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‘Young And Restless’ Cast News: Sean Carrigan Sticking Around As Stitch, Despite Rumors To The Contrary

By Stacy Carey
Published on: 07:23 PST, Nov 10, 2015

There has been buzz swirling for some time now that Sean Carrigan was leaving his role as Dr. Ben “Stitch” Rayburn on The Young and the Restless. Spoilers and speculation heading into the big Newman Enterprises fire had Stitch dying in the blaze, setting the stage for heartbreak for both his fiancee, Abby, and her mother, and his secret love, Ashley. Now, however, the actor is setting the record straight.

Carrigan’s announcement that he’s not leaving the show, at least not right now, generates some interesting buzz. On the one hand, it was easy to see how the groundwork was potentially being laid to kill off Stitch, and the fire setting seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Stitch split with Abby, tinkered with reuniting with Ashley, but quickly and suddenly reunited with Abby and even proposed. However, some fans thought that all seemed perhaps a bit rushed and questionable, but it made some sense if Ben was about to be killed and leave both women heartbroken.

Neither Carrigan nor the show had addressed the buzz at all until now and some Y&R fans were watching Stitch’s rescue with a lot of curiosity. There had been a hint about Stitch’s survival not too long ago, however.

When the news surfaced that transgender actress Candis Cayne was going to stop by the show for a stint as a wedding planner in some future episodes, early reports teased that she would be working on Abby and Stitch’s wedding. However, references to that specific storyline were quickly deleted from the initial reports.

Some Y&R fans speculated that the wedding reference was a mistake and that it indicated that Carrigan was indeed leaving. On the other hand, other Y&R fans wondered if the show realized that the wedding tidbit gave too much away and they wanted to embrace the fan concern that Stitch would die, thus they pulled that tidbit out of the media.

Everybody expected some characters to die in the fire, and really, it looks like everybody survived. Though both Cane and Stitch were in grave danger at one point, they both made it out with relatively minimal injuries. Patty and Ian were both left for dead, but the last that viewers saw of them, they were alive and considering the possibilities of uniting. Viewers can surely expect more on this front soon.

As Soap Central detailed, it wasn’t necessarily a stretch to think that Stitch would be written out of Young and Restless. Despite the current storyline involving Abby and Ashley, the character of Ben has primarily been tasked with checking on patients and providing updates in recent months. There had been word that Carrigan was unhappy with where things were at regarding his character and wanted a change, and it was believed that his contract was up for renewal right about now.

From the sounds of things, though, this is one rumor that simply didn’t pan out to be true. It may be that Carrigan was considering leaving, or the rumors of his departure may have all been off-base from the start. It has been confirmed that Burgess Jenkins is leaving the role of Billy Abbott soon, though Y&R fans will have to wait and see just how that plays out.

Even if Carrigan is sticking around, there may be reason to suspect that more tragedy is on the way. Head writer Charles Pratt reportedly teased a while back that by the time the November sweeps period was over, four characters would perish. This supposedly included one on-contract actor or actress whose character would die trying to help others.

All of that talk certainly sounded like it would be related to the big fire, but at this point, fans have to wonder if there’s something else big still about to hit Genoa City. There may be the possibility, as well, that either Pratt’s teases were misconstrued, intentionally misleading, or perhaps the plans simply changed. There will surely still be sweeps shockers yet to come, but seeing Dr. Ben “Stitch” Rayburn die seemingly isn’t one of them.

Are you glad to hear that Sean Carrigan says he’s sticking around? Do you think there are any actual deaths about to hit Genoa City or can Y&R fans stop worrying? New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS.

[Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images]

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