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Roger Howarth Confirms Departure from GH, Shares Appreciation for Daytime Fans: “I Am Deeply Grateful to Each Sparkly One of Them”

By Michael Fairman

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Photo: ABC

Many soap fans are heartbroken following the news that Roger Howarth is out at General Hospital after his Port Charles character of Dr. Austin-Gatlin Holt has been killed-off, marking the end of Howarth’s recent run on the ABC daytime drama series.

On Monday, Howarth confirmed his exit from General Hospital with a touching post on his official Instagram account.

Howarth taped his last episode of GH back in October, and after Monday’s airshow it was revealed that Austin met his maker. Taking to his Instagram, Roger shared several touching word to the fans, the cast and crew of General Hospital, and that he is looking forward to the future.

Photo: ABC

In his post, Roger expressed: “Still life with coffee and rabbit ears (referring to his photo).”  He then went on to say, “Three things that I know for sure…”

Courtesy/RHowarthIG

Number one was, “Daytime fans are lovely and amazing and supportive and dedicated and I am deeply grateful to each sparkly one of them.” The second,”I enjoyed my time at General Hospital and wish the cast and crew the best and continued success. It was a pleasure working with you all.” And the third, “Life is amazing. We just don’t Ever know what’s gonna happen. How great!”

Roger ended his appreciation post with hope for the future, “Turn toward the light. Always. Huge thank you to you all.”

Photo: ABC

The actor has had an incredible daytime career appearing on Guiding Light, Loving, One Life to Live, As the World Turns and General Hospital as three different characters (Todd, Franco and Austin) from 2012-2023. Howarth has been nominated five-times for a Daytime Emmy and winning once back in 1994 for his performance as Todd Manning on One Life to Live.

Now the question becomes, will daytime fans get to see Roger on another soap? Share your thoughts on Howarth’s thoughtful and touching farewell to his time on General Hospital via the comment section below.

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A class act all the way. Perhaps if corporate charges their minds, Todd could return some day.

Roger’s a leading man who was stuck playing a tertiary character as Austin. A lesser actor would’ve been dropped from the role after 6 months. He was very kind to not chastise the writers for lack of character development. In actuality, other than the moments of spark with Britt, Austin just never fit in.

To Roger’s credit, he took a totally unlikable character in Franco and made him interesting to watch. Chemistry with Stafford, Herbst, Shriner and Robin Mattson definitely helped.

What a shame, Roger is amazing. Mistake on GH to kill Franco off. I actually liked Frano & Elizabeth together with the boys. I love Roger and will miss him – he is a gem of an actor. GH’s loss – though, I never was interested in Austin, but his scenes with Maura West were always magnetic. Such chemistry there and… what a loss for GH.

I am tired of the dud that is Michael Easton. Silas, Hamilton etc etc are all snooze feasts. I don’t like Hamiton with Elizabeth – it’s still forced.
Enter the return as Franco… wishful thinking.

DAYS bring Roger Howarth on as the nu-Peter Blake… get him on contract for anything, DAYS!

You will be missed. Hope to see u somewhere on our screens soon.

Aaawwww sad– I luves Roger…he was given roles on GH well below his talents…

If he had been given an opportunity to have a great character he would have rocked GH and would have become a top-of-the-line character/actor and would be a GH mainstay Star.

Wasted, Roger was wasted- shame on the producers and writers..

Roger is gold and treated as tin…. imo

WTH is wrong with TPTB that they can’t write for this amazing actor?!? I am beyond pis$ed off! Now what are they going to do? Bring him back as another character? Oh, brother! In my opinion, bringing him back as back-from-the-dead-Franco would require a lot of suspended belief ~ though I thought killing off Franco was a BIG mistake. I loved him with Elizabeth and her boys. Bringing him back as Todd would perhaps be interesting but what would draw him back to PC? Carly has moved on with Drew now and Starr is no longer there. It’s just a real shame!

He takes over Aurora Media in hostile bid. He saw how Victor and Vicki (OLTL) maintained the high standards of The Banner and wants to reinvent himself.

Bring him to Days he is awesome

With what budget? DAYS can’t afford to keep their own legacy characters, they certainly couldn’t find the money for Roger.

I’m trying to think of who he could play on Days if they did bring him on. Hell only knows the Horton family has been entirely wiped out. Only two people in the current cast using the Horton name are Lucas – who is stuck in prison and only seen once every 3 months or so, and Sarah, who I don’t think is sticking around long term either, and is not a bio-Horton.

Maybe they could bring him on as a recast of Scotty Banning, who would be Julie’s grandson & Eli’s half-brother? When we last saw Scotty… around 1990 or so, he had been SORASed and was played by Rick Hearst… who of course would later be Ric Lansing on GH.

So he wouldn’t have the Horton last name, but at least he would have some Horton DNA.

Now that said…. I’m not sure I want him on Days, because ReRon would try to make him the star of the show overnight… just like he did on GH.

Someone at Days read this and is saying “Hmmm” right now. I’M saying “Hmmm” right now.

So mad they got rid of roger Howarth!!!!

I have loved him since OLTL. I had the pleasure of meeting him at a Soap Opera function. He is an amazing, multifaceted actor. I wish Y & R would bring him in as a consultant for Sharon’s new business !! These two would have fabulous chemistry !!!

If they’re going to dump every character due to failure on the writers’ part then why not dump Esme, Willow, Michael, Finn and especially, that awful fake Drew? Roger is a gifted and unique actor who was thrown utter crappola. Here’s hoping he moves onward to better opportunities.

General Hospital

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

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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.

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General Hospital

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

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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.

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A post shared by Maurice Benard (@mauricebenard)

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General Hospital

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

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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.

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

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Finn Carr & Dominic Zamprogna as Rocco & Dante

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