Billy's mental breakdown continues on The Young and the Restless; head writer "goes deeper"

Billy Abbott isn't out of the woods yet. The Young and the Restless character, played by Jason Thompson, will continue to unravel in the weeks ahead, says the CBS soap's head writer, Josh Griffith.

One of the benefits of the soap opera format is that the daily serials can dig really deep into storylines -- more so than pretty much any other televised storytelling method. And The Young and the Restless isn't taking that blessing for granted as it continues to tell the dark and twisted story of Billy Abbott's (Jason Thompson) mental breakdown.

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Viewers of the CBS soap opera watched as the character's mental state unraveled after the recent return of Adam Newman (Mark Grossman), who killed Billy's daughter Delia in a hit-and-run accident several years ago. Billy's mental issues culminated in some incredibly intense scenes in which he faced his demons, and while the character most definitely had a breakthrough, Y&R head writer Josh Griffith says there's even more to come. Billy's mental state remains vulnerable and, contrary to what it seemed, his recent breakdown was not a one-time ordeal.

"I saw such phenomenal work from Jason Thompson that I said, 'There's gotta be more. Let's go deeper. Let's go further back,'" the writer told Soap Opera Digest of why he chose to press on with this path. "We covered the Adam and Delia stuff, but I wanted to go into the heart and soul of who Billy is and why he's this way."

One of the questions that Griffith aims to answer in the weeks, or perhaps even months, ahead is, "How much of [Billy's] bad behavior and mistakes and foolishness is coming out of the fact that everyone expects it and judges him because of it?" Answering that question, "felt like organically the right direction to take," he says, "And with an actor that we knew could just kill it."

Griffith doesn't go into specific storyline details (writers never share their secrets!), but Billy's journey will include several key women in his life, including Victoria (Amelia Heinle), Chloe (Elizabeth Hendrickson), and Amanda (Mishael Morgan). Be sure to keep tuning in to Y&R to find out just how far the writers will go as they continue to unravel Billy and dig deeper into the experiences that have made him the broken yet strong man he is today.

What do you think about the Y&R writers exploring Billy's character in depth? What would you like to see as more and more of Billy's mind, trauma, and emotions are revealed? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.

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