Is Jordan Really Gone? Colleen Zenk Reflects on her Young and the Restless Run

Jordan Howard appears to have breathed her last breath on The Young and the Restless, but actress Colleen Zenk had the time of her life returning to the genre that gave her a career.

Joy in Playing Jordan

Zenk is an old soap vet who brought Barbara Ryan to life on As the World Turns for 32 years. From 1978 to 2010, she graced CBS soap screens on a New York-based soap that aired right after The Bold and the Beautiful in most markets.

After more than a decade away from daytime, Zenk got a call from Y&R Executive Producer Josh Griffith asking Zenk if she would be interested in doing a handful of episodes that turned into much more than that.

“When Josh first got a hold of me, he said, ‘I’ve got this character. Are you interested? It’s only about 12 shows,'” she told TV Insider. “And I said, ‘I’m in.’ And then the 12 shows turned into 50 and then I came back for another 22. It’s just been a great ride with a great group of people, from actors to production.”

Zenk loved meeting up with old pals from her New York soap days, including Peter Bergman (Jack Abbott) and Christian Le Blanc (Michael Baldwin). Still, she was nervous after being away from soaps for so long.

“It was daunting, and I was completely intimidated,” she said. “Coming into the show that first week, I was terrified until Eric [Braeden, Victor Newman), on our first or second day of work, looked into the camera and he said, ‘Thank God, you hired me a pro.'”

Sad to See Jordan Go

Zenk also got to turn Jordan into whomever she wanted and she did it with a gusto.

“I wasn’t given really any direction,” she admitted. “I just had to go with what was on the page and figure Jordan out myself. The only thing I kept saying to Josh Griffith was, ‘If I go too far, pull me back.’ He said, ‘You can’t go too far.’ I went, ‘OK.’ That was very freeing as an actor. I had to jump in with both feet and not even think about how out there I was being.”

Still, Zenk was sad to see Jordan go and thought she would stick around a little longer.

“I’m sad Jordan went away so quickly,” she said. “I thought that Ian and Jordan would go out like Bonnie and Clyde together.”

Don’t forget to watch new episodes of The Young and the Restless each weekday on CBS and weeknight on Paramount Plus.