What Happened to Cane Ashby on Young and Restless

Cane Ashby hasn’t been onYoung and Restless for quite some years, so it’s perfectly understandable if some viewers might need a bit of a refresher on his history in Genoa City. The character first appeared in January 2007 and was played by Daniel Goddard until he announced his exit in late 2019, last airing on November 28. Then, in June 2025, Billy Flynn  — who had played Chad DiMera on Days of Our Lives for 14 years — joined the cast of Y&R as the mysterious Aristotle Dumas, which was soon revealed to be an alias used by none other than Cane!

A Missing Abbott

Cane Ashby first appeared as a bartender at Indigo, who was looking for his family. Suspecting he might be Jill Abbott’s lost son, Phillip Chancellor III, Amber Moore quickly got the hunk intoxicated in Vegas and made him believe they were married! When he was found to be Jill’s son, Cane and Amber moved into the Chancellor mansion, but their marriage was soon discovered to be invalid. Cane then found himself attracted to Lily Winters, and despite their age difference, she soon fell for him as well, becoming pregnant with his child. Sadly, she miscarried the baby, but their relationship remained stron,g and after they moved in together, Cane proposed.

When Cane passed out drunk in Chloe Mitchell’s car, she led him to believe that they’d slept together and claimed the baby she was carrying was his. Lily moved out of their home and pushed Cane to marry Chloe for the sake of their child. After Billy Abbott learned he was really the baby daddy, he let Cane continue raising it with Chloe while he had a fling with Lily. But when Cane learned Delia’s true parentage, he quickly dumped Chloe and returned to Lily, finally making her his wife.

True Identity

Unfortunately, their marriage came to a halt when Lily discovered that Cane wasn’t Jill’s son, but someone hired by Phillip to impersonate him. But when Lily was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, Cane was there to support her, and they reunited. Although Lily was now unable to have children, doctors harvested two of her eggs, and they decided to start a family with the help of Mackenzie Browning, who acted as their surrogate. Cane and Lily welcomed their twins, Charlie and Mattie, in June 2010.

Cane’s past caught up with him, and he found himself blackmailed by a crime family in Australia and forced to embezzle money from Tucker McCall. His biological father, Colin Atkinson, arrived in Genoa City to help Blake Joseph blackmail his son and soon became engaged to Jill. When Cane tried to stop their wedding, he was shot on the church steps by Blake and later died. A devastated Lily began seeing Cane and soon realized that they weren’t just visions, but Cane was truly alive. The man killed at the church was actually his twin brother, Caleb, who had been scheming with Colin.

Cane continued to pose as Caleb to stop the plot concocted by Colin and Genevieve, which infuriated Lily so much that she divorced him. But after Colin attempted to kidnap the twins, Cane stepped in to protect Lily, and she began to forgive him after he explained how this was all to stop Colin. Eventually, Cane proposed again, and the couple was remarried in Provence, France, in February 2012. They began working at Jabot Cosmetics, where Cane was interim CEO, and he got jealous when she kissed Tyler Michaelson, but Lily quickly turned him down and remained faithful to her husband.

Cheating Hearts

Business also almost turned into pleasure when Cane began working closely with Lauren Fenmore, but he stopped at a kiss. Unfortunately, a jealous Lily slept with Joe Clark to even the score. Thankfully, she learned that Joe was a nasty character and had framed Cane for Hilary Curtis’ kidnapping. Cane and Lily’s marriage was tested once more when, while on business in Hong Kong, Cane got drunk and woke up believing he’d slept with Juliet Helton. When Cane’s scheming against Billy got Juliet fired instead, she filed a sexual harassment suit and revealed she was pregnant! 

Tragically, Juliet died in childbirth, and Cane named the little boy Sam after his late sister, Samantha. After Lily and Mattie’s blood helped Sam recover from a heart problem, the Ashby family began to repair itself and come closer together. But just as things were looking up for them, Lily was responsible for a car accident that killed Hilary and her unborn child, landing her in prison for a year. Cane struggled to keep it together and raise the twins without his wife. But Lily being transferred to a prison farther away for her own safety just made it worse. In fact, while lashing out at Victoria Newman, the argument led to the two of them sharing a surprising kiss!

After learning about the kiss from Billy, Lily told Cane that although she was being released from prison early, she wanted a divorce. He tried to prove to Lily that he could change and be the man she deserved, but she just wasn’t interested in trying anymore. He sought some help from Traci Abbott, and she gave him some advice (while also using the drama as inspiration for a new book!). Then Cane’s world turned upside down when he learned that a newly-discovered version of Katherine’s will named him as the recipient of her fortune! He flew to Las Vegas to track down Chance Chancellor in the hopes of getting some answers, and after being knocked out, awoke to find himself in the possession of what appeared to be Katherine’s real will, leaving him her inheritance!

The will appeared to be the real deal, and Devon agreed to give up the fortune, but then Jill tracked down Colin in the Maldives, and Chance demanded that he admit to forging the papers. Colin claimed it was all Cane’s idea and tried to escape, but he was apprehended. Cane promised Devon he would track down the cash Colin squirreled away and return it to its rightful owner.

Hello Again

In the spring of 2025, Genoa City was abuzz with talk of a reclusive business tycoon going by the name of Aristotle Dumas. The mysterious businessman reached out to some people in town and ultimately invited many of them to his home in France, where they were interested to find out who he was and what he wanted with them. Before meeting with everyone, Dumas arranged to first speak with Lily privately, and she was stunned to come face-to-face with Cane. She returned to the group to reveal the truth about her ex shortly before Cane introduced himself to everyone.