Young and The Restless star joins General Hospital, reveals his ‘gratitude’ for new role

Daniel Goddard, who starred on The Young and The Restless for 12 years, has been cast in General Hospital in a brand new role.

Daniel will play Henry Dalton, who works at Port Charles University, and”teaches environmental physics”.

“It seems there are some things in his past that he’s done that have left him in a position of some form of investigation,” he told TV Insider, which first broke the news, “and from there, it’s an absolute mystery to me.”

The role was created specifically for Daniel, who in 2024 had auditioned for a recast of Jack Brennan, originally played by Charles Mesure; the role went to Chris McKenna.

But Daniel impressed show bosses and they called him back to offer him the new role.

“I was just gobsmacked by it. It wasn’t a recast. It was a new character, and I was so blown away. I really felt like the timing was right, and I felt like it was meant to be. I can’t begin to express my gratitude to Frank and everyone at General Hospital and to Michael Bruno for really believing in me and being there,” said Daniel.

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He has already begun filming scenes and will appear alongside Eden McCoy (Josslyn Jacks) and Finola Hughes (Anna Devane).

Daniel, 53, joined The Young and the Restless in 2007 as Cane Ashby and was a hugely popular character.

He was killed off in 2011 but after viewer protests, including an airplane paid to fly over CBS Studios with the message: “Y&R Fans Want Daniel Goddard As Cane Ashby,” the showrunners revealed that the victim was actually Cane’s twin brother.

However in 2019 he stepped down from Young and The Restless amid rumors of discontent on the set.

“It’s with a heavy [heart] that I share the news that I will no longer be part of the cast of The Young and the Restless,” he wrote on X at the time. “I’m as shocked & gutted as [you are]. I’m forever grateful for my 13 [years] in the Y&R family but sadly it seems that without Neil & Lily… there just is no Cane.”

The show is set in the fictional Genoa City in Wisconsin, and originally focused on two core families: the wealthy Brooks family and the working class Foster family.