General Hospital is bringing back their beloved star, Ryan Paevey, seven years after his character was dramatically killed off.
The actor, 40, first joined the the long-running ABC soap in 2013 as Detective Nathan West, quickly becoming a fan favorite.
His character’s tragic death in 2018 devastated viewers, making news of his return all the more shocking.
Exactly how the Torrance native will fit back into Port Charles remains a mystery, at this time.
The actor confirmed to Deadline that Executive Producer Frank Valentini reached out to him with an unexpected text, sparking conversations about a possible comeback.
‘We talked a bit and he asked would I consider returning for awhile, talking story, floated different story ideas involving different time commitments of me, and I thought if we’re going to do this we should really do it and surprise the fans with a meaty storyline,’ Paevey said.
General Hospital is bringing back their beloved star, Ryan Paevey, seven years after his character was dramatically killed off
He continued: ‘I was surprised by my excitement for a homecoming and reuniting with familiar faces after seven years. I still have my last call sheet from my final taping day on January 18, 2018, tacked up in my home office.’
Filming begins this week, and viewers can expect to see him back on screens in September.
Speculation about Paevey’s return had already been mounting, especially after Kelly Thiebaud, who played Nathan’s sister Britt, reappeared on the soap in July.
The timing of both comebacks has fueled theories about a potential family-centered storyline.
While some fans are hopeful Nathan might be resurrected, others believe Paevey could take on an entirely new role in classic soap fashion.
Since leaving General Hospital, Paevey has built a successful career in TV movies.
After breaking out in Hallmark’s Unleashing Mr. Darcy in 2016, he went on to star in more than a dozen romantic comedies for the network, including Two Tickets to Paradise in 2022.
Most recently, he appeared in Fourth Down and Love.
The actor, 40, first joined the the long-running ABC soap in 2013 as Detective Nathan West, quickly becoming a fan favorite
The cast of the ABC soap has been on the air for 61 years (the cast pictured in 1993)
He has also notched credits outside of Hallmark, with appearances on Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Games People Play.
The news comes just a week after the death of General Hospital star, Tristan Rogers, following a battle with lung cancer.
Since 1980, Rogers had been portraying international spy-turned-Port Charles D.A. Robert Scorpio on General Hospital – a role Soodak said ‘meant everything to him.’
While he did not appear on every episode, he still was a long-standing presence on the series with 1461 episodes under his belt.
‘He loved being Scorpio and he created that role from nothing. He was supposed to work a day and he ended up making it into something huge. He was just a genuinely loyal, kind human being and he loved his family,’ his manager, Meryl Soodak told ABC 7 News.
