The answer to what General Hospital fans have been speculating about for months has come to a conclusion, for now.

On the Thursday, July 23 episode of the ABC daytime drama series it was revealed in story that Maxie Jones (Kirsten Storms), along with her man, Spinelli (Bradford Anderson) and her three children, Georgie (Lily Fisher), Bailey (Miley and Riley Plonski) and James (Gary James Fuller) are headed to Australia to live after Spinelli received a job offer he couldn’t refuse.

However, the message of the status of Maxie and her clan, came from none other than Cody (Josh Kelly) during a conversation where he explained that they were all packing up to head to the land down under the following night and they were just “itching to get out of Port Charles.” In addition, Maxie has divested her shares of Deception Cosmetics and sold them to Michael Corinthos (Rory Gibson).

Photo: ABC

IS THERE A FUTURE FOR MAXIE TO RETURN?

All of this paves the way for the series to deal with the longer absence of Kirsten Storms who is back in Tennessee and not having her figure into any immediate storyline.

While the family uprooting themselves to Australia certainly doesn’t look like any return in the near future would be likely, the series can always decide down the line and take their time of what to do with Maxie, if Kirsten Storms, should never return to the role or they would decide to recast, if needed.

This does complete Maxie’s story for now. It was back in February of 2026, that Maxie came out of her coma and was reunited with her family and saw her believed-to-be husband, Nathan West (Ryan Paevey) back from the dead, who later proved to be Cassius Faison. Storms comeback lasted about a month and by March she was no longer on the series.

It was back last month in June that Storms took to Instagram to share that “As for what is in my future, where GH is concerned…. Given what’s been going on, I can’t say I will feel comfortable heading back to Los Angeles and returning to work.”

All of this stems from her reported break-ins to her apartment, the hacking of her devices all occurring in Tennessee, coupled by the restraining order served to her by her ex-husband Brandon Barash (ex-Johnny, GH and ex-Stefan/Jake, Days).

So, how do you feel about General Hospital writing out Maxie Jones with a sudden move to Australia, taking Spinelli and the kids all seemingly off the canvas? Do you like the way this leaves a door open for Maxie to visit or return to Port Charles one day?

Do you think the series should honor the work Kirsten Storms did in the role and not recast, or should they recast down the line? Let us know via the comment section.

General Hospital had more people tuning in than over the past three and half months for the week of July 6-10. According to the latest ratings report from Soap Opera Network, GH’s storyline and the fallout from Cullum’s (Andrew Hawkes) death and the arrival of Z (John Oliver) had piqued fans interest enough for the ABC soap to bring in its best total viewer overall average in the last 9 weeks.

In addition, GH attracted its largest audience in 15 weeks since the week of March 23-27, 2026. The last time the ABC soap opera clocked in at over 2 million total viewers for a particular week was the week of May 4-8, 2026.

For the July 6-1o ratings period General Hospital average 2.052 million total viewers which was up p +72,000 week-to-week and +132,000 year-over-year. Let’s take a look at what was driving the numbers below for the ratings week:

Photo: ABC

Z REVEALS CASSIUS IS ALIVE

Carly (Laura Wright) confronted Z and demanded he pull Josslyn (Eden McCoy) from the WSB. Z refused, leading Carly to slap him across the face. Meanwhile, director Ross Cullum was exposed as a rogue double agent who had abducted individuals to finish Cesar’s final project.

At the end of the July 6 episode, John Oliver finished his 3 day guest-stint, but not before revealing to viewers that he had imprisoned Cassius Faison (Ryan Paevey) and he was actually alive. Z had then propositioned Cassius with work for the WSB or be sent away for Cullum’s crimes that they are pinning on him.  The episode also marked the end of Ryan Paevey’s General Hospital run.

Elsewhere, Britt Westbourne (Kelly Thiebaud) discovered the truth that this entire time she had been duped and never actually suffered from Huntington’s disease, having been manipulated by Cullum’s operation to finish the cold fusion project.

ANNA COMES HOME

Anna (Finola Hughes)  finally returned home to Port Charles with her loved ones in tow. She was greeted later by her ex-flame, Valentin Cassadine (James Patrick Stuart) who was at her front door who was concerned for her mental well-being. Once along, Anna is haunted by the ghost of Peter August (Wes Ramsey) telling her to take care of things.

Later in the week, Sidwell (Carlo Rota) and Jordan (Tanisha Harper) clashed. He wants her to get his money for him from some off shore accounts in exchange for hooking her up a the same German clinic Michael went to to recover from his burns. He tells her she can jump on the line and help restore her scarred face, if she follows his demands, which Jordan turns down.

It should also be noted that General Hospital remained as the #1 most-watched show on Hulu on July 7,  8 and 10 and remained in the top five for the rest of the week. Source for the above ratings numbers are derived from Nielsen (Live+Same Day Big Data + Panel).

So, was the July 6-10 week of episodes having you glued to your set and tuning-in every day to watch General Hospital and not miss an episode? Would you agree that the preceding week which featured the shootout where Josslyn saves the day and ends up killing Cullum, one of the more exciting in a long time? Do you think based on the strength of its storylines and day-to-day episodes that you’d hope General Hospital would score even higher than it did against the other soaps? Let us know you thoughts via the comment section.