General Hospital has another cast shake-up as Nicholas Alexander Chavez reportedly will not be returning to his role as Spencer Cassadine.
The actor initially left the soap earlier this year to star as Lyle Menéndez in Ryan Murphy’s upcoming Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. His departure was originally dubbed a leave of absence. It now appears Chavez has made a more permanent move.
TV Line reported Chavez’s departure from the show on Thursday, April 25, noting that ABC declined to comment. Eagle-eyed fans noticed in late March that Chavez’s name had been removed from the show’s opening credits. (His final episode took place on January 31 and ended in a major cliffhanger with Spencer’s fate unknown to viewers. It’s possible another actor could pick up the role as happens on soaps often.)
Chavez made his General Hospital debut as Spencer Cassadine in 2021. The following year, he took home a Daytime Emmy award in the Outstanding Younger Performer in a Drama Series category for his role.
“This show has given me the opportunity to become my own guy,” he told People of General Hospital in July 2023. “It’s also given me the gift few people get in life — the privilege to earn an income doing what I love to do every single day. If I’m not the luckiest guy in the world, I’ve got to be damned close.”
Chavez’s departure from the soap is the latest in a long line of cast shake-ups that started in November 2023, with Roger Howarth departing the show as Dr. Austin Gatlin-Holt. The following month, Eden McCoy took a step back from her role as Josslyn Jacks following the death of her mother.
Both Kirsten Storms and Kelly Monaco also took brief breaks from the show before 2023 came to an end.
While some stars had vacated the long-running series, one return shocked fans. After leaving Port Charles — the fictional New York city where General Hospital takes place — in 2020, Steve Burton’s Jason Morgan stepped back into the fold during the March 4 episode.
“OK, all right, so here’s what’s crazy, I’m back on the set. We’re getting ready to shoot right now,” Burton, 53, said in a video shared via the “Daily Drama” podcast’s YouTube page in February. “So, listen, I got to talk to the head writers. This story is going to be sick. It’s gonna be awesome.”
He added: “So, make sure you keep watching because the pieces of the puzzle are gonna be fit for when I return. Stay tuned. Keep watching. And, if you stopped, get back, because it’s gonna be awesome.”
