Cane Ashby is a fictional character from The Young and the Restless, an American soap opera on the CBS network, portrayed by Billy Flynn. Created by head writers Lynn Marie Latham and Scott Hamner, Cane was introduced in January 2007, portrayed by Daniel Goddard. Latham created Cane as the son of Phillip Chancellor II (Donnelly Rhodes) and Jill Abbott (Jess Walton); the character's background was rewritten by Latham's successor Maria Arena Bell in 2009, re-establishing him as the son of Colin and Genevieve Atkinson (Tristan Rogers and Genie Francis).
Though characterized as "mysterious", Cane is "loyal and dedicated", while Goddard described the character as a "typical Australian, working-class kind of guy". He was the first member of the Atkinson family to appear on the series, followed by his parents and identical twin brother. Soon after his debut, he became a leading character, a decision praised by viewers and critics. The character has been involved with Amber Moore (Adrienne Frantz), Chloe Mitchell (Elizabeth Hendrickson), and most notably Lily Winters (Christel Khalil), a romance that garnered significant fan attention. In 2009, Cane and Lily were married; Global BC would later call Lily the love of Cane's life. The pair had two children, Charlie and Mattie Ashby.
Goddard was fired in 2011; following a viewer campaign for his rehiring, Goddard returned to the role that same year. In 2019, he exited the role. In 2025, the character was reintroduced by Josh Griffith under the pseudonym of Aristotle Dumas, with Flynn assuming the role.
Casting and creation Goddard auditioned for Brad Snyder on As the World Turns and, though he was not cast in the part, Barbara Bloom, the senior vice-president of CBS Daytime, recommended Goddard to The Young and the Restless head writer and executive producer, Lynn Marie Latham. After testing for the character of Cane for Latham and casting director Karen Rea, Goddard received the role. The Australian actor auditioned with an American accent, but when the writers found out about his Australian background, that influenced Cane's backstory. The actor stated that, "The concept of Cane was that he was given away at birth. So he could have been from Mongolia. It just worked out luckily for me that I was the right person for the job." Since the producers could not understand the actor's real Australian accent, Goddard "Americanized" it while portraying the character.
In October 2019, Goddard announced his exit from the role. In a post on social media, he cited his disappointment over the exit, and noted he was "shocked and gutted" by the decision; Cane exited on November 26 of the same year. In March 2025, Billy Flynn's casting was announced; he made his first appearance on June 19.
Development Characterization The writers first detailed Cane as "a smart, loyal, and moral survivalist with an edge". Goddard describes Cane as a "typical Australian, working-class kind of guy who mined opals, raised goats, then went off for travel and adventure to sort of find himself". Global BC penned Cane as "mysterious". SoapNet described Cane as a "pretty stand-up guy", as well as "loyal and dedicated to the people he cares about". The network said his time in Genoa City has "made him a good man". In an interview with On-Air On-Soaps, Goddard said that Cane working at Jabot Cosmetics is "very enthusiastic and cautious about falling into a family business which is an Abbott company", and that he is "very sensitive about that". He also stated that Cane "has no fears in doing business with anybody" because if you can come from a "family of gangsters then business people don't really measure up". Looking back on Cane's "power jobs", Goddard stated: "I don’t think Cane has the book learning skills side of it, but I think he has the life lessons side of it, based on who he is and where he has come from. The way he does business with people, he kind of understands who they are as people."
Backstory and maternity
William J. Bell had created the character of Phillip Chancellor III in 1976, and he remained a vital part of the soap opera's storylines until his death onscreen in 1989. In 2007, Latham rewrote Chancellor's birth by establishing that Katherine Chancellor (Jeanne Cooper), Jill's enemy and Phillip Chancellor II's wife, switched their child with another hours after his birth; the character was brought back to the series as an adult named Cane Ashby, an Australian looking for his birth mother. During that time, Goddard did not want to know the real motives of his character because he did not want that to influence his performance. After the revelation that Jill was Cane's mother, his views changed, saying he "now welcomed the information as it added more color to his portrayal". The initial lack of information made portraying Cane difficult since there was an amount of ambiguity over whether he was a good, bad, or mediocre character. The ambiguity deepened when Goddard read the script revealing that a DNA test performed for Jill and Cane came back negative. He stated that he had never asked Latham "what was going on" with the storyline, but told her that he could "play anything he needed to". A second DNA test later confirmed Cane as Jill's son. Goddard also said it was "too good to be true" for Cane to be Jill's son, adding that, "But, down the road you realize these people actually do care about you, that you can reciprocate that care. For Cane, he's had so much time without them it's pointless to have the time with them and not enjoying it." Though the maternity question was answered, more ambiguity about Cane's intentions appeared as the character received a phone call from his uncle Langley that hinted about Cane scheming against Jill and Katherine. The original intent of the call was to show that Cane wanted what was owed to him after being given away as an infant. The writers changed directions after the popularity of the character grew. Goddard said he felt the phone call was resolved within the story when Cane sent money to his uncle as part of taking care of him.
