Soap fans were shocked earlier this year as Days of Our Lives star Billy Flynn revealed he was departing the Peacock streaming soap opera in order to take on a new role on The Young and the Restless. It was later confirmed that Flynn would be stepping into the role of Cane Ashby, taking over from Daniel Goddard. Now Flynn is opening up about taking on this fan favorite role, and teasing that Cane is a man who has a secret behind everything.
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Flynn was recently interviewed with Women’s World about joining the show and previewing what’s to come.
Upon joining the show Flynn immediately began to feel the difference between The Young and the Restless and his former soap Days of Our Lives, sharing, “It felt like a very grand entrance, on Days, we usually had maybe two vets in a scene together, so to walk onto set and have all those amazing people staring at you was kind of terrifying. Peter Bergman, Eric Braeden, Melody Thomas Scott… it was intense! And the sets are beautiful. It was a huge undertaking that they put together for this rollout of Cane, and that didn’t get lost on me. I’d gotten very comfortable at Days, and it made me go, ‘Okay, I better bring it!’”
This is not Flyn’s first time taking on an already established role. The actor was the second to portray Chad Dimera on Days of Our Lives taking over from Casey Deidrick in 2014. “I also took over for Casey Deidrick at Day, so I know how hard it is to be a recast, I made my mark on that character, but I was there for 11 years. It’s not easy, and that’s if you fit the description—and I don’t!”
The actor knew coming into the role would be an uphill battle with fans, but felt better after conversing with daytime legends. “I knew I was going to have a have a mountain to climb,” he shared. “I felt self-conscious and insecure, but Eric Braeden made me feel better when he told me that they were all happy I’m playing Cane and that my version would resonate and makes sense. I also had conversations with Christel Khalil and everyone I’d be working with, who assured me.”
Flynn admitted that joining the show was a long time coming, explaining how Cane isn’t the first role he had been up for on the show., “But I’d wanted to work at Y&R for a long time. I mean, at every Emmys, I talked to Peter Bergman about going over and years ago, I talked to the show about playing Chance, but it just didn’t work out. The fact that this role came when it did, it felt serendipitous. It felt like the right time, the right part. I was excited.”
Interestingly, Cane originally came onto The Young and the Restless impersonating Chance’s biological father Philip Chancellor III. Chance returned to the soap as an adult in 2009 when John Driscoll took on the role. Donny Boaz took over the role in 2019 before exiting in 2021, with Connor Floyd most recently playing the role starting in 2021. Floyd has recently been announced to be taking over Flynn’s old role of Chad Dimera on Days of Our Lives in 2026.
Flynn discussed how everyone in Genoa City isn’t trusting what Cane is saying adding, “Everybody thinks he’s lying and he just lets them think whatever they want, but telling half-truths. For example, he says he wants Chancellor and he made Victor an offer… but he’s not telling them what his what his whole plan is. Cane has a secret behind everything—even down to that time Victor got in his face and demanded to speak to him. In my mind, that was exactly the reaction Cane wanted.”
The Young and the Restless airs weekdays on CBS and streams weeknights on Paramount+.
