General Hospital: The Hottest Headlines of 2025
Fans of General Hospital had a lot of storyline drama to keep track of this year — shootings, returns from the dead, weddings, trials, hook-ups and hostage crises — but behind the scenes, there was yet more to grab fans’ attention, from the devastating deaths of veteran stars to major cast departures and more. Here’s a recap of 2025’s hottest GH headlines.
Ins and Outs
In January, Daytime Emmy-winner Chad Duell aired for the final time as Michael Corinthos, ending his nearly 15-year run. The actor had announced his decision to exit in November 2024, writing on Instagram, “After many incredible years with General Hospital, I’ve decided to step away from the show. This wasn’t an easy decision for me, but it feels like the right time in my life.”
February brought a casting shocker in the form of Charles Mesure’s exit from the role of Jack Brennan, which he began playing in December 23. The role was recast with Chris McKenna, who had played Joey Buchanan on One Life to Live and Mark Harding on Young and Restless. Also that month, former Days of Our Lives star Guy Wilson temporarily replaced Jonathan Jackson as Lucky, and Nanzeen Contractor — the real-life wife of Carlo Rota (Sidwel) — began her run as Assistant District Attorney Justine Turner, and Daytime Emmy winner Jeff Kober was killed off as murderous Cyrus Renault, who he began playing in 2020. He told Soap Opera Digest, “What I’ll remember about General Hospital is just the permission I had to really explore [on] a daily basis. It was so rare that anyone said, ‘Oh, don’t do that.’ That’s rare and that’s beautiful and I’ll take that with me and I’ll be grateful to Frank [Valentini, executive producer] and all the directors for that wherever I go.”
Bryce Durfee made his GH debut in March as WSB Agent Vaughn. That same month, Adrian Anchondo was introduced as attorney Marco Rios, and daytime vet Daniel Cosgrove (ex-Aiden, DAYS; ex-Scott, All My Children et al) popped up as smarmy politician Ezra Boyle. In April, Paige Herschell debuted as Jacinda Bracken and Daniel Goddard (ex-Cane, Y&R) came aboard as Professor Henry Dalton. May ended with the reintroduction of Michael, now played by Y&R alum Rory Gibson. The actor told Digest how much the warm reception he received from fans meant to him, marveling, “Everyone has been unbelievably, overwhelmingly kind. It was so cool to see. It was just so refreshing and nice and I really felt the love. I felt very welcomed, and I was very appreciative of it.”
In June, four doses of huge news broke. First, Jonathan Jackson announced that he had made the decision to leave the show as Lucky Spencer just shy of a year after reprising the role. “We were so glad Jonathan was able to reprise the role of Lucky, even if it was for a limited time,” EP Frank Valentini said in a statement. Then, fans learned that Daytime Emmy winner Kelly Thiebaud was heading back to the show in July as Britt Westbourne, who had “died” in January 2023. She shared with Digest that when she reunited with once-and-future love interest Steve Burton (Jason) behind the scenes at the studio, “I gave him a huge hug on set and I just said, ‘This is gonna be fun!’ And he was like, ‘Yeah it is!’ We were both really excited.” Next, word got out that Erika Slezak, the Daytime Emmy-winning One Life to Live legend (ex-Viki), was slated to appear in a short-term role in the fall.
Rounding out the month? The departure of Daytime Emmy-winner Eva LaRue as Natalia Ramirez, a role she began playing in 2024. Natalia was killed off after she imbibed a lethal combination of alcohol and pills. LaRue told Digest that she’d seen the writing on the wall when GH cut short Natalia’s flirtation with Sonny. “People just weren’t buying it, because they just hated my character so much,” she mused. “I was so vilified that no matter what [the writers] did, it just wasn’t a solid enough rehabilitation that they were gonna buy me with Sonny. And so when they finally let that idea go, I realized, ‘Okay, I’m probably not much longer for this world.’”
Nicole Paggi, who had subbed for Kirsten Storms as Maxie in 2023, temporarily replaced her again in July. Storms then revealed that she would be taking an extended leave of absence from the show to facilitate her move to Nashville, TN, and had already filmed her final scenes “for the year,” which the show handled by rendering Maxie comatose and sending the character to a long-term care facility in Boston. Meanwhile, Kathleen Gati returned as Liesl Obrecht for the first time since December 2023, telling Digest, “I missed her tremendously, and am extremely happy and grateful to climb back into Obrecht’s shoes again.”
