General Hospital’s Rena Sofer Breaks Her Silence On Exit as Lois: ‘I’m Eternally Grateful’ (EXCL)

Lois Cerullo left Port Charles on the October 24 episode of General Hospital, marking the end — at least for now — of the character’s two-year comeback. Now, Rena Sofer, who won a Daytime Emmy for Supporting Actress and a Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Younger Lead Actress in 1995 for the role, which she created in 1993 and resumed playing in 2023 after a 26-year absence, is speaking out exclusively to Digest about wrapping up her return trip to the show.

On Sofer’s emotional final episode, Lois informed her estranged daughter, Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton), that she was heading out of the country — specifically, to Seoul, South Korea to become a tour manager for Blaze, and didn’t know how long she would be away, given that the musical artist was adding new dates “all the time.” But the door was left wide open for the actress to reprise Lois again, as she tearfully told her daughter, “The second you need me, I will drop everything and come running.” The pair shared a poignant hug, indicating that the ice between them was thawing. Mom and daughter had been on the rocks since it was revealed that Gio (Giovanni Mazza) was the son Brook Lynn had given birth to after getting pregnant as a teenager by Dante (Dominic Zamprogna). While telling Brook Lynn that the baby had been placed in private adoption, Lois had secretly arranged for the newborn boy to be adopted by the Cerullos’ family friend, Camila, and Brook Lynn felt betrayed when she found out that her offspring had grown up right under her nose and she’d been none the wiser.

Sofer first came back to GH after wrapping up her 2013-22 run as Quinn Fuller on Bold and Beautiful, and over the course of her return trip, she and husband Sanford Bookstaver realized their years-long dream of moving out of Los Angeles and putting down roots in upstate New York.

Addressing the end of her time on the show, Sofer tells 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. I am eternally grateful to [Executive Producer] Frank Valentini and the writers for letting me reconnect with the talented cast and crew at GH, and for supporting my recent move back to the East Coast with my husband Sandy.”

She indicated that she would happily come back to play Lois again, teasing, “You never know when Lois will return… Bensonhurst is only a phone call away!”