Fictional character from The Young and the Restless
Adam Newman is a fictional character from "The Young and the Restless", a soap opera on the CBS network. Adam was created by William J. Bell as the son of Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) and Hope Wilson (Signy Coleman) and was introduced on April 24, 1995. Adam left town two years after his birth and was raised in Kansas by his mother, growing up without knowing that Victor is his father.
In 2008, Chris Engen began portraying Adam as an adult. After a year in the role, Engen announced his exit from "The Young and the Restless" because of objections over his storyline, and Michael Muhney was recast in the role. Controversy arose two weeks after Muhney's debut when Adam seduced male character Rafe Torres (Yani Gellman). The media accused Engen of homophobia, but the actor dispelled these rumors, saying he was unhappy with his storyline long before the homosexuality plot twist was aired. In 2013, Muhney was fired from the role and made his last appearance on January 30, 2014; later that year, Justin Hartley was cast as Adam, who portrayed Adam for an additional two years before vacating the role on September 1, 2016. In May 2019, Mark Grossman took claim over the role, receiving his first credit as Adam on May 9.
The character is known as an anti-hero, described as "one of the most devious characters on daytime" by "The Advocate". He is notable for his relationships with Sharon Newman (Sharon Case)—a pairing regarded as "dark" by SoapNet—and Chelsea Lawson (Melissa Claire Egan). Adam has a severely bad relationship with his father, who often does not accept him as part of his family.
Muhney, Hartley and Grossman's performances in the role have been met with favorable reception from audiences and critics. Muhney was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of Adam in 2013. Hartley received a nomination in that same category in 2016. Meanwhile, Grossman earned himself an Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category in 2020.
Casting and creation.
Series creator William J. Bell created Victor Newman Jr. in 1995 as part of a social issue storyline. The plot involved Hope Adams' decision to carry Victor's child to term despite the possibility that he could inherit his mother's blindness, which could manifest later in life. ;ref name="Soap Opera Digest 2/19/08 Losing Hope" ; ;/ref ; Adam was first portrayed in 1995 by infant actors, including twins Celeste and Coryn Williams, followed by Danielle and Sabrina Helper and then Spencer Klass. Hayden Tank played the role from December 1996 to August 1997, and returned for a guest appearance on June 26, 2002. In 2008, it was announced that the character had been rapidly aged to an adult. Chris Engen assumed the role of Adam on February 12, 2008. ;ref name="Soap Opera Digest 2/19/08 Comings and Goings" ; ;/ref ;
In May 2009, it was announced that Engen was leaving the program and that Muhney had immediately been recast in the role. ;ref name="Engen/Muhney" ; ;/ref ; Muhney made his first appearance as Adam on June 25, 2009. In 2011, Muhney signed a contract that would keep him in the role for an unspecified period. In April 2013, Muhney announced that he had signed a new contract that would expire in June 2015. In December, however, Muhney announced that he had been abruptly let go from the soap opera, with his last airdate on January 30, 2014. In August, it was announced that Hartley had been cast as Adam, due to begin taping in September; he first aired on November 5, 2014. Upon the news of his casting, the actor told "TV Guide": "I'm so pumped about joining "Y&amp;R" — I watch it all the time and can't wait to get in there and get my hands dirty!" In 2016, it was announced that Hartley had been cast in a regular role on the NBC drama series "This Is Us", which was picked up by the network, placing his future with "The Young and the Restless" into question. In September 2016, Hartley confirmed his exit from the soap opera on his Facebook page, thanking fans for their support as well as encouraging them to watch him on "This Is Us". He had last appeared on September 1, 2016.
In March 2019, "Daytime Confidential" broke the news that actor Mark Grossman had been cast in the role. He received his first credit in the role on May 9, although his first appearance would be on May 13, 2019. In 2020, child actor Dane West was cast in the role, portraying Adam in newly created flashbacks.
Development.
Characterization and portrayal.
Adam's off-screen background was established to reflect that of his father; the character was highly self-motivated, studying at college and beginning a career in finance. In an interview with "Soaps In Depth", Engen said, "Luckily, I'm not going to be compared to anyone else ... anything I do and anything I try to project, and [the] kind of ideas that I have to influence the character are okay". The actor stated his intent to portray Adam as a "rich, three-dimensional character with ambitions, flaws, and the positive qualities of his mother Hope". ;ref name="SID 4/14/08 Son" ; ;/ref ;
As the character's storyline progressed, he became "one of the most devious characters on daytime" as part of a Gothic plot in which Adam secretly torments Ashley, Victor's love interest, to get revenge on his father. ;ref name="SID 6/22/09 Tragedy Strikes!" ; ;/ref ; The story called for Adam to be blind, with uncertainty whether his condition is genuine. Engen told Julie McElwain of "Soaps In Depth" that he was not sure how to portray the blindness. He said, "I didn't want to nail it on the head completely with the blindness, because I wasn't sure if the blindness was real. Signy [who portrayed Hope] won awards for her portrayal of retinitis pigmentosa, and I thought it would be a dishonor to that if I came too close to the mark." ;ref name="SID 6/22/09 Smooth Operator" ; ;/ref ; Engen said that he thought that former executive producers, Maria Arena Bell and Paul Rauch, and the writers "know what they're doing, and right now it would seem like Adam is instigating more ... drama." The actor worried whether the character's actions might lead to him becoming "irredeemable", but also said he took it as a challenge to make what Adam does "interesting and human".
