Young & Restless Matt Clark Actor Reveals the Dark Art of Playing a True Bad Guy

Well, that escalated quickly. The Young and the Restless just unmasked its newest arrival, and it turns out veteran soap actor Roger Howarth isn’t playing who anyone thought he was. The October 31 episode revealed that Mitch Bacall is a cover identity — the man under the mask is Matt Clark, the notorious menace from Nick and Sharon’s past. Yep, that Matt Clark. One of Y&R’s most dangerous villains is back.

The twist, in plain English

• Fans were told Howarth was playing Mitch Bacall, husband to Sienna Bacall.
• The Halloween episode flipped the table: Mitch is actually Matt Clark, the longtime Nick/Sharon nemesis.
• Matt once faked his own death purely to get revenge. He’s been living as Mitch for so long he’s almost convinced himself it’s real — and he plans to keep the Mitch act up as long as he can.

Howarth on stepping into Matt’s skin

Talking to Soap Opera Digest, Howarth said he’s happy to be back in daytime and didn’t hesitate when Executive Producer Josh Griffith offered him the gig. He trusts Griffith and loves the character — in his words, Matt Clark is the good kind of bad. This isn’t the misunderstood villain arc; he straight-up called Matt a true bad guy and hinted we won’t have to wait long to see the claws come out.

Howarth also gave a shoutout to the behind-the-scenes team for helping him lock in the character. Costume designer Mandi Line, in particular, thought through every detail so it would be easy for him to slip into Matt’s vibe. The writers walked him through Matt’s history so he could fully absorb the character’s very dark past — especially the long con of living as Mitch.

"He’s been telling the same lie for so long that he thinks it’s the truth, and I think that’s a beautifully human and broken thing to investigate through story."

It’s a very soapy move: fake death, identity switch, revenge obsession. And according to Howarth, all that time hiding out has only made Matt more ruthless.

Fans, he sees you

Howarth said he’s genuinely touched by the warm response to his casting and the twist. He thanked viewers for watching, asked them to keep tuning in, and promised this run should be fun — even if the character himself is anything but.