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Roger Howarth Explains His Short Break From General Hospital

By Michael Fairman

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General Hospital fan favorite Roger Howarth (Austin) hasn’t been on screen on recent episodes of the ABC daytime drama seres, and now the actor himself has explained his short disappearance.

While sharing a selfie via his Instagram account, Roger explained he was out of commission, while offering up some inspiration along the way. Howarth, who has been publicly private on social media, recently joined the social media platform, much to the delight of many.

In his post, Roger explained his absence with a photo of him working out at the gym.

“Work,” he noted. “Progressive overload is the theory that whatever you do next, should be more challenging. After a month off for Covid and knee MRI, I am back. And…accountable to you. Another gym post in 30 days. In that time, we can both try something new and difficult! Deal? It’s a way for us all to support and lift one another up. Peace. Seriously… peace.

Photo: RHowarthIG

Since coming to GH, the Daytime Emmy-winning star has played three roles. When One Life to Live came to its conclusion, after being cancelled by ABC, Howarth brought his character of Todd Manning to GH.  However, when legal troubles over rights ensued between ABC and Prospect Park (who launched the online version of the series), he had to be given a new role specific to GH, and thus Howarth took over the role of Franco, previously played by James Franco.  Later, when GH killed off the character in 2021, Roger returned to the series some time later as a new character, Dr. Austin Gatlin-Holt.

Photo: ABC

Roger’s return to taping all-new episodes of GH couldn’t come at a better time, as Austin’s story with Ava (Maura West) and his knowing that Nikolas Cassadine (Adam Huss) is alive and well, while she does not, will provide plenty of drama in the months ahead. Many are also hoping that a love story between Austin and Ava will fully bloom.

So, glad to know Roger is on the mend and coming back to tape all-new episodes of GH? Comment below.

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The role of Austin is so beneath this actor.
Franco, Liz and the boys was a priceless story that GH destroyed. One of their biggest mistakes IMO.

I agree 100%.

Agree 100%
Franco and Liz had magic.
Her boys knew it too.
Still confused why the SL went south…

I agree! I read that RH no longer wanted to play Franco as the character committed too many terrible crimes and felt he couldn’t be redeemed. I really liked his version of Franco. I thought Roger H and Rebecca H. had great chemistry. I loved the relationship he had with her boys. I wish they would have recast RH as Lucky, if only to keep that pair together and reunite Liz and Lucky. Crazy thought I guess….

It wasn’t Roger’s decision to kill off Franco. That was the network edict to remove long term characters associated with sexual assault. That’s why they denied the request to bring back Todd and brought around a quick exit for Harmony.

RH as Lucky??? He’s only 5 years younger than Genie Francis!

He has been a great actor to watch and enjoy since he first appeared on OLTL… and to watch his character grow from the whole Marty / Todd original storyline

GH really dropped the ball here when they killed off Franco, then they dropped the ball again by with just having his new character idle for so long, Is he not a Quatermaine? why give up on the character association with the shows biggest family? doesn’t make sense, somebody got to fix this mess. He’s a Quatermaine so have him play with them..

Gh missed there calling by not making Roger(Austin) Alan Quartmaine’s Son. There would have been plenty of story there. Very sad that the Ex Producer Frank Valentini only plays on. The Corinthos family. The Q family is a legendary family and is definitely more important than Sonny and Carly Corinthos. Love Roger and Maura

Well.. they did make him Alan’s nephew. Eventually. But now they seem to ignore his Quartermaine family connections while trying to build up this ridiculous redneck “mafia” family (apparently his mother’s side of the family tree) which they have now retconned once again to be somehow connected to Cyrus the Virus.

Probably should have made him Jimmy Lee’s kid the first time around. Todd Manning never belonged on GH, and any attempt to resurrect “Franco” as a mild mannered art therapist and family man was beyond ridiculous. The real Franco was a psychotic serial killer who was properly disposed of when Jason emptied a clip into him and then burned down the building his body was in, just in case. No reason to ever undo that ending, let alone write something as weak as a “brain tumor” to excuse all of his crimes & terrorism.

I wish they would bring Kim Zimmer on as his mother

In theory, that works, but not gonna happen due to some comments Kim made that Frank took the wrong way when she returned to OLTL in its final years as Echo.

I didn’t even notice that he was gone. Too bad he didn’t take his cousin with him.

I love Roger as an actor whatever role he plays…one of the primary reasons I tune in to GH. He’s my favorite of the cast

Roger Howarth is the best actor on daytime, and in my opinion one of the best actors on any medium. I would watch him play any character but it’s a shame he can’t continue to play Todd Manning since I watched that character for so many years and enjoyed seeing the character development that happened with the character. Either way I’ll be watching Roger!

The writing for Austin was pretty bad. He was never given a good story line. They paired him up with Maxie not a good fit then they kill him off and no expectation as who did it.

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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