General Hospital fans, we have got some absolutely shocking casting news for you about Maxie Jones (Kirsten Storms) and Serena Baldwin and two more exits, plus some other ins and outs.
General Hospital: Serena Baldwin Recast – Kelly Krueger Steps In
So, we’ll get to the big Kirsten Storms stuff in just a moment. But first, let’s talk recast. There is a new Serena Baldwin coming to the ABC soap opera. If you’ve forgotten, she was last played by Carly Schroeder, who was in the role from 1997 through 2003, but she will not be back as Serena. The reason’s pretty interesting. Back in 2019, Carly Schrader joined the Army, and she’s pretty badass. She’s an officer and five years ago she also got her airborne wings.
That’s paratrooper training by the way and post videos of her out there shooting machine guns and all that army stuff. So with Carly serving her country, they needed a new Serena and they signed up another gorgeous soap vet to play her. General Hospital cast soap veteran Kelly Krueger for the role. She was on Young and the Restless from 2002 to 2019, off and on as McKenzie Browning.
She’s also done Christmas movies like so many soap stars do. Kelly also did a dozen episodes on Bold and the Beautiful as a character named Eva. That role was fun for Kelly because she got to work with her now ex-husband, then husband, soap actor Darren Brooks, who just returned to Bold and the Beautiful as Wyatt Spencer (Darin Brooks).
General Hospital: Serena Baldwin’s Connections
So, if you don’t remember Serena Baldwin, let’s talk about her because she’s got on-screen ties that are interesting. Lucy Coe (Lynn Herring) was her surrogate mom and Scott Baldwin (Kin Shriner) is her biological father. Dominique Stanton was Serena’s biological mom and Dominique was dying back in the day, and she wanted to leave her husband Scotty a child.
So, Lucy served as her surrogate and after Dominique died, we’ve seen Lucy playing a maternal role in Serena’s life ever since. And of course, Lucy was also on again, off again with Scotty. And with Serena coming back, it would be great if Scotty also returned. I love me some Kin Shriner. But in the meantime, her pseudo mom, Lucy, is still very active in Port Charles. And more importantly, there is a half-brother that Serena does not know and has not met, Cody Bell (Josh Kelly). They share the same mom, Dominique, but his biological father is, of course, Mac Scorpio (John J York).
We know that Cody is older than Serena by a few years, and their mom gave Cody up for adoption to protect him. And it was only a couple of years ago that he came to town and found out Mac was his dad, and they’ve been forming a relationship. So, it’d be pretty interesting to see Serena getting to know Cody. So, Kelly Krueger began taping scenes as Serena on Monday, June 8th. She’s going to make her onscreen debut during July sweeps. Actress Kelly Krueger said she is honored and excited to play the part of Serena.
General Hospital: Kirsten Storms Steps Back from Maxie Jones Role
All right, now let’s talk about Kirsten Storms. She has only had 10 episodes as Maxie Jones this year and we’re getting close to halfway through the year. We last saw Kirsten Storms on March 13th. Maxie’s absence has been glaring, especially with Nathan West’s (Ryan Paevey) evil twin back. And we leaked here before it was confirmed that Kirsten was going to be taking a break as Maxie.
That was because of a brain aneurysm and her moving cross country to Nashville because her ex-husband Brandon Barash, who also used to be on General Hospital as Johnny DiMera, was relocating there with their daughter Harper. And that also put Kirsten closer to her best friend Emmy Ryland who lives in St. Louis.
General Hospital: Kirsten’s Real Life Challenges
Now, fortunately, Kirsten’s doctor decided to hold off. He said they could take a wait and see approach to her brain aneurysm, but she has still had soap opera level drama in her real life while taking a break from playing Maxie. We know that Kirsten reported that her apartment had been broken into and as a result, her phone was hacked. She showed some security footage of somebody at her door in the wee hours of the morning being weird.
And then of course came the blindside news that Brandon Barash took out a restraining order to limit her access to their daughter. Kirsten has been open in the past about her mental health journey talking to Maurice Benard on his state of mind podcast about her struggles with bipolar one and now she’s clarifying her status as Maxie Jones on General Hospital.
Kirsten Storms said, “As for what is in my future where General Hospital is concerned,” she said, “given what’s been going on, I can’t say I will feel comfortable heading back to Los Angeles and returning to work. This has been an eye-opening experience about the downside of my profession. My daughter is my entire life. She is and always will be my first priority.”
So, there you have it. Seems pretty clear that she is walking away from playing Maxie. So, we may end up getting a recast at some point if Kirsten Storms doesn’t change her mind about staying away from LA. And of course, storyline demands Maxie’s return. So, they’ve had an actress fill in for her before. Maybe they’ll do that for now. It’s a shame. She’s a great actress. She was also great over on Days of Our Lives as Belle Black. And I loved Kirsten on Dirty Soap back in the day. However, prioritizing your own health and your child, those seem like good choices that she’s making for herself right now. So, let’s hope everything goes well for her.
General Hospital: Other Exits and Casting Updates
Now, let’s talk about other exits in this General Hospital ins and outs update. First, in case you missed it, Marc Forget has exited as Pascal Leveque. And it looks like Kristina Corinthos-Davis (Kate Mansi) may have her last air date this Friday, June 12th. Actress Kate Mansi said to be sure to watch that day to learn about Kristina’s future. And then on the most recent GH episode, she told Lucas Jones (Van Hansis) that she was leaving Port Charles in a few days. But Kristina still has to tell her parents, Alexis Davis (Nancy Lee Grahn) and Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard). But Kristina has both of those conversations this week. We know that from General Hospital spoilers. So, I think that Friday might be her last day. It’s not absolutely confirmed yet, though.
We’ve also got Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) back taping, and she should be on screen very soon because she’s been back for a few weeks. And Jason Morgan (Steve Burton) came back on Monday, June 1st to filming. So his first air date should also hit during July sweeps. However, our leaker said we may not see Jason in Port Charles for a while, even though he’ll be back to General Hospital. There is chatter that Burton’s initial few weeks may just be Jason in Indonesia where the WSB sent him.
Kind of like when we got Drew Cain Quartermaine (Cameron Mathison) when he was recast. If you remember when he debuted, he was being held and tortured by Victor Cassadine (Charles Shaughnessy) and Peter August (Wes Ramsey). I think they were on a ship and then maybe later in a camp, but I know they were on a ship. Anyway, we’ve also got a new hunk coming to the Port Charles scene. Aussie actor Dean Geyer makes his debut in July as Tristan Roberts, a character named in honor of Robert Scorpio actor Tristan Rogers. The latest chatter I’ve heard is that he may be playing a doctor.
We’ve also got a new Scout Cain coming. They’re doing a recast and they’re aging up Drew’s daughter, making her a teenager. Kayden Tokarski takes over from Cosette Abinante. Scout was born to Sam McCall (Kelly Monaco) and Drew in 2017, so she should be nine. The last actress was 12, so they kind of aged her up a little. And now they are rapid aging her by an additional seven years. She will be 16 years old when the new actress steps into the role.
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