Jason Thompson Heads To ‘Young And Restless’: ‘General Hospital’ Star To Play Billy Abbott As Burgess Jenkins Departs
After months of speculation, it is finally official that General Hospital alum Jason Thompson is headed over to The Young and the Restless to take over the role of Billy Abbott. It was recently confirmed that Burgess Jenkins would be leaving the role of Billy, but until now there was no official word regarding the future of the character.
The Young and the Restless spoilers for Friday’s show have teased that Victoria will learn from Paul that Billy has gotten into a car accident of some sort. As viewers saw on Thursday’s show, Billy had faced backlash from Victoria, Phyllis, and Jack and he was contemplating how much of a mess his life had become because of his desire to take Victor down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqPiiRYO-bI
Viewers will have to tune in to Friday’s episode to see just how this car accident happens. Many Y&R fans would imagine that viewers will likely be left hanging with a cliffhanger and Monday’s show will be where the juicy storyline plays out.
Until now, little was known about how Burgess Jenkins would be leaving the show. After months of rumors, the actor did recently confirm that he was indeed leaving Y&R after being in the role of Billy Abbott for a bit more than a year.
Sam is driven to find Jason and help him out, will Patrick be accepting? #GH Wed pic.twitter.com/tkct3nNVxr
— Nathan Varni (@nathanvarni) November 18, 2015
As for Jason Thompson, rumors had been swirling about his General Hospital departure for months as well. He confirmed his plans to leave not long ago and recently indicated that he had finished filming.
It is not yet known what GH will do with the character of Dr. Patrick Drake, or when his final air date will be. However, many suspect that Patrick will decide to leave Port Charles for a while in the wake of the Sam, Jason, and Elizabeth mess. So far, the show has not detailed whether the role will be recast.
Fans who had been clamoring to see Jason Thompson head to The Young and the Restless to take over as Burgess Jenkins are getting their wish. Entertainment Weekly shares that Thompson has officially signed on for the gig and he will begin airing in January. It is not known yet just when Jenkins will last appear in the role.
Rumors have been swirling for some time now that Billy Abbott would end up in some kind of accident that would leave him disfigured and needing plastic surgery, a move that would pave the way for a recast. While many thought that Billy might be injured in the Newman fire, it would seem that instead this car accident is the scenario that explains the changes ahead.
'General Hospital' fave Jason Thompson joins 'The Young and the Restless': https://t.co/LnRYWTDSWM pic.twitter.com/tlqoIqkYhs
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) December 3, 2015
Will Y&R fans embrace Thompson in the role? The role has been a challenging one to recast ever since Billy Miller left the gig and later headed to General Hospital to take on the role of Jason Morgan.
The Young and the Restless initially brought David Tom back to play Billy again, but the audience just didn’t embrace him in the role now that the character has matured. Jenkins took over for Tom, but again, fans just weren’t won over. Everybody will be curious to see whether the third recast is the charm for viewers.
As Soap Opera Digest details, Thompson actually spent some time talking with Miller on the General Hospital set about the role of Billy Abbott before making the move. Jason says that Billy was very gracious about his taking over the role that made Miller a household name to soap viewers, and the former GH star knows he has big shoes to fill.
The Young and the Restless fans will be quite curious to see where the show heads with the character of Billy Abbott as this change is made. Will viewers embrace Jason Thompson in the role and the storyline enabling the recast? How should General Hospital handle his exit as Dr. Patrick Drake?
[Photo by Paul A. Hebert/Getty Images]
