Connect with us

General Hospital

20

Jens Austin Astrup Makes His ‘General Hospital’ Debut as Kai Taylor: What Were Your First Impressions?

By Michael Fairman

Published

on

Courtesy/ABC

Trina Robinson’s (Tabyana Ali) new love interest has arrived, but now will it stick? On Tuesday’s, November 12th episode of General Hospital, actor Jens Austin Astrup made his highly-anticipated debut as “QB1” otherwise known as Kai Taylor.

In Astrup’s first episode, Kai runs right into Trina and she spills a drink on the guy. It seems we are off to the races, in particular, because Trina is apparently pissed off that Kai is supposed to be part of their art history class group project, and she emailed him and he never responded.

Kai had no idea he was even taking an art history class as he has a tutor who signs him up for the classes he needs to take so he can get by in school. Josslyn (Eden McCoy) tries to explain that Kai is the star quarterback of PCU and is so good he may be turning pro shortly. Kai’s friend tells Trina, they are going to the playoffs because of Kai, and he doesn’t have time for art class. Trina says she can see that and storms off in a huff.

Courtesy/ABC

However, in the twist, we see that Kai all of a sudden makes a call to his tutor to find out what classes he is enrolled in as he does not want to mess up Trina’s grade, which is important to her.

Jens has a tall order ahead of him as the new viable love interest for Trina; following the departure of Nicholas Alexander Chavez as Spencer Cassadine, and how popular Sprina was with fans of GH.

Courtesy/ABC

The young actor addressed the challenges head on when speaking on it to Soap Opera Digest, “I don’t feel intimidated, because I feel that this (potential romance) actually exists on its own plane than Sprina,” shares Astrup. “I think we have a very different dynamic. I don’t feel that I’m competing or have to fill the shoes of Spencer. I don’t feel like I’m taking his spot. I just feel excited to get to know Tabyana better and for Kai to get to know Trina better. I think Tabyana is amazing and I hope we can create something special, too. And especially doing the scenes with Tabyana that I’ve done recently, I feel confident that (the fans) are going to see a dynamic that is differently fulfilling for Trina, and feel the chemistry and the bond that is being created.”

So, GH fans, what were you first impressions of Jen Austin Astrup as Kai Taylor? Are you going to give the guy a chance to win over your hearts, and that of Trina’s? Share your thoughts in the comment section below. But first, in case you missed it, check out the scenes below when Kai meets Trina.

20 Comments

20 Comments
oldest
newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

I like that Trina called him out on the “no-show” in her class. She did a great job of conveying the message to him that he shouldn’t get special treatment just because he’s a star football player. So far, the interaction has been good to watch. She’s a talented actress and deserves an interesting story line. Let’s see where this goes.

I thought it was obnoxious. She didn’t know him and he didn’t skip out on her. He explained he wasn’t aware of his schedule, and she could have explained why it’s important. But obviously they’ll have some great romance and he’ll be smitten by her attitude. Another case where she’s pissed at a guy and then falls for him. Same with Joss and Dex, Trina and Spencer.

And the list goes on. This SL is boring and it hasn’t even srarted!

Here I go again–

I do not like Trina–because ‘phony’

She is a small person, teenytinny..

She is wearing 6” height shoes to stop talking into people’s buttons…

They hired a short person and need to stop camera tricks and have her walking on stilts–

I have a low tolerance for phony (Anna another day lol)

So- with Trina back, I dunno, but I do like the guy—- but he will bring Trina up soooooo.

0oooh well it is what it is, phony on display..

Trina is qshort let her be herself–

no shoe lifts and stilts.. be herself..

((all Triny fans enjoy her back on your screen )

Ummmm; so you don’t like her because she’s petite? You do know that females wear platforms, heels, etc, to add height, whether petite or a statuesque model. There’s nothing “phony” about that. Strange thing to have against her, lol. I’m 5’2″ and I’ve worn high heels or platforms too. Hey; even Prince wore platforms!

