General Hospital approaches 2026 and we are going to take a look today at who left the ABC soap in 2025. There’s quite a few people to talk about. We had tragic actor deaths. And we had character exits related to deaths and contract issues. We had recasts and lots of behind-the-scenes scoop.
We’re going to talk about how the character canvas changed on GH in 2025—some for the worst, some for the better. All right, first let’s get the sad out of the way. We had some really wonderful actors that passed on and their legacy characters also exited, leaving fans absolutely devastated.
The Heartbreaking Loss of General Hospital’s Leslie Charleson and Monica Quartermaine
Let’s start with Monica Quartermaine (Leslie Charleson). The actress passed away on January 12th, 2025, from complications of a fall. And then nine months later, General Hospital wrote the very sad death of legacy character Monica Quartermaine. The character passed away in September after Leslie Charleson had been on GH for almost 50 years.
Monica Quartermaine passed away peacefully in her sleep and that led to the introduction of her long-lost sister, Ronnie Bard (Erica Slezak). Ronnie Bard was also in and out on General Hospital from September to October 2025.
Ronnie Bard’s character arc was short but memorable. And I’d love to see her back again as Monica Quartermaine’s sister swapping barbs with Tracy Quartermaine (Jane Elliot). But of course, saying goodbye to Monica Quartermaine, even though we knew it was coming, was still very sad.
Mourning General Hospital Legend Denise Alexander as Lesley Webber
Another soap actress from General Hospital was Denise Alexander. She marked her first appearance on General Hospital 60 years ago. She appeared from 1965 to 2021 as Lesley Webber, who is the mom of Laura Spencer (Genie Francis).
The actress passed in March 2025, but her character Lesley Webber’s death has not been addressed yet on the soap. However, a recent leak from a reliable source that has a contact backstage at General Hospital said that they are going to address Lesley Webber’s death in the spring of 2026.
Remembering GH Icon Tristan Rogers and the Legacy of Robert Scorpio
Sadly, we lost another soap legend, Robert Scorpio (Tristan Rogers), in August of 2025, just a month after his final appearance on General Hospital. He played Robert Scorpio for 45 years since 1980. He was my first soap crush. Losing him just broke my heart.
And of course, he lost his battle with lung cancer this year. Tristan Rogers is gone, but Robert Scorpio’s death on General Hospital will not be addressed until the spring of 2026.
According to a reliable source, they are writing it into the script, but they’re also trying to schedule Emma Samms to appear as Holly Sutton and Kimberly McCullough—who generally doesn’t act anymore, as she is a director and producer now—as his daughter, Robin Scorpio.
Shocking Character Deaths: Cyrus Renault and the Josslyn Jacks Showdown on General Hospital
The next exits we have to discuss thankfully are not real-life tragic losses of actors, but some great character exits—some that we didn’t like and were glad to see go, and a few recasts.
So first up is Cyrus Renault (Jeff Kober), who left General Hospital when Cyrus Renault was shot dead by Josslyn Jacks (Eden McCoy) in February 2025. Cyrus was on a killing spree saying he was doing God’s work. He was mercy killing lonely and terminal patients. But let’s face it, he was a stone-cold murderer.
Jeff Kober was so chilling in the role; he’s a great actor. Two of Cyrus Renault’s last kills were Sam McCall (Kelly Monaco) and Dex Heller (Evan Hofer). Very sad stuff. And then Jack Brennan (Chris McKenna) goaded Josslyn into killing Cyrus for revenge for Dex’s death. And we just saw Jeff Kober again when Cyrus turned up to haunt his sister Laura in a nightmare.
GH Departures for Natalia Rogers-Ramirez and the Creepy Professor Henry Dalton
Another character death and exit was Natalia Rogers-Ramirez (Eva LaRue). She wrapped her run as in July when the character overdosed because she was feeling rejected by her kids and Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard). Her character Natalia Rogers-Ramirez was largely disliked by fans and is only missed on the character canvas by her estranged son, Marco Rios (Adrian Anchondo).
