What The Young and the Restless' Colleen Zenk thinks of Jordan's fate

Fans of The Young and the Restless sat up in their seats and gasped last fall when they watched a woman’s shoes enter a motel room. When the camera panned up, and they saw the face of Colleen Zenk, an audible gasp was heard around the world. But a few months later, her boots were made for walking, and the actress is just as sad about it as the audience.

Colleen Zenk on The Young and the Restless

Colleen Zenk, who plays Jordan Howard on The Young and the Restless, shared with TV Insider how she felt about her character’s demise last week. “I’m sad Jordan went away so quickly. I thought that Ian and Jordan would go out like Bonnie and Clyde together,” Zenk said.

The “Ian” Zenk referred to was none other than Ian Ward, a Y&R villain played by Ray Wise for decades. No one saw the pairing of the two coming. Ian had met Jordan when she was still in prison, and they realized they had a common enemy: The Newman Family.

Ian managed to swap Jordan in her cell with someone else, and no one was the wiser that they were both free to cause as much havoc and strife in Genoa City as their evil grins pleased.

Zenk first appeared in Genoa City in 2023 but made a huge impact on fans despite it being a short run. She explained how it began with a call from the executive producer and head writer at The Young and the Restless, Josh Griffith. “When Josh first got a hold of me, he said, ‘I’ve got this character. Are you interested? It’s only about 12 shows.’ And I said, ‘I’m in.’ And then the 12 shows turned into 50 and then I came back for another 22. It’s just been a great ride with a great group of people, from actors to production,” Zenk shared in her interview. She added that despite her professional resume, she was quite nervous when she joined the show. “Coming into the show that first week, I was terrified until Eric [Braeden, Victor Newman], on our first or second day of work, looked into the camera and he said, ‘Thank God, you hired me a pro,’” Zenk recalled.

As The World Turns fans recognized Zenk as Barbara Ryan, a character she played from 1978 to 2010, but so did some of the Y&R cast and crew. Zenk shared that she knew Christian LeBlanc (Michael Baldwin) from his time on ATWT as Kirk McCall, and she and Peter Bergman (Jack Abbott) had known each other since they were 22. “So, the New Yorkers made me feel like I was home, between Vivian Gundaker, one of our main producers who was the lead producer on World Turns, who I’ve known since she was an intern, down to Fritz Brekeller, who is one of our stage managers, who I’ve known since he was an intern on World Turns.”

There were many cast members of The Young and the Restless that Zenk hadn’t yet met before joining, and many she wished that she had a chance to do a scene with, noting she would have loved to have worked with the Abbotts and Phyllis (Michelle Stafford), for example. Zenk also declared how gracious and funny Ray Wise (Ian Ward) was and shared that they became good friends outside of the show. She also bonded with Tracey E. Bregman (Lauren Fenmore).

Fans were upset when they realized Jordan had drunk the poisoned tea and no one helped her survive. They took to Zenk’s social media accounts to let her know that they didn’t want her to die and hoped she’d be brought back. “It’s been really lovely just seeing the outpouring of love and the respect that I’ve had from everybody,” Zenk shared.

“My biggest takeaway is I can still work this medium. I can still do this. And for my age with no work, I look pretty good on camera, not too bad. For a 72-year-old woman to be given this kind of opportunity, I’d jump in again,” Zenk concluded. And we would happily have her back on her screens. It is Aunt Jordan, after all. Let’s not rule out a resurrection, sporting a disguise, of course.

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