The Young and the Restless Recap, January 5-9, 2026: Nick undergoes surgery, Lily leaves town, and the Abbotts use Matt as leverage

Here is your weekly recap of The Young and the Restless for the episodes that aired January 5th through 9th, 2026.

What happened on The Young and the Restless

Phyllis and Cane on The Young and the Restless | Image: CBS

This week on The Young and the Restless, a captive Sienna unsuccessfully tried to convince Matt they could start over. Annie prepared herself to kill Sienna, but Victor’s security team moved in and captured Matt and Annie. Sienna reunited with Noah. While Annie was held in police custody, the Newman men planned to deal with Matt on their own. While Nick was driving a bound Matt to an undisclosed location, Matt broke free and began to strangle Nick, who lost control of the car. Matt escaped, and Nick underwent surgery for a broken leg. Nick appeared to be recovering, but Sharon panicked when he suddenly experienced severe pain. Tessa and Sienna were revealed to be old acquaintances in L.A. before Tessa’s career had taken off, but Tessa kept mum about her romantic past with Noah. Lily told Cane their kiss was a moment of weakness, and she decided to leave town to deal with her conflicted feelings and visit Mattie. Adam threatened to crush Michael if he betrayed Victor. Nikki and Michael considered stealing the AI program from Victor while framing Cane for the theft. Jack appealed to Cane to help him prove that Victor illegally used the AI. Later, Billy overheard Phyllis suggesting to Cane that they use the AI software to take over Newman Enterprises. After receiving a text message from Mattie, saying she and Charlie were cutting all ties with their father, Cane informed Phyllis that there was a way to get the software to turn on its host. Kyle victoriously announced that he’d had Jabot’s security follow the Newmans, and they’d apprehended Matt. Jack and Kyle attempted to make a deal with Victor to turn over Matt in exchange for the AI program, but Victor refused. Nikki begged Victor to take the deal. Audra explained to Holden that she’d shut him out because she hadn’t wanted to be reminded of their terrible past in L.A. Holden agreed not to tell Claire the rest of the story as long as Audra stopped gunning for Claire. Claire was suspicious when Audra was civil to her. Holden urged Claire to make peace, and they shared a kiss.

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

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Edited by Michael Maloney