A more recent character death is another who will not be missed: Professor Henry Dalton, a minor villain played by Daniel Goddard. From April to November of this past year, Professor Henry Dalton was a creep. I mean, let’s be real, and he got himself shot in cold blood by Jenz Sidwell (Carlo Rota) in November 2025.
Rena Sofer Exits General Hospital as Lois Cerullo and Gloria Cerullo Heads to Bensonhurst
We also said goodbye to Lois Cerullo (Rena Sofer) in October when her portrayer, Rena Sofer, relocated from LA to New York and took a big step back from acting. Lois Cerullo had left in disgrace over her lie about Gio Palmieri (Giovanni Mazza) being Brook Lynn Quartermaine (Amanda Setton)’s son.
And then Lois and Brook Lynn buried the hatchet, but then they wrote Lois off as she went off to manage singer Blaze (Jacqueline Grace Lopez) on a concert tour. Hopefully one day we’ll see Rena Sofer pop back in maybe now and then with more appearances as Lois.
We also said goodbye to Lois’ mom, Brook Lynn’s grandma, Gloria Cerullo (Ellen Travolta). Gloria was tossed out of the Quartermaine mansion and exiled back to Bensonhurst this year during the Gio paternity dust-up, and it is unclear if Gloria will ever return.
Michael Corinthos Recast: Rory Gibson Takes Over for Chad Duell on GH
All right, next let’s talk about a recast. Michael Corinthos (Rory Gibson) survived a dramatic explosion at Sonny’s penthouse, but he was badly burned and went to Germany to a burn treatment clinic. That was when Chad Duell quit General Hospital and he exited in January 2025.
And then the ABC soap recast the role of Michael Corinthos with Rory Gibson. He debuted as Michael in May and he has been absolutely killing it. I would say Rory Gibson is one of the most popular recasts on General Hospital in a long time.
Sasha Gilmore and Lucky Spencer Say Goodbye to Port Charles
We also said goodbye to Sasha Gilmore (Sofia Mattsson) when General Hospital decided to not renew her contract. After Willow Tait (Katelyn MacMullen) tormented Sasha, she and baby Daisy took off and left to go live with her parents, Robert Scorpio and Holly Sutton, across the pond.
We also saw General Hospital veteran Jonathan Jackson) make the difficult decision to leave the soap after a brief return as Lucky Spencer from August 2024 until April 2025. Turns out Jonathan Jackson wasn’t able to handle the commute between LA and Nashville where he lives and where his kids are. So, it was tough, but Lucky Spencer is gone. He is supposed to be back for another appearance, though.
Kirsten Storms’ General Hospital Hiatus and Maxie Jones’ Coma Twist
We also saw Kirsten Storms exit General Hospital in August as Maxie Jones. She was also moving to Nashville. Lots of GHers are in Nashville, by the way. Scott Reeves (Steven Webber) lives there. Jason Morgan (Steve Burton) used to live there, but he moved back to LA.
So Kirsten Storms was dealing with health issues and of course moving, and we had a recast for a few episodes. And then of course Maxie Jones is in a coma and Kirsten Storms is set to return in early 2026 when Maxie Jones wakes up from the coma that Sidwell put her in.
WSB Chief Jack Brennan: Recasts and GH Rumors for 2026
Last but not least is another recast. We had an actor swap of WSB chief Jack Brennan. The actor who originated the role, Charles Mesure, decided to exit the soap opera for reasons unknown.
Some chatter says he wanted to pursue other projects. Other chatter said the fast-paced production schedule and high dialogue memorization they do on a soap opera was not something he wanted to keep doing. But we don’t know for sure which it was.
He wrapped his run as Jack Brennan in January 2025 and then Chris McKenna took over as Jack in February. And we had a recent leak that said Chris McKenna may also exit. Rumor has it that Jack is supposed to be killed off in 2026, but we’ll see. Drop your comments on who you’re going to miss most that’s gone from General Hospital in 2025.