In 2008, the storyline about the call Cane received from Langley was readdressed, as re-written by Maria Arena Bell. In her revised version of the storyline, Langley is really Phillip Chancellor III, portrayed by Thom Bierdz. The series kept secrecy around the plot twist by sneaking Bierdz in to tape scenes and asked that he not tell anyone of his return. Goddard liked the plot twist because it added another dimension to Cane, saying that the change would "allow another metamorphosis to begin" and additional "development and evolution of Cane". He also said that Cane had always been a "three-dimensional character" and "a fourth dimension" would soon be seen because the viewers would finally find out where he came from and who he is. Bell later introduced Tristan Rogers as Colin Atkinson and Genie Francis as Genevieve Atkinson, who would portray Cane's biological parents. Goddard stated that Rogers being on the soap opera "created a father/son rapport" for the character, which he thought had "a lot of promise" and was a "wonderful dynamic".
Relationships The character's first romance on the soap opera was with Amber Moore (Adrienne Frantz). She later tricked him into believing they were married, and they separated after the truth surfaced. After the relationship ended, the writers planned on pairing Cane with Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford), but the popularity of Phyllis' romance with Nicholas Newman (Joshua Morrow) halted the plans for the pairing. Cane was instead written into a romance with Lily Winters (Christel Khalil); Goddard described Lily as becoming Cane's "anti-Amber". He felt the character lost a "certain amount of edge" and a "certain amount of his dynamic" after being paired with Lily but said it was replaced with "a level of compassion, understanding, tolerance, romance and love", since that those characteristics were "all the things that daytime is really about at its core".
Goddard compared the romance between Lily and Cane to Lady Chatterley's Lover since both characters grew and learned from the relationship. Cane developed an attraction to Heather Stevens (portrayed by Vail Bloom) while with Lily; Goddard noted it would "come down to what Cane needs" when choosing between the two women. The storylines written for the lovers included a controversy with the characters' age gap, a miscarriage, and a love rectangle with Chloe Mitchell (Elizabeth Hendrickson) and Billy Abbott (Billy Miller). Within the love rectangle story, Chloe tricks Cane into thinking they conceived a child together. To make the storyline work, the writers scripted Cane as less intelligent, a strategy they used previously during his storyline with Amber. To keep the character from looking bad, Goddard said he made acting choices to justify Cane's actions. Despite the lessening of the character's intelligence, Goddard said he liked the story because of the originality of the plot. Love triangles and questioned paternity happen regularly in soap operas, but he felt that former head writer Maria Arena Bell managed to make those conventions fresh and new. Khalil stated that she "loved" the storyline, also saying she loved the actors involved in it. Khalil said she thought it "was a possibility" for Lily and Cane to have a happy ending, and that Lily "can see the hope, and they can adapt and love each other in a more mature and honest way". Cane married Lily in 2009, and the following year, Global BC called Lily the love of Cane's life. In 2011, Lily divorced Cane after he continued to lie to her about his faked death. However, she eventually discovered Cane was trying to protect her, and they were remarried. Goddard commented that their relationship "had come full circle" and "was being done well". Of Cane and Lily's second wedding, Goddard stated that Cane and Lily have "certainly had a lot of ups and downs", but he thought through all of that their fans "stayed true and they have expressed their desire for what they want to see". Goddard also thought their wedding of "this caliber" would make their fans "very, very happy and that is what this is about".
2011 departure