Cole’s Exit From 'Y&R' Felt Like a Low Blow — Here’s Why He Left

Longtime soap opera fans were left heartbroken on July 3, 2025, after Cole Howard (J. Eddie Peck) took his final breath on The Young and the Restless, officially ending his decades-long run on the show.

J. Eddie originally stepped into the role of Cole back in 1993 and played the character through 1999. And while Cole disappeared from Genoa City for more than 20 years, he wasn’t gone for good. J. Eddie reprised the role in the fall of 2023 and enjoyed another solid run before his character was suddenly wiped from the show in July 2025.

So, was it J. Eddie’s decision to step away from The Young and the Restless, or did producers decide it was just Cole’s time to go?

Cole Howard’s exit from The Young and the Restless (or, more accurately, his being written off) was very unexpected. The character ultimately died from Legionnaire’s Disease, an illness that first showed up as nothing more than a lingering cough.

While J. Eddie Peck, who played Cole, didn’t think much of the early symptoms (“Oh, it’s just a cough”), viewers sensed it was something more serious. And they weren’t wrong.

That cough was the beginning of the end. Cole’s death not only came as a surprise to fans, but also for J. Eddie, too.

According to an interview with Soap Opera Digest, he didn’t find out what was happening to his character until a week before filming. It was Head Writer and Executive Producer Josh Griffith who gave him the heads-up. “Well, J. Eddie, you probably know where all this cough is going,” Josh reportedly told him. That’s when it clicked. “Oh, OK, now I know where it’s going,” J. Eddie recalled.

Looking back, he realized just how right the fans were to be concerned when Cole first started coughing. In his final scene, which played out in a hospital bed, he can be seen urging Victoria and Claire to move forward with their lives.

But for J. Eddie, it wasn’t just about saying goodbye to his role. “It wasn’t just that Cole was leaving,” he explained. “It felt like a real goodbye — the end of a character I’ve grown deeply connected to.” “I’ve oftentimes thought, ‘Other actors must feel the same way I feel toward a character,’” he said. “It’s like an extension of yourself. But me being a father and having young adult sons, Cole’s almost like a child to me.”

Still, he was grateful for the way things wrapped up. “I was happy I got the opportunity to do that on screen, to say goodbye. And in a weird way, I enjoyed doing the scenes. I enjoyed the work. Emotionally, it was hard for me. Even when we were doing the rehearsals, it was very hard for me, emotionally, to keep it together.”

He continued, “I just felt a real personal connection to this character,” he added. “So much that I was emotionally locked and loaded from day one.”

Cole has been a staple on The Young and the Restless for decades, so bringing him back only to cut him off again didn’t really make much sense to some fans. His relationship with Victoria, and even Claire, was just gaining traction, so wiping him out now felt kind of random.

That said, the storyline was probably mapped out long ago, and it just seems like Cole’s time had run its course.

Still, people aren’t just sitting back and letting it go. Some fans have pointed out that the writers tend to keep characters who should’ve been gone a long time ago, and let go of the ones who actually deserve to stay. Others think the writers just didn’t realize how attached people still are to Cole.

One person commented on an Instagram post J. Eddie shared before his final episode: “I can't believe that the writers did this to you! They have no clue how the audience feels about your character!”

While the decision’s been made, J. Eddie isn’t closing the door completely. He’s said he’d love to stay in the daytime soap space, and he’s even open to coming back as a ghost version of Cole.