General Hospital
(INTERVIEW) Evan Hofer Opens Up On Dex’s Deathbed Scenes, His Final Moments at GH and Co-Stars: Eden McCoy, Finola Hughes and Maurice Benard
General Hospital saw yet another exit in recent weeks, when in a “storyline-dictated” move, Evan Hofer was killed-off as Dex Heller, marking the end of his three-year run with the ABC daytime drama series.
While what really happened to Dex (although it’s looking eerily reminiscent of how Sam McCall died) has not been revealed, all signs point to foul play by Cyrus Renault (Jeff Kober), who wanted to silence Officer Heller for being able to pinpoint him at the hospital on Halloween; the same night Sam died.
While Hofer knew for sometime he was departing General Hospital, ahead of his on-screen alter-ego’s demise, nonetheless, it still came with some emotional moments for the young actor, especially when it was time for him to say goodbye to the show, cast and crew, many of whom have become lifelong personal friends. During a livestream interview this week on You Tube’s Michael Fairman Channel, Evan spoke on some of the hardest parts on leaving the ABC soap and taping his final moments while looking forward to what’s next in his career.
Courtesy/ABC
Many actors face that moment when their character has died, and they are still laying in a hospital bed, while others act around them in grief. When Eden McCoy (Josslyn), who played Dex’s girlfriend, learned he had died, she had a tearjerker of a monologue to perform while Evan had to lay still. He shared on that moment, “I will say that was really hard to not react too, if that makes sense. It was really hard to hear all of what Joss was saying and not feel something about it. During rehearsal, I think I might’ve cried. I was like, ‘That’s so sad.’ Eden was amazing, as always. When she was doing that monologue, and it’s a long monologue, I was laying there, and at some point I definitely gulped for air, and they yelled, “Cut!” My friends on the crew are laughing and I was like, “They can probably cut around it. Right?”‘
Hofer also recalled the moments when he found out that Dex would no longer be working for Sonny as his henchman, and how that affected him, personally. “I loved working with Mo so much … that was heartbreaking. I remember I called my mom crying one night because Dex and Josslyn broke up even though it was for like two weeks, and then Dex and Sonny broke up all at the same time!”
Photo: ABC
However, when Dex wound up on the PCPD police force and began working more closely with Finola Hughes (Anna), Hofer shared that was also one of the greatest gifts during his time on GH. “Getting to work with Finola was an incredible opportunity,” expressed Evan. “I was like, ‘I don’t get to work with Mo as much and that sucks, but I get to work with Finola now. So, that’s not a bad pickup for your boy.”
Photo: ABC
Evan’s final scenes were shot out of order than how they aired. Dex had already died in the hospital, and then Evan had to go back and tape the moment Dex actually gets stabbed, which completed his time with the show. He recalled, “I was tempted to do the Irish goodbye, fade off into the sunset, into the abyss. But, it was really hard. We finished that last scene and everybody came out and they started lining up to give me hugs. My whole goal for that last day was to just make sure I got to express my love for everyone and to soak up all that love from everyone. I’d already packed up my dressing room on purpose. (That way I was able) to say my goodbyes … Priscilla, my makeup artist was my very first friend at GH. Saying goodbye to all the wonderful people there, was definitely, definitely the hardest part.”
You can check out the full live conversation with Evan below.
Now let us know, what did you think about the sentiments shared by Evan on his co-stars, and emotional final days on GH? Do you hope the soap might bring him back as Dex’s twin or another character completely, some time down the road (which had been discussed by fans on the livestream)? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
What a sweetheart!!
Good luck in all you do, Evan.
That last scene on yesterday’s GH with Joss at Rice Plaza had me in tears.
You are missed!!!
