General Hospital’s Bobbie Spencer recently passed away, and the legacy character is among many GH exits this year – some more drastic than others. Let’s dive into all the characters that left the ABC daytime drama in 2023.
General Hospital Tragedy: Bobbie Spencer Passes Away
Let’s talk about who left GH in 2023. We’ll start with the biggest one that we’re all talking about, and that’s Bobbie Spencer (Jacklyn Zeman). Former General Hospital head nurse Bobbie had her last episode on April 27th.
It was at Bobbie’s grandson, Michael Corinthos‘ (Chad Duell), wedding to Willow Tait (Katelyn MacMullen). The Bobbie Spencer actress passed away in May, less than two weeks after her final episode.
Bobbie’s daughter, Carly Corinthos Spencer (Laura Wright), found out that her mom passed on the first new episode of GH in 2024 on Tues, Jan 2. Bobbie Spencer’s funeral airs next week on January 10th.
Many cast members are returning for the memorial to pay tribute to Bobbie Spencer and her portrayer, Jackie. Indeed, it will be an emotional episode centered around Bobbie.
Mac Scorpio off the GH Canvas
Speaking of beloved General Hospital legacy characters, John J. York exited his role as Mac Scorpio because of a medical crisis. York has two types of blood cancer and is currently in treatment. In a recent update, he said he’d had his bone marrow transplant, and things are going very well.
His last episode as Mac was on November 7, and he anticipates a return. A more somber exit this year was Roger Howarth’s whose character, Dr. Austin Gatlin Holt, was brutally murdered by an as-yet-to-be-revealed killer.
This was his 3rd character on GH. He first showed up as Todd Manning, then played recast Franco Baldwin. Then, after he was killed by Peter August (Wes Ramsey). And then, they made him the doctor which didn’t really fascinate fans. The ABC soap opera decided not to renew his contract.
Britt Westbourne’s Tragic Exit from General Hospital
Another GH character death from 2023 was that of Britt Westbourne (Kelly Thiebaud). Her last episode was on March 2. Britt was already dying of Huntington’s Disease, but the Hook Killer was the one that killed her with her poisoned weapon of choice.
Also, Eden McCoy temporarily exited in 2023 as Josslyn Jacks and remains off the soap opera now, for an indeterminate time. She’s grieving the death of her mother, who passed away after a multi-year battle with breast cancer.
She’ll be back, but for now, Eden’s been off-screen since Dec 13. Recast Courtney Fulk has temporarily taken over the role. Speaking of the teen scene, Cameron Webber actor William Lipton decided to leave General Hospital to focus on college.
We were told back then that he’d be back for episodes over the summer, but that never manifested. Possibly because of the writer’s strike. Lipton’s last episode as Cam was on March 30.
Holly Sutton Out Again
In and out in 2023 was Emma Samms as Holly Sutton for 14 episodes. She dealt with the kidnapping of her son Ethan Lovett (James Ryan) by awful Victor Cassadine (Charles Shaughnessy) who was auctioning him off to the highest bidder.
And by the way, James stepped in as Ethan, taking Nathan Parsons’ place for a moment. Holly stuck around briefly to try and lure Robert Scorpio (Tristan Rogers) away from Diane Miller (Carolyn Hennesy). But then, she gave up and left town.
Another old-school return in 2023 was Ellen Travolta, who played Gloria Cerullo, Lois Cerullo’s (Rena Sofer) mom. She left town on Nov 29 after the Thanksgiving disaster, and Yuri (Cyrus Hobbi) helped sort out her Russian bingo plot, which was needless and poorly written.
Elizabeth Webber’s (Rebecca Herbst) distant mom, Caroline Webber (Denise Crosby), turned back up for a moment in Feb 2023, but her dad wasn’t seen this past year. Perry Shen showed up in 2023 as bad boy Brad Cooper.
He was last seen at Epiphany Johnson’s (Sonya Eddy) memorial service. Drew Cheetwood showed up for a hot minute as Milo Giambetti for the Magic Milo performance at the Nurse’s Ball. He was in and out and done by April 7.
Marcus Taggert MIA on General Hospital
One dissatisfying exit was Réal Andrews as Marcus Taggert. Last we saw, he was devastated by the reveal that Curtis Ashford (Donnell Turner) is Trina Robinson’s (Tabyana Ali) biological father.
