Daytime newcomer Rory Gibson, 26, took over the role of Noah Newman on “The Young and the Restless,” beginning with the Tuesday, October 12 episode. In a teaser video used to help promote his debut, the CBS drama series had the actor passing a football to his on-screen dad, Joshua Morrow (Nicholas Newman), as a sort of tie-in to the network’s airing of NFL games on Sunday afternoons.
In the video, Morrow catches the ball from Gibson and tells his younger co-star, “You’ve got a pretty good arm,” to which Gibson says, “Ah, thanks, Dad. I love football.” Of course, no fan of football can go without being asked who their favorite team is. “Cowboys, for sure!” responds Gibson to Morrow’s question. “Cowboys! You’re going to fit in just great around here, son,” says Morrow. And with that, the camera pans to a smiling Gibson as he begins his journey in Genoa City, a journey that almost never came to be.
Auditioning previously for a smaller role on the show, Gibson recently shared with The Bakersfield Californian that his audition for Noah didn’t go so well the first time but he was given another shot. “They said I was too brooding and intense,” Gibson reveals of his first submission tape. Submitting another tape to make up for the first one turned out to be one of the best decisions he made as he later found out he had missed seven calls from his agent just shortly after arriving home to his girlfriend, Alicia Ruelas, and his two dogs. “It kind of freaked me out,” Gibson told the publication of how soon after auditioning he learned he landed the role. “I was in disbelief.”
“I called my mom almost immediately after I got off the phone with my agents,” Gibson says. “She asked which family I was in. Then I told my grandmother and she was uberly excited.”
In describing his character, who unlike the rest of the Newmans isn’t interested in the business side of things, Gibson notes of Noah, “He is very chill but can be intense when regarding his family.”
Following the wedding between his aunt Victoria (Amelia Heinle) and Ashland Locke (Richard Burgi), Noah will join the family back home in Genoa City after previously residing in London. “He might be missing home, wants to get back in touch with his roots, find some security,” shares Gibson.
While romance is always the driver of soap opera storylines, there are also stories driven by family conflict. “He and his uncle, Adam [Mark Grossman], they have not had the best past. They’ve gotten in fights, butted heads, so there’s always the potential for (more of) that.” Of course, romance could still be on the horizon in the unlikeliest of ways. Stay tuned to find out what we mean.
For more on what Gibson has to say about joining “Y&R,” and returning to his Bakersfield, CA roots, click here.