I too found su000 a little over the top ! Wonder if su000 is 6’4″ tall and hits their head on door frames??? I agree Rebecca1, what a petty issue.

Hi GH fan–

naww, not 6’4″ I’m might be 7″, and take the door frame with me .. LOL 🙂

Hi Rebeca, I hope you’re having a good day..

you said;; ”’Ummmm; so you don’t like her because she’s petite? ”’

— to answer your question–

No, I did not say that.

My exact words are-

”I do not like Trina–because ‘phony’”

And again– to her fans enjoy having her back on your screens, enjoy.. 🙂

Hi SuOOO, how you doing friend? Just like to add my 10cents, prices gave gone up you know, ha. I can’t stand the migity Trina, never could. I don’t care if she’s on stilts or standing in a bucket. I know she has lots of fans, but I’m not one of them. Not crazy about Joss either, too much ego and always in someone’s face. You take care and never change, I love your whole take on things.Btw, just turned 92 last week, can’t believe it!

Hi Violet—- I agree, two thumbs up..

And–

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY 92 !!

God bless… I’m waiting for your 100th birthday, the big one!!

Stay safe and happy 🙂

00ooh and — Trina is the worst recast, ever..

I’m not happy with all the people that are being let go so its hard to enjoy any new character the only good thing about his debut is it puts Trina back on our screen, I love seeing her and I think she deserves to be on a lot.

Oh please no. Lots of GH vets and legacy characters. Trina’s not the pull to the show.

Oh look, she can’t stand the new guy. Gee, I wonder what’s going to happen next? So hackneyed and trite. We’ve seen these same stories a million times.

“We’ve seen these same stories a million times.” Yep, that’s true for all of the junk they’re writing lately. Even by soap standards, these writers are just phoning it in.

He was fine. The writing seems obvious, and I’m not really sensing a chemistry here. It matters not, because I’ve decided to ride into the sunset with Tristan Rogers. It occurred to me, upon his departure, that there are no other characters left that I’m all that interested in. They’ve completely de-clawed Tracy. Monica has become the Robin Masters of Port Chuck. Never been a huge Stone Cold fan. And don’t get me started on Sonny and Carly. And the Drew/Willow and the impending “who’s the daddy” stuff coming up makes me modestly ill. I wish the prgram well, but I’m taking a break for awhile.

Meh. That;s my first impression.

Meh is right!

So Trina is being set up for another great GH Romance that will take 1 – 2 years to get going.

Then watch for the big BOOM! That moment when GH crafts and discovers something to break up said couple forever. One of the main characters will leave and die – or they will make the couple brother and sister or cousins.

Why? Because GH hates its fanbase – we are always screaming and whining about their stories. That’s why they broke up Cody & Sasha to punish us in the worst way possible – for a storyline that is no longer even relevant because “Daddy” left town with “Mother” the ultimate destroyer of everything GH that is happy or joyful.

There is no JOY on GH – bring back the joy and maybe we’ll stop fast-forwarding almost the entire show.

Right: Trina will fall for Kai, then Spencer will return! Soap opera’s are so predictable!

Your absolutely right about no successful long term relationships on GH! For instance Sprina had a very successful fan base, bought in high ratings when they were on, even when GH tried to sabotage them with Esme! Understand Nic left but you think they would recast, knowing this pairing was so popular! Wake up Frank and writers!

General Hospital

GENERAL HOSPITAL Preview: Carly and Lulu Make Plans to Rescue Their Children; Anna Looks Determined to Secure Her Freedom

Published

on

By

This week on all-new episodes of General Hospital, the race is on! Can Lulu (Alexa Havins) and Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) get to Rocco (Finn Carr) and Britt (Kelly Thiebaud) in time to ensure their safety from Cullum (Andrew Hawkes)? Can Carly (Laura Wright) with the help of her brother, Lucas (Van Hansis) rescue Josslyn (Eden McCoy) from captivity at Wyndemere? These questions may be answered, plus the return of the one and only Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) are on tap!