Sad and disappointed, It was nice hearing how lucky he felt to work with Finola Hughes, she’s one of my fave people on GH. sad to see him go and sooooooo dissappointed with GH this year, which for me has been its worst year in my 30years of watching the show. As a fan its hard to say GH was the worst soap of 2024 especially since I don’t watch the other 3 to compare and make a fair assessment, still for a show to be bad the whole year is something else an that’s what GH has been this year. The writers need to be fired, Elisabeth Korte who the actors praise as knowing the show history and being there for so long is surprising considering this year the show killed off and let go of so many people and gave us pairing we don’t like (willow and drew), kissing cousins, killer sonny, (the shows real serial killer,) surprise offsprings (Sasha “scorpio”) and underwhelming returns, with Lucky and Lulu, and how the show has Jason saving everyone, and Anna one of my fave characters now needs his help for everything, I mean really?
The latest ratings are out for the week of October 26-30, 2026 and the big takeaways include: that CBS daytime’s Beyond the Gates was separated by only 23,000 viewers behind third place (of the soaps) General Hospital! For the last several weeks, Beyond the Gates has been closing the gap on this year’s winner for Outstanding Daytime Drama Series, and continuing to best GH in the key demos.
According to the latest Nielsen ratings breakdown from Soap Opera Network, the final week of October brought Beyond the Gates 1.790 million on average tuning-in and the show set a season high in total viewers. Meanwhile, General Hospital hit a new season low! The long-running ABC soap had 1.813 million for the week, and once again the series did not go over the 2 million mark.
Meanwhile, in the key Women 18-49 demo, Beyond the Gates was firmly ahead of GH with a rating share of 0.21, while General Hospital had 0.17 rating share.Then, in the key Women 25-54 demo, Beyond the Gates was once again ahead of the ABC soap with a ratings share for that demo at 0.30 while GH came in with 0.26.
Photo: CBS
MORE BY THE NUMBERS
In addition and comparatively, Beyond the Gates +22,000 viewers week-to-week, and had the largest gains in viewership year-to-year in daytime TV with +267,000 from this in 2025.. However, General Hospital seems to be going in reverse. The show was down -56,000 viewers week-over-week and down -22,000 year-over-year .
BEYOND THE GATES
Let’s take a look at some of the storylines that had people tuning-in to Beyond the Gates during the ratings week:
Hayley (Marquita Goings) attempted a massive shocker regarding her pregnancy and tried to use it to extract money from Bill Hamilton (Timon Kyle Durrett). Although, Bill saw right through her game, he demanded a paternity test, and made it clear he has no intention of raising the child—planning instead to pay her off to take the baby and leave. Meanwhile, Hayley confided her plan to her cousin Randy (Maurice P. Kerry).
Jacob Hawthorne (Jibre Hordges) and Naomi Hamilton (Arielle Prepetit) clashed over Jacob’s ongoing investigation into The Impaler, causing significant strain in their marriage. At the same time, Smitty (Mike Manning) considered taking matters into his own hands—including potentially heading to Mexico for evidence—while Martin Richardson (Brandon Claybon) worried about what comes next.
Photo: ABC
GENERAL HOSPITAL
Over at General Hospital for the ratings period, the story served up included:
Carly (Laura Wright) and Valentin (James Patrick Stuart) teamed up to investigate what really happened to Jack Brennan (Chris McKenna). Later, Danny (Asher Antonyzyn) leads them to Jack’s dead body.
Jude (Wil Traval) dropped a bombshell claim to Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn); that he is Phoebe’s father, while Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton) and Chase (Josh Swickard) signed their divorce papers.
Then, Danny caught Rocco (Finn Carr) and Scout (Kayden Brenna Tokarski) sharing a kiss, plus the shocking return of Heather Webber (Alley Mills) capped the week.
Now the questions become; without having much promotional synergy in the ABC day-part to draw more eyeballs it is not helping but hurting General Hospital. It seems Beyond the Gates is also a benefactor of a one-two-three punch of CBS soaps (Y&R, B&B and BTG) and promotion.
However, that still doesn’t take away the fact that Beyond the Gates is close to besting GH in all ratings category as they go head-to-head in some markets across the country.