He appeared to be developing a drinking problem to cope with the news. Also, he was considered for the position of Port Charles Police Commissioner. But then, they abruptly ended his appearances on July 19th without continuing either storyline.
A very sad exit in 2023 was the character of Epiphany Johnson. Actress Sonya Eddy died suddenly in December 2022 after complications of surgery. But it was in late March 2023 that the soap opera paid tribute to the character and actress. They held a memorial service on the 29th of that month.
Kristina Corinthos Shocking GH Recast
A stunning exit that came in 2023 was that of Lexi Ainsworth as Kristina Corinthos. The soap reportedly abruptly let her go and replaced her with recast Kate Mansi. She’s a big catch for General Hospital as she’s done excellent work over on Days of our Lives.
But many fans were stunned that they’d abruptly replaced Lexi, who’d been on GH since 2009 as the mob princess daughter of Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard). Speaking of stunning exits, one of the most shocking of the year was Kristina’s sister Molly Lansing Davis.
Haley Pullos’ last General Hospital episode was May 24th. She was involved in a horrifying DUI accident and was charged with two felonies with aggravating circumstances. According to a lawsuit filed by the man she struck while reportedly driving drunk.
Also, she had marijuana in her system. She almost killed him. The lawsuit calls her despicable for her actions that night. She posted before news broke about her DUI charges that she was taking time off from General Hospital to heal from an auto accident.
But, that’s a serious understatement. According to police, she struck a parked car, drove away, then got onto the freeway heading in the wrong direction where she barely avoided another crash. Then, drove head-on into another driver, nearly killing him.
Last we heard, she remains in a posh rehab facility in Malibu because, in CA, time in rehab can substitute for jail time. And she’s facing up to 6 years in prison. I don’t expect her back on General Hospital.
Since Haley had to leave because of her felony arrest and DUI charges, we’ve gone through a few other Molly’s. Now they’ve landed on Kristen Vaganos.
Major General Hospital Villains Exit
One of two top-notch villain exits for me in 2023 happened on Feb 22, 2023. That was when Mac Scorpio took out the trash and shot Ryan Chamberlain (Jon Lindstrom) dead.
Ava Jerome (Maura West) hit him once but seemed to lose her killer instinct. Thankfully, Mac took care of it. Although I have to say that I love Ryan – I’m a fan of villains. So, I was a little sad to see him go.
I was much less sad with the second-biggest General Hospital villain exit of 2023. Victor Cassadine was blown to bits in May of 2023 by a bomb dropped from a WSB drone.
This was a satisfying exit after a really good storyline. He terrorized many in Port Charles, including his son, Valentin Cassadine (James Patrick Stuart). Also, Val’s love, Anna Devane (Finola Hughes). And his grandnephew Spencer Cassadine (Nicholas Chavez).
Nikolas Cassadine Swap on GH
Speaking of Cassadines, there were two other exits from that legacy family in 2023. An exit most fans hated was Marcus Coloma bowing out as Nikolas Cassadine. General Hospital didn’t renew his contract and his final episode aired in January 2023.
Since then, Adam Huss has shown up as a replacement-Nikolas. He popped up in September at the Swiss bank checking on his fortune after waking from his coma in Pautuck. Now, he’s back in Port Chuck.
And wants revenge on Esme Prince (Avery Kristen Pohl). Also, we got to see Constance Towers back as Helena Cassadine for a couple of episodes this year. Helena was back to torment her biological son Valentin on General Hospital.
He hallucinated his evil mommy while he suffered at the hands of the virus his bio-dad Victor planned to unleash on the world, Thanos style.
Emma Drake Out for Now on General Hospital
A much happier GH in and out this year was Brooklyn Rae Silzer as Emma Scorpio Drake. She came back for just a moment to check on her grandma Anna Devane. Robert, her grandpa, brought her back to town to comfort Anna, and it was a nice but short reunion.
Related to Anna’s 2023 storylines, Andre Maddox (Anthony Montgomery) came back for a single episode to hand her a file he’d gotten from the WSB about the Cassadines. One General Hospital exit that I was thrilled to see was Bonnie Burroughs as horrible Gladys Corbin.
She’d been taking advantage of Sasha Gilmore (Sofia Mattsson) for months. Then, she let her shady doctor pal do bad things to her in Ferncliff. Lucky for Gladys, Sonny let her live and she slimed her way out of Port Chuck on Oct 5, 2023.