In the just released General Hospital spoilers video for the week of June 22-26, Lulu tells her mother, Laura (Genie Francis), “Dante and I have to get to Rocco before Cullum!” Meanwhile, Rocco (Finn Carr) looks angered and emotional as Britt walks through their cabin hideout. Does Rocco know his parents are on the way to find them, or has Cullum already tracked them down to the British Virgin Islands?

Back in Port Charles, Carly is informing Lucas that his niece, “is a WSB agent.” She knows Josslyn (Eden McCoy) is being held against her will at Wyndemere, and she has to find a way to get her out. Lucas agrees with Carly’s plan of, “We go in and we don’t leave without Josslyn!” Elsewhere, Josslyn is looking worried for her future as she is stuck in captivity thanks to Cassius, Cullum and Sidwell!

Courtesy/ABC

FINOLA HUGHES RETURNS

The final moments of the teaser promo reveal Anna in a psychiatric clinic in France. We have not seen her for months after Cullum, Sidwell and Pascal fed her hallucinogenics to make her believe her arch nemesis, Cesar Faison was alive!

Now, the doctors walk towards her hospital bed, where we see the super spy calmly knitting. Is Anna back to normal and playing everyone to get out of her predicament, or does she still remain deeply traumatized … or both?

Take a look at the rest of the official GH spoilers for the week below.

MONDAY, JUNE 22
Willow gets an unwelcome surprise. Trina sticks to her guns. “Nathan” wants reassurance. Ethan advises Ava. Brook Lynn receives an update.

TUESDAY, JUNE 23
Dante cautions Liz. Laura learns a secret. Brook Lynn confides in Michael. Sonny challenges Ava. Chase makes a decision.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24
Anna meets with her doctor. Carly makes a stunning confession. Britt extracts a promise. Cullum pulls a fast one. Gio and Emma hit the pool.

THURSDAY, JUNE 25
Josslyn clashes with Cassius. Lulu and Dante make a discovery. Chase receives a warning. Jordan seeks help. Alexis is summoned to the PCPD.

FRIDAY, JUNE 26
Anna takes a huge risk. Britt is in grave danger. Willow is in disbelief. Danny must act fast. Curtis jumps to the wrong conclusion.

Check out the latest General Hospital promo entitled, “Rescue Mission” below.

Now weigh-in: Do you think Anna is still mentally off-balance, or OK, and just pretending to be troubled to get out of France and get back to Port Charles? Will Josslyn finally be rescued, or will Carly and Lucas find themselves locked up with her? And, who will get to Britt and Rocco first? Cullum, or Dante and Lulu? Share your thoughts and theories via the comment section below.

Continue Reading

General Hospital

Maurice Benard Gives High Praise to ‘General Hospital’ Writers; Teases Upcoming Sonny Scenes with Anna, Jason, Justine and Ric

Published

on

By

With the highly-anticipated returns of Finola Hughes (Anna Devane) on this week’s June 24 episode of General Hospital, Steve Burton’s (Jason Morgan) upcoming return on July 13, which also serves as the ABC daytime drama’s 16,000 episode, things are about to fire on all cylinders in the story, as noted today by series star, Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos).

On Father’s Day, the three-time Daytime Emmy-winning actor and mental health activist took to his Instagram and expressed in a video that he has some unbelievable upcoming senes with the aforementioned Burton and Hughes. Add to that Nazneen Contractor (Justine Turner) and Rick Hearst (Ric Lansing), where Benard gave credit where credit is due to the GH writing team, which is led by co-head writers, Elizabeth Korte and Chris Van Etten..

In this video, Benard said, “I just want to get on here and say that I did some work with Steve Burton, Finola Hughes, Rick Hearst, Nazneen Contractor, and they’re all just fantastic. Truly fantastic. But, I want to say the writing was just exceptional. It truly was. It was exceptional. So, thankful for that kind of writing. I know writers don’t get the credit a lot, but I just want to say to the General Hospital writing team, keep rolling!”

