Genie Francis Joins Tristan Rogers at ‘The Young and the Restless’

(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — Just when you thought you'd seen the last of Genie Francis on soaps, "The Young and the Restless" wisely stepped in and snapped the actress up for a contract role on the CBS daytime drama series. According to an exclusive report by Entertainment Weekly's Lynette Rice, Francis is set to play mother to Daniel Goddard's Ethan 'Cane' Ashby. As we all remember, Cane "died" in early February after he was savagely murdered. Even so, Goddard recently began making appearances on the soap as "ghost" Cane, which has caused Lily (Christel Khalil), Cane's wife, to second guess her mental stability. It is unclear what Francis' hiring means for the characters expected return to the soap opera, despite his being currently buried six feet under.

Francis begins taping at "Y&R" at the end of April. Her first airdate has not been set, but it is said she'll first air at the end of May. "The Young and the Restless" tapes roughly four weeks in advance of airdate, so it'll be a nice memorial reunion for the actress as she'll share parenting skills with former "General Hospital" co-star Tristan Rogers, who portrays Cane's daddy Colin Atkinson.

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey last month, Francis stated she'd be willing to return to "General Hospital" if her former character, Laura Spencer, was written differently than she had been. "If there is a way to go forward with Laura and make her into what I’d like her to be now, then perhaps I would do it," said Francis. "I would like her to be funny and have a little bit of an agenda that might look a little bit vengeful, but it really isn’t. I think she’d have a plan," she continued. "There is nothing in me that is willing to play a victim anymore. I’m sort of done with the wounded dove in my life."

In addition to her time on "General Hospital" and her upcoming stint on "The Young and the Restless," Francis has appeared in episodes of "3rd Rock from the Sun," "Roswell," and "Roseanne." She starred on ABC's "All My Children" in the role of Ceara Connor Hunter from 1990-1992, just before making her grand return to "GH" in 1993. Francis' "AMC" character also had a stint on spin-off soap "Loving." Francis starred in the 2007 Hallmark Channel original movie "The Note," which remains one of the the channel's highest rated movies ever. The TV-movie spawned the 2009 sequel "Taking a Chance on Love." The story surrounded Peyton MacGruder (Francis), who is on a search for the intended recipient of a note left by a passenger that died in a tragic plane crash.