So, are you excited to see Beyond the Gates climb in the ratings? Are you concerned for General Hospital? Do you think they can stave off Beyond the Gates in total viewers or will the upstart soap overtake them in the next ratings report? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
Antonio Sabáto Jr., the former Jagger Cates of General Hospital and GH: Night Shift, and the former Dante Damiano of The Bold and the Beautiful has issued his first public statement since the incident involving his son, Jack’s arrest in Alaska for a fatal hit-and-run.
Jack is the son of Sabáto Jr. and Oscar-nominated actress Virginia Madsen, and according to court documents obtained by KTUU Jack, was allegedly driving a white Chevy Tahoe when he hit and killed Carl Simmonds, 42, near an intersection in Anchorage around 5:35 a.m. on Monday, November 9.
The reports indicated that Jack fled the scene — but later decided to called the cops to say he hit “something” that “suddenly appeared in the road” while he was “doing late-night DoorDashing.”
Photo: NBC
Now, Antonio has taken to his Instagram breaking his silence on the situation, sharing, “At this time, my family and I are navigating an extremely sensitive and deeply personal matter.”
He added, “As a father, my love for my children remains unconditional, and my priority is the well-being of my family. We ask that the public and members of the media honor our privacy during this difficult time and keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.”
The soap alum concluded, “I also wish to extend my heartfelt condolences to the family and loved ones of the gentleman who tragically lost his life. My thoughts and prayers are with them as well. We sincerely appreciate your compassion, understanding, and respect for the privacy of everyone affected.”
Jack Sabáto was arraigned in court on Tuesday, November 10 with bail set at $5,000, and a no-driving order and the potential of $5,000 penalty fees if he fails to attend future court appearances.
Antonio is the father to Jack, 34, daughter, Mina Sabato, 24 and son, Antonio Sabáto III, 15.
This is a developing story. You can check out Antonio’s official statement below.
So, let us know your thoughts on this tragic hit-and-run, which claimed the life of another man, and Antonio’s statement, via the comment section below.
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Sonny (Maurice Benard) and Ava’s (Maura West) daughter Avery looks quite different, starting on today’s November 9 episode of General Hospital. That’s because GH has made Avery into a full-blown teenager and the role is now being played by actress Alya Bullington.
In her debut, the Tennessee native was thrown into the deep soap waters with Daytime Emmy winners, Maurice Benard and Eden McCoy (Josslyn). Bullington weighed-in to TV Insider about her first scene which featured Avery overhearing a fight between Sonny and Josslyn.
She explained “It was something I have never done before, I did not have a lot of experience with the screaming and the crying stuff, but I got my first script, and I was like, ‘OK, this is a huge opportunity to learn so much about how that stuff works and to become this character that I have never even tried playing before.’”
Photo: ABC
THE TEENAGED VERSION OF AVERY WILL HAVE A LOT TO CONTEND WITH
Speaking of working with McCoy, Bullington shared, “She’s incredible. I remember her just laughing and making jokes on set, and then the minute that they started taping, she just locked in and she cried immediately, and my first thought was, ‘I want to be able to do that.’
The soap opera newcomer added, “I think she just inspired me so much because she is so great and she can just lock into whatever character she wants to in the moment.”
The character of Avery was born back in 2014, but as recently as the October 8 episode of General Hospital, the character was suddenly referred to as a teenager. This is the second young female character in recent months to be aged up following the casting of Kayden Brenna Tokarski as Scout Cain.
As for her take on Avery and what’s ahead, Alya said,“She’s emotional, and she’s curious, and she’s a really fun person to play because so much stuff is happening in her life. I think she’s kind of confused about what’s happening and what to believe.”
So, what do you think about General Hospital making Avery a teenager? Are you excited to see the conflict between Sonny, Ava and Avery now that they have aged up the character? Share your thoughts and welcome Alya to GH via the comment section below.
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