SOAP Q: Phillip returns to Y&R Aug. 26!

Via Greg in Hollywood:

Back in June, I reported exclusively that Thom Bierdz was going to resurface on the CBS soap The Young and the Restless.

Producer Paul Rauch had hinted to me that Thom would be appearing as Phillip Chancellor III at the end of July after being off the show all year. But since we are already through the first week of August, the actor apparently will not appear until Aug. 26, according to CBS Soaps In Depth.

When Thom played Phillip in the 80s, the character was not known to be gay and was presumed to have been killed in a car crash. Thom, who came out publicly as a gay man several years later, agreed to come back to Y&R with Phillip – obviously alive – being gay and having left Genoa City so he could live his life freely elsewhere.

Thom has been spending a lot of time on the set in recent days, according to his Facebook updates. He wrote yesterday: “I can’t say where or what show (YET) but I will say I am spending time with people I so respect.”