Mason Gatlin’s Run Comes to an End
Like Gladys, another I really won’t miss is murderous Mason Gatlin (Nathanyael Grey), who’s off to prison. The lollipop-loving psycho is headed for a couple of decades behind bars at Pentonville for kidnapping Ava and other foul deeds.
His last General Hospital episode was on November 29th. Related to that story we saw naughty nanny Betty Rutherford (Ella Lentini) come and go this year while slapping and terrorizing Ava to get info for Cyrus Renault (Jeff Kober).
Ella left on Aug 21st. Speaking of slime balls, Linc Brown (Dan Buran) is over and done. The pervy, creepy manager of Blaze (Jacqueline Grace Lopez) and formerly Brook Lynn Quartermaine (Amanda Setton) was outed at the Nurses Ball and thoroughly exposed.
Hopefully, we won’t see him again on General Hospital. Bad doctor Damon Montague was portrayed with finesse by Darin Toonder. The monstrous shrink was the one who drugged Sasha and stuck her in Ferncliff.
Then, blackmailed Gladys for gambling money. This guy was a real piece of work, and I’m just sorry he wasn’t killed off. He was arrested and exited in cuffs on Oct 5th, 2023. Both Montague and Gladys came out relatively unscathed, which was frustrating.
Exciting General Hospital Cameos
A fun short cameo at the psych ward was Josh Swickard’s wife – he plays Harrison Chase, of course – and his wife Lauren played a nurse at Ferncliff. More fun cameos came as they brought in Walt Willey to play All My Children’s Jackson Montgomery.
And Kassie De Paiva as Blair Cramer from One Life to Live. Grey’s Anatomy’s Chandra Wilson played Syndey Val Jean at the Nurses’s Ball, which was a fun treat. Another exit that I hope sticks this time is that of horrible Harmony Miller (Inga Cadranel).
She was back on General Hospital to haunt Willow and warn her about someone. Inga was back for just 6 episodes in 2023 but I’d rather it was none. She was trying to warn Willow about someone or something but really, who cares what that woman thinks?
She let a cult leader rape her teenage daughter repeatedly. She’s garbage, and a killer, and was trying to kill Alexis Davis (Nancy Lee Grahn) when she herself was run down and died as a result. Good riddance, and I hope never to see her again.
Selina Wu Missing from GH
Speaking of General Hospital she-villains, Lydia Look has been MIA as Selina Wu. She’s not been seen since October 23. But I imagine she’ll be back around in 2024 to harass Curtis about The Savoy or do other dirty deeds.
Another bad lady who went down in 2023 was Deputy Mayor Eileen Ashby (Heather Mazur). She did Victor’s dirty deeds, but she let him down. Then he threw her down – or, more accurately, off a bridge to her doom on March 28th.
Speaking of bad women who do bad things, Warden Ellen Garten (Diahnna Nicole Baxter) conspired with Cyrus. Then, left General Hospital for greener pastures on October 12th.
Where is Zeke Robinson on General Hospital?
In and out this year was Gavin Houston as Portia Robinson‘s (Brook Kerr) brother, Zeke Robinson. He’s a lawyer who repped Drew Cain (Cameron Mathison) as he faced those SEC charges.
And he stuck around long enough to get Jordan Ashford (Tanisha Harper) into bed but then left without another word on July 10th. Indeed, fans want him to come back, and give Jordan some more romance.
David Lautman appeared in 2023 as slimy Paparrazo Grant Smoltz, who harassed Sasha but didn’t stay long. Charles Mesure is out as John Brennan, but I doubt he’s gone for good. He was arrested just before Christmas, but I suspect he’s back in 2024.
Speaking of harassing Sasha, the always slick Morgan Fairchild returned for a handful of episodes last year as wicked home shopping network maven Haven de Havilland. Lastly, I have to wonder if Leslie Charleson is already done as Monica Quartermaine.
Last we saw her, she was at the Q mansion in a wheelchair. She looked terribly frail. She’s been off since and wasn’t in the official photo for Bobbie Spencer’s funeral. But I certainly hope she’s there. However, once that’s over, I’d be surprised if we see her again.
GH is kicking off the new year with drama and angst. Don’t miss a minute to see the tribute to Bobbie Spencer and her portrayer, Jackie, on the ABC soap opera.