GENERAL HOSPITAL PREVIEW

So now the question becomes, with a major tease like that, what is about to go down between Sonny, Anna, Jason, Justine and Ric? Will we finally get to the end of the line for Sidwell (Carlo Rota), as previously teased by the GH co-head writers? Will we learn what happened to Jason and Anna, fully? Will Justine and Sonny becomes closer or stop their liaisons? And what of Ric? Will he be true blue to his brother or double-cross him? There is a lot at stake as we move further into the summer and one that looks like it could be one of the more exciting ones in years!

FINOLA HUGHES CONFIRMED AMAZING SCENES WITH MAURICE BENARD

As a punctuation point to his video, Benard also shared this written message in the post: “I just did some wonderful scenes with Steve Burton, Rick Hearst, Finola Hughes and Nazneen Contractor and  and unbelievable writing, freaking amazing scenes that you will see in the near future on General Hospital.” In fact, Finola Hughes jumped in the post comment thread and responded, “I loved our scenes so much xxx”

Fans will most likely see all the scenes Benard referred to later in July, since GH tapes approximately six weeks ahead of air.

So, are you excited to see what Maurice is talking about? Are you hyped for what’s to come on GH? Any clue on what you think will go down between the main characters on the soap with the returns of Anna Devane and Jason Morgan to the mix? Weigh-in via the comment section below.

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Maurice Benard (@mauricebenard)

Continue Reading

General Hospital

‘General Hospital’ Alum Chad Duell Announces Upcoming Release of His First Single, ‘If You Need Me’

Published

on

By

In a surprise move, Daytime Emmy winner, Chad Duell (ex-Michael Corinthos, GH) is getting ready to unveil a new chapter of his career in music.

The former GH star, where he played the son of Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) and Carly Spencer (Laura Wright) for 15 years, has announced his new single, “If You Need Me” will drop on Friday, June 26. The single is now available for pre-order on Spotify and major music streaming platforms and is distributed by DistroKid.

Taking to his Instagram story over the weekend, to announce the pre-save of his new single, Chad expressed, “I’ll make a full post about what I’ve been up to and my music once it goes live next week, but you can pre-save my first single so it goes straight to your Spotify once it drops next week.”

Photo: CDuellIG

SINCE LEAVING GENERAL HOSPITAL

Previously, since his departure from the ABC soap opera. Chad starred alongside Zach Mendez in the world premiere of of Yum Yum at Annapolis, a new play written by Bruce Reisman. Duell last appeared on General Hospital on the January 21, 2025 episode.

The part was recast with Rory Gibson who debuted as the new Michael in May of 2025 during the Nurses’ Ball episodes and who has remained in the role since that time.

In an interview earlier this year on The Able Show, Duell said on his decision to exit the soap opera, “I was blessed to be part of that (show) for as long as I have, but what happens sometimes is if you’re doing the same thing, especially in a creative field for such a long time, you can get a little burnt out in a way. It can make you a little depressed, so that’s kind of what happened. On top of that, I had other things going on in my life at the time. My father passed away recently and I just needed a reset. So, I stepped away. A lot of times you have to go through some stuff to really step into that next level. I needed to kind of feel uncomfortable.”

So, what type of musical genre will Chad’s new song be? Country? Pop? Rock? Dance/Club? Something else? Let us know your thoughts via the comment section below, and if you are eager to hear the new single next week via the comment section below.

Continue Reading

Video Du Jour

Jonathan Bennett joins the cast of GH as Joe Fitzpatrick. Catch the latest promo! Leave a comment.Leave A Comment

Recent Comments

Power Performance

Finn Carr & Dominic Zamprogna as Rocco & Dante

General Hospital

Airdate: 5-14-2026

Popular

20
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x