Chrishell Stause, who plays Amanda Dillon on All My Children, has made it clear in recent weeks that she plans to leave the ABC soap at the end of her contract. Evidently, her decision to bow out is entirely hers and not a case of show executives wanting to pull the plug on her character.

But it seems that Stause will be sticking around Pine Valley after all. According to Soap Central, the 27-year-old actress has opted to extend her contact after ABC gave her an offer she can't refuse.



Stause was supposed to tape her character's last scene on All My Children last week but show executives decided to exert more effort to get the actress to re-evaluate her decision to exit the soap. A show source revealed that executive producer Julie Hanan Carruthers was so touched by scenes in which Stause's Amanda was supposed to give up her newborn son that she went out of her way for the actress so the network would offer Stause a better contract.

Luckily, Carruthers' efforts have paid off because All My Children head writer Charles Pratt has announced that Stause has re-extended her contract. Then again, there is no word yet on how long Stause's contact extension will last.

Some sources hint that the extension could last for three months so that both sides can negotiate a new contract. On the other hand, that would give the show some time to recast Amanda or write the character out completely.

Stause joined All My Children on May 4, 2005 as the teenage version of Amanda, who was previously portrayed by Alexis Manta. Her other credits include Luke 11:17, The Crimson Mask and the upcoming drama movie Scaring the Fish, which also stars  Anthony Rapp, Mia Riverton, Max Casella and Chance Pinnell, just to name a few.



-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: soaps.com, soapcentral.com
(Image courtesy of ABC)