Kelly Monaco Exits General Hospital After 21 Years — Nancy Lee Grahn Recalls ‘Hard’ Filming of Final Scenes Together
Warning: Major spoilers ahead for the Oct. 30 episode of General Hospital.
Sam McCall has officially put Port Charles (and Earth) in her rearview mirror. The Wednesday, Oct. 30 episode of General Hospital marked the start of Kelly Monaco’s final appearance as the beloved character after 21 years.
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News of Monaco’s impending exit broke in August, with the actress reportedly “blindsided” by the show’s decision to kill off her character. It wasn’t immediately clear how Sam was going to meet her untimely end, but the writing was on the wall as soon as she agreed to donate her liver to Lulu Spencer.
Sam was prepped for surgery on Thursday, Oct. 24, giving her time to say goodbye to some of the people who have meant the most to her over the years, including Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn), Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) and Jason (Steve Burton). That episode ended with her being wheeled into the operating room, holding back tears as she attempted to maintain a brave front.
When Sam returned to the screen on Oct. 30, we learned that the surgery was a success. She even celebrated the occasion by getting engaged to Dante! Unfortunately, that’s where the good news ended for her. Sam started crashing, and her poor half-brother was forced to call her time of death.
Update: In a plot twist made for daytime TV, we hear that Monaco’s actual final episode will air later this week.
One day after Sam’s death aired, Grahn posted an empathetic message on X to GH fans everywhere who were disappointed by Monaco’s departure.
“As hard as it may be for #gh viewers to watch today’s episodes and the episodes to follow, it was equally as hard for me and my casemates [sic] to play,” Grahn wrote. “Playing Kelly Monaco’s mom has been effortless and the love is real.”
General Hospital fans first met Sam on Oct. 1, 2003, having previously seen Monaco as Livvie Locke on the short-lived General Hospital spinoff Port Charles. Lindsay Hartley briefly filled in for Monaco in 2020, 2022 and 2024.
Monaco’s work on General Hospital earned her a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2006. She was previously nominated in the supporting category in 2003 for playing Livvie on Port Charles.
The General Hospital cast has experienced quite a few significant comings and goings in the past few months, beginning in April with TVLine’s exclusive report that Nicholas Alexander Chavez wasn’t returning to the role of Spencer. In June, Michael Easton announced his surprising (and very sudden) exit as Hamilton Finn, a role he played for 10 years. His departure was soon followed by the returns of Rick Hearst as Rick Lansing and Jonathan Jackson as Lucky Spencer, both in August, along with Emma Samms as Holly Sutton in September.
Can you even imagine General Hospital without Sam? Drop a comment with your thoughts on Monaco’s departure below.
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