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"It is because of how he mixes it up. I guess there is no other way to describe it but being a catalytic character. It is nicer when you can be in the center of the hub of the wheel where the spokes all meet, so I have a lot of spokes sticking out from my character that takes him in a lot of directions. It makes it interesting. It is not just a paycheck."
—Muhney, when asked what he likes portraying about Adam (2013)
Muhney said in an interview that the plot point of seducing Rafe broadened Adam's horizons. He said, "What it did was move a character who represents a person who lives in Genoa City and moved him outside of a box that you can neatly check off. 'He is straight, he is this, or he is that,' and the fact that some lines are blurred makes him more real. When they did that with this character, I loved the opportunity to play into a different realm which is usually not touched upon on television." Muhney described the character as a "puppeteer" with "survival instinct", but also someone with a conscience. In another interview, when asked what he likes about portraying Adam, Muhney stated: "You want to play a catalytic character. You know a troublemaker is good business. You know someone who doesn't swim with the fishes, who swims upstream in the other direction, is someone who is going to cause friction and turbulence in storyline with other characters. I have been told by many of my cast members that the role to play is Adam. They say, "If I were to have a choice, the character I would want to play is your role, Adam."
Relationships.
Adam's first romance was with Heather Stevens (Vail Bloom), which received viewer support. ;ref name="SID 3/30/09 Mom Knows Best" ; ;/ref ; ;ref name="SID 10/27/09 Burn Notice" ; ;/ref ; Engen said that he "thanked God" for that aspect of his storyline, that he felt Adam "genuinely loves" Heather and that she had been "the only light in this world of darkness that the character had lived in" since Engen started portraying the character.
Adam has been involved with his brother's ex-wife, Sharon Newman (Sharon Case)—a relationship which SoapNet described as "dark". Adam stole Sharon's newborn baby, Faith, and gave her to Ashley Abbott (Eileen Davidson)—whom he caused to have a miscarriage and a phantom pregnancy. Despite knowing this and seeing Sharon grieve, Adam bonded with her out of guilt; however, they fell in love and married. Muhney told SoapNet that Adam "unequivocally loves her 100%", and said, "You can argue as much logic as you want about what Adam has done and what he is doing." Sharon remained in love with Adam after his kidnapping of Faith was revealed. The soap's other characters, who viewed him as a criminal, were displeased with the romance. Case described Sharon's ability to forgive Adam as a "tough pill to swallow", and also compared it to Nick's love for Phyllis—who had "blown people up and ran people over". Jamey Giddens of Zap2it described Adam and Sharon's relationship as "inappropriate" yet "red-hot". Several of Sharon's friends, including her ex-husband Jack, disowned her because of the relationship. After Sharon's conviction for the murder of Adam's ex-wife Skye, she escaped after being sentenced to life imprisonment. During this storyline, Case still supported the couple—dubbed "Shadam" by viewers—saying that the pairing "took us all by surprise". Case also said, "That is what I was referring to with this storyline because of the pace and the vitality that "Shadam" has." While on the run, Sharon slept with a man named Sam when Adam thought she was dead. Feeling betrayed, Adam tricked her into a jailhouse wedding where he abandoned her, leaving Sharon heartbroken and angry.
Nicholas – Sharon's first husband and Adam's brother – later forced Sharon to get a restraining order against Adam. The night before it became active, she spent the night with Adam, who vowed to fight the order, refusing to give Sharon up. Jae' Jones from "Yahoo!" said that Sharon's actions "always" lead her back to Adam. Adam was attacked by Patty Williams (Stacy Haiduk), and his impaired vision returned. Sharon looked after Adam and even returned him to his mother's farm in Kansas where they reconnected. Adam proposed to her and they returned to Genoa City. However, Sharon ended their relationship shortly after learning of Adam's role in freeing Patty—who went on to wreak havoc and hurt loved ones—from a psychiatric hospital two years earlier. Although Sharon knew Adam had changed, she refused to bet anything on him.
Despite Adam's marriage to Chelsea Lawson (Melissa Claire Egan), he helped Sharon after she had a mental breakdown and burned down the Newman ranch. Case said that Sharon's relationship with Nick "held more weight", and that Sharon and Adam is "just as deep". Adam had an arsonist set fire to another building to avoid Sharon being implicated for the fire at the ranch. The arsonist burned down a restaurant owned by Chelsea's father. Chelsea became insecure and bitter towards Sharon, and was enraged at Adam for breaking the law to save Sharon. Chelsea warned Sharon to stay away from Adam; Sharon told her that Adam would never love Chelsea the way he loves her. Luke Kerr of "Zap2It" said that Chelsea was "out of her league" and the storyline was "fun".
Egan said: "I love working with Michael Muhney. I heard about him because my mom had watched "Y&amp;R" before I joined. So when I told her my character was going to be mixed up with Adam, she went, 'Oh! He is so good, but so bad'". Egan said that her mother "told me he was a great character, but an evil one, so I was really excited.