Monday’s, August 31 episode of General Hospital brought with it the the final appearance, for now, of the iconic Genie Francis as Mayor Laura Collins.

In story, it has been revealed that Laura is taking a leave of absence from her mayorship to go abroad and visit her husband, Kevin (Jon Lindstrom), and her grandson Ace in Ireland.

The timing of the story-dictated moved had to do with Genie’s annual summer hiatus from the long-running ABC soap opera. As per usual, GH fans can look forward to Laura’s return on-screen to come with an impact later this fall.

Courtesy/ABC

General Hospital fans have loved the legendary star since her debut back in 1977, when Francis was in her teens, and was later paired with the late Anthony Geary as soap opera super couple Luke and Laura.

Back in 2007, Genie won her first and only Daytime Emmy Award in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Daytime Drama Series category. She has been nominated four times as a solo performer in either the Lead (1997, 2021) or Supporting Actress categories (2007, 2012). In addition, in 2002, Genie along with Tony Geary were nominated for America’s Favorite Couple.

LEAVING PORT CHARLES

Before Laura left town, she had a meeting with her friend Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) and his arch enemy, Drew Cain (Cameron Marthison) while at the Metro Court Hotel. It was there, Laura announced to the rivals that she was leaving town soon and wanted them to call a ceasefire while she was gone.

Laura asked Drew to first bow out of the Pier 55 auction so Sonny could regain his property. However, that didn’t go over so well with Drew, who said nothing Sonny does is ever legitimate. However, Sonny informed Drew that he was also a legit businessman (and seemingly out of the mob).

So, will you miss Genie during her summer break? What do you hope Laura’s story will be when she returns? Do you think the series will pair Laura with Ezra Boyle (Daniel Cosgrove) or keep the Laura and Kevin relationship going long distance, since Jon Lindstrom is primarily a cast member on CBS daytime’s Beyond the Gates? Let us know via the comment section below.

The Monday, August 31 episode of General Hospital brought with it plenty of espionage, close encounters, and ended with a horrifying discovery in the Metro Court Hotel pool by none other than Charlotte Cassadine (Bluesy Burke)!

Here’s what went down in the main arc of the key stories; culminating in what appears to be a body of a man in a suit floating in the water. In the pick-up from the last Friday’s cliffhanger, Ava (Maura West) is able to sway Jack (Chris McKenna) to sit and talk with her so she could give him some insight into Nina’s (Cynthia Watros) history with her daughter, Willow (Katelyn MacMullen) and Nina’s complicated past. Jack succumbs to Ava’s charms and lies, and starts to down the drink she spiked with the sleeping pill given to her from Drew (Cameron Mathison).

Eventually, Jack divulges to Ava he feels overheated and decides it’s best he heads back to his room. However, Jack only makes it to the elevator where he is stumbling around pushing the wrong hotel floor buttons. Meanwhile, Ava is panicked. She texts Drew to hurry up and alert him that Jack is on his way back to his room.

Courtesy/ABC

THE MASTER KEY

In Carly’s (Laura Wright) office, she receives a call from the front desk about a package that has arrived for Drew Cain.  Carly tells Valentin (James Patrick Stuart), with whom she began to make out with, that she wants to find some evidence on Drew to hold against him. The two decide to use the hotel master key to look around Drew’s office at Aurora Media.

At the same time, Danny (Asher Antonyzyn) and Charlotte decided to snoop around Drew’s office, so he could have some kind of leverage over Drew to enable him to see his sister, Scout (Kayden Brenna Tokarski). Danny swiped the master key he stole from housekeeping, but he and Charlotte were interrupted by Carly and Valentin showing up and having the same idea as them.

Inside Drew’s office, Valentin finds a business outline and plan of Drew’s to enter back into the corporate world and to take down Sonny. Then, Carly says they should take the file themselves and use it to bring down Drew.

Courtesy/ABC

PHYSICAL SPACE

Meanwhile, a shirtless Chase (Josh Swickard) and Willow encounter a very physical and intense moment between them when the exes lock eyes at the boathouse. Chase pulls back and Willow apologizes for leaning on Chase so much.

Chase reaffirms out loud that his wife, Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton) and their adopted child, Phoebe means everything to him, but he could still be there for Willow, but as his friend, especially give their past.

Next, Rocco (Finn Carr) and Scout show up from behind the bushes having overheard the entire conversation between Willow and Chase. At that point, Scout doubts Willow ever loved her father, Drew Cain, and feels she betrayed her.

Courtesy/ABC

CONFLICTED ABOUT HIS EX

Chase meets up with Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) at the Hotel Gardens and opened up about his feelings about Willow with who he believes is still in love with him. Dante advises Chase not to get involved in Willow’s issues with Michael, their kids and Drew. Will Chase heed the warning?

Next, Britt (Kelly Thiebaud) and Willow ran into each other and knocked back drinka at the Metro Court Hotel bar. Britt and Willow discuss Chase and how Willow knows that she blew it with Chase when she cheated on him with Michael (Rory Gibson).

