After 10 years playing Chad DiMera on the Peacock soap opera “Days of Our Lives,” Billy Flynn is heading to CBS’ “Young and the Restless” in a character not yet revealed. He credits his personal and professional growth during that time to the show that he calls “the little engine that could.”
“We do the best work we can despite the obstacles that we’ve faced as a show. Part of that move I’m excited about is [that] they move slower and there’s more time to do stuff. But I was trained like a warrior here,” he tells Variety with a laugh, referring to the rapid “Days” shooting schedule which is more than nine months ahead of air. “There’s a different pace [here], but it’s made me the actor and the person I am today.”
The reason for the move is simple: actors love acting but, as he put it, sometimes they just have to try something new.
“I love acting, and I love stories, and I never imagined I would just tell one story for the rest of my life,” he says. “The fact that I’ve been here 10 years and it’s gone by in the blink of an eye is amazing to me. I wasn’t a baby when I started here; I was 30. I didn’t start acting until I was 26. So it’s gone by really fast. I think with this character, I’ve done everything I can with it. I’m looking forward to doing something new. I’m about to start a new journey and tell another story. It really is just that simple.”
During Flynn’s time on the show, Chad has had two kids and has become a man, one who does his best to do the right thing despite being the illegitimate son of one of the show’s most notorious bad guys, Stefano DiMera. “I’ve got to play this entire revolution. I don’t know what else to do with him. He’s been as much of me as I think I probably will ever put into another part. There were some times when I was going through some really hard things in my life, and it just so happened that Chad was going through similar things: losing his wife, and I had lost somebody close to me. Things have all lined up with the character that made it [so] I put more of Billy into Chad than I probably would’ve otherwise. There were moments in it that became like a love letter to my own kind of life. It’s special in that way.”
For that reason and so much more, Flynn says the move is “bittersweet.” He was living on a 25-foot sailboat and had “absolutely zero money” to his name when he was offered the “Days” role. “Since I took the job, I’ve gotten married, I’ve had two kids, I’ve bought a house. I mean, it’s changed my life. The people that I work with here are close friends — I’ve experienced all sorts of ups and downs since I’ve started this job, and they’ve experienced them with me.”
And it’s not just the people he’s worked with at “Days” but also the show’s fans he’s met along the way who have been supportive and loyal since day one.
“The outpouring of well wishes and love since this came out has been humbling,” he says. “It’s been incredibly moving to me, and I’m gonna take that with me. I hope [fans] continue to watch ‘Days’ and support ‘Days’ and support whoever might come in and play Chad, if there ever is that case. I hope they do that and give somebody the same love they gave me. And I hope that they come with me on this journey that I’m on and support me doing that too.”
Because of the “Days” shooting schedule, Flynn will be seen as Chad in 2026 — while also being seen on “Y&R.”
“In a perfect world, that wouldn’t be the case,” he says, “only because you want people to suspend disbelief” and believe him in each character, which can’t really be done when viewers are seeing him in two different shows at the same time. “It makes my job a little harder.”
“Y&R” EP and headwriter, Josh Griffith, who wrote for “Days” when Flynn first started on the show, said in a statement: “On behalf of the entire company of ‘The Young and the Restless,’ we look forward to welcoming Billy to the show. He will be a wonderful addition to ‘Y&R’s’ stellar cast.”
Flynn says, “Josh wrote for me here, and he wrote amazing material with the Necktie Killer and the birth of Chad and Abigail’s love story in my reign. And I trust that he’s gonna do that with this new character [on ‘Y&R’]. I’ll just be along for the ride. And luckily there’s so many talented people there that I’ll just riding their coattails the same way I rode everyone’s coattails here [at ‘Days’.]”
