Emmy-nominated Meredith Baxter will join the cast of The Young and the Restless later this summer in a role that will have her "kicking back a few cocktails" with troubled socialite Nikki Newman.

According to TV Guide Magazine's Michael Logan, Baxter will play the role of Maureen, who is described as a "charming, intelligent, middle-class woman who has always aspired to a more privileged life than she's had."

Maureen's story will also cross paths with other characters on the canvas -- but the CBS soap is keeping exactly who those other Genoa City residents might be under wraps. There are whispers that the yet-to-have-a-surname character might be related to someone else already on the canvas.

Soap Opera Digest reports -- skip ahead to the next paragraph if you want to avoid a potential spoiler -- that Maureen is Stitch and Kelly's mom.

"I have a secret About someone who is joining our cast," Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki Newman) announced on Twitter last week. "I'm so excited, but that's all Im going to say right now! Happy guessing!"

Baxter is best known for two television roles: Elyse Keaton on the sitcom Family Ties, a family sitcom that ran from 1982 to 1989, and Nancy Lawrence Maitland on the drama Family. Baxter earned two Emmy nominations for her work on Family.

The actress won a 1993 Daytime Emmy for the CBS Schoolbreak Special Other Mothers.

Baxter will make her first appearance on September 9 and will continue to air through the fall.

What do you think of Nikki's new drinking buddy? Did you watch Family Ties or Family? Are you ready for her DAYS and Y&R returns? Tell us in the Comments section below or share your thoughts via Feedback by clicking here.