, very wary of her mother-in-law’s motives. Speculation is that Summer and Diane are sure to butt heads regarding Kyle’s interests and life, which may force Summer to gang up with her mother to take down Diane.
