“Young and the Restless ”star Bryton James reveals what made historic “Beyond the Gates ”crossover feel like a ‘homecoming’

This story contains spoilers for the Aug. 11 episode of Beyond the Gates.

The titular gates to this exclusive enclave don’t swing open for just anybody. But for The Young and the Restless star Bryton James? Any time, any day.

Two weeks after a tantalizing teaser first heralded an incoming cameo from Devon Winters, the character James has played on Y&R for over two decades finally arrived on Monday’s installment of Beyond the Gates.

“It’s extremely exciting,” James tells Entertainment Weekly ahead of his historic role as the first crossover star from one of the fledgling soap’s sister series on CBS. Longtime fans of Y&R and The Bold and the Beautiful, its companion series since 1987, have wondered whether Beyond the Gates‘ fictional setting in a ritzy Maryland suburb exists in the same world as Y&R‘s Genoa City, Wis., and B&B‘s Los Angeles. Then in walks Devon, instantly uniting the disparate kingdoms of the CBS soap opera-verse.

“It was a huge honor to be the one that they asked to make that jump. And it’s been really a cool experience to see the show grow into what it is,” James shares.

“When I heard who called I knew I had to be here,” Clifton Davis’ retired Senator Vernon Dupree tells his EGOT-winning wife Anita (Tamara Tunie) on Monday’s episode of the new daytime drama. The pair settle into a table at Fairmont Crest, the country club in the heart of the gated community which gives the series its title, where Vernon continues, “When’s the last time we laid eyes on him?”

Anita sighs that “it’s been years” before spotting her old pal. “Devon! Welcome to Fairmont Crest,” she announces, rising to meet James’ spotlessly styled record executive and producer. The timing just days after Anita’s grand reunion with her Supremes-esque girl-group, the Articulettes, isn’t likely an accident.

Devon greets “miss Anita” and “Senator Dupree” like old friends, and James credits the actors who portray them as the primary architects of the “amazing environment” he was welcomed into. “Usually it’s kind of uncomfortable going onto another show or another set,” he shares with EW. “[But] Tamara and Clifton couldn’t be more welcoming, and were just pleasures to work with. They made me feel right at home.”

“I didn’t want to mess up,” James jokes, reflecting on his scenes opposite Tunie and Davis, who tout a near-century of acting experience between them, a decent chunk of which was devoted to soaps (Tunie starred as Jessica Griffin on over 1300 episodes of As the World Turns, and Davis’ career began with a stint on the short-lived A World Apart).

“I was really nervous about not messing up. It’s kind of [about] representing Y&R in the best way, and being my best for them, you know, being the focal points of the show. But they made me feel good,” James says.

Before Devon can reveal why he placed what Anita describes as a “both intriguing and cryptic” call to the Duprees after so many years, the trio touch on the origins of their shared bond. It turns out they’re acquainted through Devon’s late adoptive father Neil (Kristoff St. John). “How we miss Neil – his smile, his big heart, his love of music,” Anita muses, in a touching tribute to the actor who suddenly died in 2019 at 52.

Finally, Devon presents Anita with a “mind-blowing proposition” that vindicates weeks’ worth of feverish speculation from soap fans.

“I livestream the reunion concert and I was just completely blown away and when you performed ‘Loving You.’ I knew right then and there that I had my next platinum project for my jazz label,” Devon reveals. He offers the retired songstress a lucrative deal entailing “sharing executive producing credit, but you would have complete creative control.” But Anita turns him down, citing the perennial Dupree “family first” dictum, and suggesting he instead sign her fellow Articulettes, Sharon (Bonita Brisker) and Tracy (Maria Howell).

Devon seems satisfied with the counter offer, and their business seems settled. But this is Fairmont Crest, where things rarely settle down completely.

On his way out of the country club, Devon runs into Anita and Vernon’s daughter Dani (Karla Mosley), the spitfire powerhouse of the Dupree family. Witnessing James share the frame with Mosley is likely to trigger something within avid Y&R watchers, and the experience represents something profound for the actor, too.

“Working with Karla again, I mean, that was like a homecoming. She spent a lot of time across the hallway from us on B&B, and then she spent some time with my character on Y&R. So it just felt like home, even though it was a brand new environment,” James tells EW.

Indeed, James and Mosley’s paths previously crossed not once, but twice in soap world. Mosley played the trailblazing Maya Avant Forrester on The Bold and the Beautiful for eight years, meaning from 2013-2020, she worked year-round on the same lot as James. Then in 2021, she filled in for Mishael Morgan for a stint on The Young and the Restless as Amanda Sinclair, the twin sister of the late Hilary Curtis. Devon had a romantic history with both Hilary and Amanda, and the sparks certainly seemed to fly between Devon and Dani on Beyond the Gates.

“Devon Winters,” Dani purrs when they encounter each other in the Fairmont Crest foyer. “Dani Dupree,” he returns, holding the hand she offered for a shake long enough to suggest that this is hardly their first meeting. “I just offered your mom a record deal and she turned me down. Think you could put in a good word for me?” Dani says she’ll try, “but when my mother says no – set in stone.”

Devon accepts that it’s his loss and heads for the door, prompting Dani to sprout a bemused smile as she follows him out with her eyes. She is, after all, caught in the love triangle from hell with nurse Ashley (Jen Jacob) and her sister’s nephew-in-law Andre (Sean Freeman), and still isn’t over her imperious ex-husband Bill (Timon Kyle Durrett).

Devon would be a welcome way out of all this entanglement, but can James see a path forward with Dani?

“Absolutely,” the actor says. “From how well the crossover went behind the scenes to the ideas that they’ve had for the future, I think they want to keep stuff open for there to be any potential interactions with our show and theirs. I think that fans will enjoy this, and that the network will pay attention.”

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That might have been all for James, but one pressing matter had to be resolved before he headed back to Genoa City. Devon was adopted by the Winters family, but for a long time went by Devon Hamilton, after discovering the identities of his biological father and mother – Tucker McCall (played at the time by Stephen Nichols) and Yolanda “Harmony” Hamilton (played at the time by Debbi Morgan). Could Dani be heading straight toward an even more complicated love triangle given Bill and Devon’s shared last name?

“That’s very interesting. This is the first I’m hearing of this theory,” James reveals. Could Bill and Devon be cousins? Even half-brothers? “It’s an interesting possible connection, and it makes sense to me,” he muses. “I really hope that they not only plan to have some more of us from Y&R head over there, but they gotta bring some of them to our show too.” Y&R and BTG fans could only get so lucky.

Beyond the Gates airs weekdays on CBS at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT, and is also available to stream on Paramount+.

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