SoapsComings & Goings

Actors came and went so fast in 2021, we couldn’t keep the casts of The Young and the Restless, Days of Our Lives, General Hospital and The Bold and the Beautiful straight without a scorecard. Luckily, we had a scorecard — several of them, in fact.

To stay on top of the changing population of The Young and the Restless’ Genoa City, we referred to this photo gallery full of goodbyes that, let’s be real, we didn’t always think were good. Among those saying so long were not only a supercouple whose sayonara left us scratching our heads but a former favorite whose character was twisted so badly, we hardly felt like we knew him anymore.

Above: Pictured is an expression that perfectly encapsulates our reaction to Stitch’s strange, strange comeback.

Over on Days of Our Lives, it seemed like for every exit — and there were a lot of ’em (review the list here) — there was an entrance (we’ve lined them up all to count them down here). One in particular came as such a shock, our jaws are still sore from hitting the floor so hard.

Above: Here’s Sami looking pretty much like we do when trying to keep all of this straight in our heads.

The Bold and the Beautiful could’ve been renamed The Coming and the Going in the past 12 months, as Finn’s family tree sprouted one new branch after another, Paris’ was cut in half, and a long-running character got a new look that had the audience “wigging out.” Peruse the list of incoming and outgoing actors here.

Above: Did someone say “wigging out”?

Finally, perhaps hardest hit this year by cast changes was General Hospital, which lost one of its most beloved leading men and recast almost enough kids to form a Little League team. Yet the exit that most fans celebrated — of a character not nearly as well-liked as his portrayer — turned out to be a false alarm. You’ll understand what we mean when you review the show’s 2021 sendoffs.

Above: “Jitt” was fun while it lasted. Or were they “Brason”?

While you’re here, reeling from the sheer number of cast changes this year, put the awe as well as the “Aw, shucks” in perspective by looking back at a bunch of exits that even eons later, we’re still not over.