Icons from 50 Years of The Young and the Restless Celebrate Show's Golden Anniversary – See the Cast Photo
The Young and The Restless is preparing to celebrate its golden milestone!
The Daytime Emmy Award-winning CBS show kicked off its 50th anniversary season in September — and now, ahead of its 50th broadcast anniversary on March 26, PEOPLE has an exclusive look at the cast's glitzy group photo, and a behind-the-scenes look at their photo shoot.
The shot shows the current cast — including veteran stars Melody Thomas Scott, Eric Braeden, Eileen Davidson, Beth Maitland, Jess Walton, Peter Bergman and Christian Le Blanc — dressed to the nines in front of a golden backdrop.
Other actors featured in the shot include Tracey E. Bregman, Christel Khalil, Kate Linder, Bryton James, Melissa Claire Egan, Kelsey Wang, Conner Floyd, Cait Fairbanks, Courtney Hope, Brytni Sarpy, Trevor St. John, Greg Rikaart, Elizabeth Hendrikson, Rory Gibson, Zuleyka Silver, Allison Lanier, Melissa Ordway, Michelle Stafford, Jason Thompson, Joshua Morrow, Amelia Heinle, Sharon Case, Sean Dominic, Camryn Grimes, Mark Grossman, Lauralee Bell, Susan Walters, Michael Mealor, Mishael Morgan and Michael Graziadei.
In the clip, the stars speak about the show's milestone and the impact of the full cast snapshot. "What is so special about this day is you've never seen the entire cast together," says Bergman, who plays Jack Abbott.
Sonja Flemming/CBS The Young and the Restless
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Morrow, who portrays Nicholas Newman, adds: "It's like a high school reunion because our show is an enormous cast."
Ordway (Abby Newman) calls the photo "a moment in time of what's going on on The Young and the Restless" while Bregman (Lauren Fenmore Baldwin) and Maitland (Traci Abbott) emphasize the longevity of the show.
"To know that I've been there through four decades of these [photos], it's an extraordinary experience," says Bregman.
Notes Maitland: "It's unbelievable to have this much companionship and years watching each other grow."
James, who plays Devon Hamilton, adds: "Half a century of bringing joy to people's lives is a great thing to celebrate."
Monty Brinton/CBS via Getty Eileen Davidson, John McCook, Peter Bergman, and Tracey Bregman
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Created by the late William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell, The Young and the Restless follows the lives of the residents of the fictional Genoa City. Since its premiere in March 1973, the series has welcomed over 350 cast members.
Scott, Braeden, Davidson, Maitland, Walton, Bergman and Le Blanc currently top the list as the show's longest cast members, with Scott appearing on the series for 43 years and Braeden following with 42.
Davidson, Linder, and Maitland all have 40 years under their belt, while Walton, Bergman and Le Blanc have each appeared on the show for at least 30 years. Bregman and Lauralee Bell also celebrate their 40th anniversaries on the show this year.
The soap opera has been the number one daytime drama for 35 consecutive years and CBS' longest running scripted show. The channel even launched a complementary podcast in an effort to return to the origins of soap operas as radio shows.
Over the years, The Young and the Restless has also been critically acclaimed, winning 11 Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series, and has helped jumpstart the careers of many celebrities, including Eva Longoria, David Hasselhoff, Shemar Moore and Paul Walker.
Today, 17 of the current cast members have earned Daytime Emmys for their work on the show.
Monty Brinton/CBS via Getty
Leading up to the show's anniversary on March 26, fans can expect surprise visits and a fun walk down memory lane. In September, the show also celebrated its anniversary season by participating in a crossover with sister soap opera, The Bold and The Beautiful.
To make things even more noteworthy, following the 50th broadcast anniversary episode, The Young and the Restless will have aired over 12,500 episodes, totaling more than 9,000 hours of television, by March 27.
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The Young and the Restless airs weekdays (12:30 p.m. ET) on CBS and can be streamed afterwards on Paramount+.
