The Young and the Restless star J. Eddie Peck opened up about his exit from the soap opera, sharing that he never expected his time on the series to end so abruptly.
The actor, who portrayed Cole Howard on the hit show, found out that his character was slated to die during a phone call with the head writer and executive producer Josh Griffith, who broke the news a week before shooting his final episode.
Holding out hope
J. Eddie recounted his final days as Cole in an interview with Soap Opera Digest, revealing that he believed his character would overcome the serious cough he had developed.
“I wasn’t worried,” he told the outlet. “I wasn’t worried at all. I thought, ‘Ah, now this is a way in which they’re going to use Cole’s cough, and his illness is going to take a turn. He’s going to be living in the tack house, and Victoria’s [Amelia Heinle] likely going to nurse him back to health, and this is a way in which they’re going to accelerate their relationship quickly and deepen it quickly.'”
It wasn’t until Josh shared the sad news with him that he accepted Cole’s fate.
He discovered that his time on the show was ending during a phone call
“Josh had given me a call, and just the tone of his voice…he said, ‘Well, J. Eddie, you probably know where all this cough is going,'” he recalled.
“So when he said that, I was like, ‘Oh, okay, now I know where it’s going.’ It’s not that I felt the entire time that Cole was going to dodge this — as time went on, I started getting a little wary. But truly, I didn’t really know until that time came and I was, ‘Oh, yeah, this is all kind of adding up that Cole is not going to survive this one.'”
End of an era
The star reprised his role in 2023
Despite his untimely exit from the soap, J. Eddie shared how grateful he was to have been given the opportunity to reprise his role, after playing Cole from 1993 until 1999.
He was invited to return as Cole in 2023, and gladly took up the mantle. “They could have killed him all those years ago,” he said. “I’m so grateful that back in the day that Bill [Bell, Y&R’s co-creator] wanted to keep that character.”
“He always told me, ‘Cole will always have a place. Cole’s going to return.’ And I wasn’t always sure if Cole returned, if it was going to be me or not after we went beyond 20 years. But fortunately and thankfully, when they did decide to bring him back, they decided to give me a shout first, and I really appreciate that.”
He revealed that his final days of filming were incredibly emotional
J. Eddie’s role on Y&R was not his first foray into the world of soap operas; he portrayed Howard Hawkins on Days of Our Lives from 1991 to 1992, and starred as Dr Jake Martin in All My Children from 2000 to 2003.
The veteran actor shared that his final scenes were some of the most difficult to film, as he grappled with his time on the show coming to an end.
“I’m glad that he was given the opportunity to do that on screen, to say goodbye,” J. Eddie said. “Emotionally, it was hard for me. Even when we were doing the rehearsals, it was very hard for me, emotionally, to keep it together.”
“This role meant so much to me,” he concluded.
