How Mariah battles Ian on The Young and the Restless

On The Young and the Restless, Mariah (Camryn Grimes) had her New Year’s Eve rocked when she found her wife, Tessa (Cait Fairbanks), in the arms of Ian Ward (Ray Wise).

While Mariah realizes that something is wrong with Tessa, who is struggling to breathe, the man helping her wife makes eye contact, and it’s only then that Mariah realizes she is staring at Ian Ward, the man who had her kidnapped at birth and raised her in his cult. For actress Camryn Grimes, her character was riveted in fear, but behind the scenes, she had to remind herself that the lovely actor she was sharing the scene with was supposed to be a villain. Grimes shares what the exciting twist in her storyline means for her on-screen marriage.

Mariah and Ian on The Young and the Restless

Camryn Grimes told Soap Opera Digest that on The Young and the Restless, her character, Mariah, was in “complete shock” when she saw Ian. “I think Mariah well and truly thought that she had put that chapter of her life to bed and thought that Ian was in the prison system, so that was all taken care of and was not something that she was going to have to deal with again,” she explained.

ariah’s life had changed so much since the last time Ian had been in Genoa City. Married with a baby, Mariah had moved on from her past, but that doesn’t mean she’s ever truly dealt with it. “I think there is a difference between dealing with your trauma and just kind of locking it in a box and shoving it in the back of a closet somewhere — and I think Mariah may have been guilty of [doing that] as she’s developed this very full and wonderful life for herself. So Ian coming back, this is absolutely something that could be a trigger,” Grimes said.

Grimes suggested that Mariah wasn’t healed from Ian’s damage. “She has definitely moved on, and she has a very different and arguably more successful life and she’s found love and a family, but did she ever really face what he had done to her? Those are things that are going to come up with his reappearance — and, I think, very quickly answer that question,” she added.

While Mariah’s first instinct is to help her wife, she doesn’t realize at first that she’s been drugged. Ian’s presence unleashes a side of Mariah that Tessa hasn’t seen before. “She has a whole history and chapters of her life before Tessa, and I think that seeing Tessa and Ian together, the effect it’s going to have on Mariah is something that Tessa might not expect,” explains Grimes.

Mariah knows Ian well enough to know he has an agenda, but figuring out what it is and why it involves Tessa is another story. By the time Nick arrives, they figure out what happened with Tessa and then discover that Sharon is missing — will it be too late? Or will they realize that Ian has been involved in all of Sharon’s troubles for months?

According to the executive producer and head writer of The Young and the Restless, it’s not a smooth sail forward for Mariah and Tessa. In fact, while sharing a Y&R 2025 preview, Josh Griffiths said the explosive storyline would shake the couple up.

Working with Ray Wise

Grimes made it clear how she felt about Ray Wise, and working with him. She told Soap Opera Digest that he had made “such an incredible character out of Ian and fleshed him out in a way that I don’t know that a lot of people could do.”

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Grimes said, “I mean, let’s be real — he makes a great villain! Ian is such a great character, and that is only made possible by Ray. So seeing Ian come back into the canvas as a catalyst [for more drama] was really, really exciting to me, not just because of Mariah’s involvement with Ian, but from the perspective of being a fan of the show myself. It’s great when you have characters returning, but especially characters who really drive the story for a lot of other people.”

Watch full episodes of The Young and the Restless weekdays on CBS or stream on Paramount Plus.

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