Also in July, Sofia Mattsson ended her run as Sasha Gilmore after nearly seven years — and Tristan Rogers made a surprise appearance as Robert Scorpio, Sasha’s father, in Mattsson’s exit scenes.
August brought word that Ryan Paevey, who played Nathan from 2013-18, would be returning in September. Also that month, Marc Forget debuted as Pascal and Bluesy Burke assumed the role of Charlotte Cassadine, which had previously been played by Scarlett Fernandez.
In September, Erika Slezak kicked off her limited run as Veronica “Ronnie” Bard, the previously unknown sister of Monica Quartermaine, while in October, James Patrick Stuart returned as Valentin and Daytime Emmy-winner Rena Sofer concluded her return as Lois Cerullo, which had begun in 2023. She told Digest, “I loved stepping back into Lois’s shoes (and nails!) two years ago along with the chance to play the amazing story of Gio’s birth and all the secrets Lois was keeping.”
Slezak’s run as Ronnie concluded in November, the same month the show killed off Daniel Goddard’s Dalton and saw Bryce Durfee’s Vaughn vanish after defying Brennan by maintaining a romantic relationship with Josslyn. Then, in December, Jeff Kober and Avery Pohl popped up as the ghosts of Cyrus and Esme, and Jon Lindstrom — who had been busy playing Joey Armstrong on Beyond the Gates returned as Kevin Collins, who had been MIA since December 2024, and Parry Shen reprised the role of Brad Cooper.
Real-Life Status
In January, devastating wildfires swept through Southern California, and Cameron Mathison (Drew) lost his home in the Pacific Palisades to the blaze…. May was a big month for weddings: Steve Burton (Jason) made it official with Michelle Lundstrom after popping the question in January; Kate Mansi (Kristina) wed producer Matt McInnis in May; and wedding bells rang for Jack Wagner (ex-Frisco), who said, “I do” to longtime love Michelle Wolf…. In October, Kirsten Storms revealed that one of her reasons for taking a hiatus from the show was that she needed to undergo surgery for a brain aneurysm. She updated fans in December that in light of new information from her doctor, she was still deciding whether to undergo the procedure.
In Memoriam
It was another year of devastating losses backstage at GH. Long-running star Leslie Charleson, who took over the role of Monica in 1977, passed away on January 12 at the age of 79 after a long health battle…. May brought the sad news that Denise Alexander (ex-Lesley Webber) had died at the age of 85…. Chris Robinson, who played Rick Webber, died on June 9 at the age of 86…. Tristan Rogers passed away from lung cancer in on August 15; he was 79…. In September, Andre Landzaat, who played the very first Cassadine on the show, Tony, died at the age of 81…. On September 29, former head writer Margaret “Maggie” DePriest, who was one of the architects of Luke and Laura’s storied heyday, died at 94…. June Lockhart, who played Felicia’s grandmother, Mariah, died on October 23 at the age of 100…. Anthony Geary (ex-Luke) passed away on December 14 at the age of 78.
Alumni Report
William Lipton (ex-Cameron) starred in the new series The Runarounds on Amazon Prime, which began streaming in September…. In October, a trio of GH alumni made their Y&R debuts: Tamara Braun (ex-Carly; ex-Kim) began playing Sienna Bacall, Roger Howarth (ex-Todd; ex-Franco; ex-Austin) assumed the role of Mitch Bacall, which was really an alias for Matt Clark (who had formerly been played by Rick Hearst, Ric), and Matt Cohen came aboard as Detective Burrow…. Greg Vaughan (ex-Lucky) debuted on Beyond the Gates in December as Kial Rollins…. The Pitt, the award-winning HBO drama, added Jeff Kober to its season 2 cast in December, while John Stamos (ex-Blackie) nabbed a role on the season season of Netflix’s The Hunting Wives…. It was announced in December that Chloe Lanier (ex-Nelle) would be playing the titular role of Mary Jo Buttafuoco in the upcoming Lifetime biopic I Am Mary Jo Buttafuoco
Gold Standard
The show cleaned up at the 52nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards with a total of 7 trophies, the most by any soap. It won Best Drama Series and Best Writing, as well as the awards for Directing and Costume Design, while Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis) was named Outstanding Lead Actress, Jonathan Jackson was named Outstanding Supporting Actor for his work as Lucky, and Alley Mills walked away with the prize for Outstanding Guest Performance.
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Soap Opera Digest does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.