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.’”