Is Daniel leaving ‘The Young and the Restless’?

When The Young and the Restless fans start wondering if their beloved characters are leaving, it’s just another day at the office (aka the dramatic Genoa City). But while we might all be used to these queries at this point, the questions surrounding Daniel Romalotti’s (Michael Graziadei) potential exit are particularly anxiety-inducing because of his important history on the CBS soap opera.

While TV fans might recognize him as Travis Wanderlay from American Horror Story: Murder House or the short-lived CW witch teen drama The Secret Circle, Graziadei has played Daniel on The Young and the Restless since 2004, with a few breaks. While his departure would be terrible, let’s sit back and find out if Daniel’s arc is done on the soap!

Will Daniel leave The Young and the Restless?

Graziadei hasn’t shared that he is leaving The Young and the Restless. Daniel could stay on the soap opera for as long as the writers want to keep writing juicy stories for him.

But no one could blame viewers for wondering if Daniel’s days are numbered! As Comingsoon.net and Soaps.com pointed out, Heather Stevens (Vail Bloom), whom Daniel once dated, thinks he could move, and he’s also having trouble with his career. Since his life is totally out of control, many feel the show is preparing fans for a huge goodbye, and people wonder if it could happen at any moment.

Of course, soap opera characters always live chaotic lives, so this is just par for the course. Daniel has had a lot of tragedy, which has informed his character arc and made him one of the strongest and most resilient people in Genoa City. Take his romance with the great character Lily Winters (Christel Khalil), for example. The two fell in love after he drank too much and got a ride from Cassie Newman (Camryn Grimes), who passed away after they got into an accident. Daniel has two sides to him. On the one hand, he’s a caring person who feels guilt about Cassie and not always being there for his daughter Lucy (Lucy Brooks O’Briant). On the other hand, he is unfaithful to Lily with Heather. It’s impossible to love everything about Daniel or every choice that he makes, but he’s still a significant part of Genoa City.

Graziadei has left The Young and the Restless before, including his exit in 2013, which lasted for quite a while. But since he just returned in 2022, I’d argue it’s too soon for him to pack his bags again! When the actor left the soap, it was because, as he told TV Insider, “I wanted to explore other options” in his acting career, and also because his dad had died. Graziadei also shared with TV Insider that he can play Daniel and still make several guest appearances on other TV shows, so he’s definitely got it made!

Whether fans want a redemption arc or for Daniel to finally commit to one of his two love interests, it would be sad if he left before he could wrap up all the loose ends of his storyline.