Elsewhere, in Carly’s office, Drew knocks out the hotel’s security system with a computer virus. Later as he searches Jack’s room, Ava runs in and tells Drew they need to get out of the room before Jack finds them there.

Courtesy/ABC

DEAD IN THE WATER?

At the end of the episode, Charlotte and Danny wind up to the Metro Court pool, which is now closed for the season. Scout suggests that she and Danny take one last swim, so when they “borrowed” Chase’s truck, it wasn’t all for naught.

However, once in the pool and into the deep end, Charlotte lets out a blood curdling scream (the scream heard in this week’s latest GH promo). Suddenly she sees what looks to be a man’s body floating in the water who looks to be clothed just like Jack.

So, is it Jack who is dead in the water? Is this a red herring? The timing of Willow showing up at the Metro Court Hotel bar is suspect, given that she suddenly appeared and had drinks with Britt. Did she push Jack who was already drugged into the pool, and then join Britt to cover her tracks?

What do you think of Chase’s behavior? Is he falling for Willow again, and cant seem to help himself? Let us know your thoughts via the comment section, but first check out the scenes leading up to the ending with Ava distracting Jack and getting him to sip on the spiked drink below.

There is a recast coming soon to General Hospital, but which character will it be? Rumors and speculative guesses began swirling after the posting of the Sunday, August 30 episode of the That’s Awesome Podcast and You Tube series featuring GH’s Steve Burton (Jason) and Bradford Anderson (Spinelli).

During their host banter, Anderson brought up the challenges faced in a soap opera when an actor comes in as a recast and replaces another actor known for their role. The challenges included: what happens to a performer who doesn’t fully know the back-story of which they may be walking into, and how they build said back-story their own way. To which, Burton shared that he recently shared scenes with someone who has not aired yet, and who is a recast.

As the conversation ensued, Steve revealed, “So, there’s a guy on the show right now, who (more recently) came on the show, and you guys will see him. I had some scenes with him, and I can’t say what it is yet. But I said to him, ‘Do you know exactly what’s happening?’ I said that, because his decision-making in the scene had to do with events that have happened and the history with some of the other characters. The actors says, ‘I don’t really know what’s really happened, but I do create the backstory (for) myself.”‘

Courtesy/ThatsAwesome

THE RECAST IS A VETERAN TELEVISION ACTOR

Steve continued, “Now, he’s been an actor for a long, long time. He’s been on some primetime shows. He’s done this a long time. So I said, ‘Do you mind if I just tell you kind of what this is, who this is, why they’re doing it and what the involvement for me is?’ He goes, ‘I would love to (know).’ If you can just give someone just a few things where they go, ‘Oh! That’s why I’m saying this!’ Now, the interpretation needs to be this or my intention needs to be this in the scene.’ So, once he airs, we can talk about that more.”

JASPER JACKS

So, who could be returning to General Hospital in the form of another actor? GH viewers were swift to make their picks. Number one so far has been Jasper Jacks. The last time “Jax” was on-screen was November 22, 2021, when he shared a goodbye scene with his ex-wife Carly (Laura Wright). At that time, he told her he was leaving Port Charles to deal with business in his homeland of Sydney, Australia.

In recent weeks, GH has been ramping up the story of JJE (Jasper Jacks Enterprises) with his daughter, Josslyn (Eden McCoy) now accepting his supposed offer to run his company while he is sailing abroad. That message was delivered by mysterious newcomer Hudson (Troy Lennon Appel).

However, Josslyn initially turned down the position, but then was given her next WSB assignment from Brennan (Chris McKenna) which was to accept the position and infiltrate the company as the bureau is looking into some kind of foul play. It would make the most sense that the series has recast the role since Ingo Rademacher left GH over the Covid-19 vaccine mandate and then sued ABC and the series.

JERRY JACKS

If it is not Jax, another top choice is his nefarious brother, Jerry Jacks, previously played by Sebastian Roche. The last time the character was seen on-screen was back on the December 22, 2015 episode. Jerry was sent to prison on-screen, but off-screen escaped. He was referenced back in a story in 2019 and could be in the middle of a secret takeover of JJE.

NIKOLAS CASSADINE

Another pick was that of Nikolas Cassadine, last played by Adam Huss. Nikolas most recent appearance was back in August of 2024, when his ex-wife Ava Jerome (Maura West) came to visit him in prison. Huss had been playing Nikolas on and off since the multiple exits of Marcus Coloma starting in September of 2021, before taking over the role more permanently from January 2023 through August 2024.

You can check out the segment where Steve and Bradford discuss the recast below, and some of the fans responses to the post of who they think is coming to GH.

Now let us know, do you think Jax has been recast ? Do you perhaps think it’s Jerry Jacks, Nikolas Cassadine, Spencer Cassadine, or someone else completely? Let us know your picks via the comment section.

Interesting words by Steve. A recast is coming who could it be. Jax..Nicholas? Who’s your pick? #GH pic.twitter.com/hvMduxaAUF

— SnarkQueen☕️ (@TracyTea) August 31, 2026