General Hospitalhas announced that Ryan Paevey will make a shocking return to the show, and now I’m worried that his original character Nathan West’s nefarious supervillain family members might not be far behind. Paevey leftGeneral Hospitalin 2018, and Nathan was killed off the show. He continued to act in Hallmark movies, but, in 2024, he announced that he was stepping away from acting.
However, in August 2025,Deadlinereported that Paevey will return toGeneral Hospitalin September after beginning filming on August 18. The outlet reported that it’s unclear who Paevey will be playing because his original character, Nathan, died in 2018 after he was mistakenly shot by his father, the notorious supervillain, Cesar Faison, who was trying to kill his other son, Henrik, also known as Peter August (Wes Ramsey).
Although Nathan supposedly died seven years ago, his sister, Britt Westbourne (Kelly Thiebaud) recently turned up alive on the show after viewers watched her die in her motherLeisl Obrecht’s (Kathleen Gati)arms in 2023, when she was stabbed with a poison hook by Heather Webber, who was the serial killer, “The Hook.” Britt, Nathan, and Peter are also the children of Faison, but Peter’s mother is Alex Devane (Finola Hughes), Anna’s twin sister.
Cesar Faison & Peter August Could Still Be Alive Too
General Hospital’s Headwriters Have Hinted At More Faison Family Returns
Britt’s storyline centers around her doing top-secret research in a lab for a mysterious unnamed boss. Fans have speculated that it’s possible that Faison could be the man she’s working for, and theGeneral Hospitalhead writers, Elizabeth Korte and Chris Van Etten, have now said something that I fear implies this to be true.
In an interview withSoap Opera Digest, Korte and Van Etten teased,“The excitement won’t end with her. The Faison/Obrecht clan is just getting started.“While this statement could possibly refer to Liesl’s return, she doesn’t seem to have any idea that Britt’s alive, so I’m worried that it’s much more likely thatsome other Faison family members will be coming back.
Now that Paevey’s comeback is confirmed, these comments hint that perhaps he’s playing Nathan after all. However, Nathan was a good guy detective, so it’s more likely that either Faison, Peter, or both will be heading back to Port Charles soon.
It Wouldn’t Be Surprising To See Faison & Peter Return From Their Graves
I’ve watchedGeneral Hospitalfor over 40 years, and I’ve come to despise its pattern of overusing the soap opera trope of characters coming back from the dead. In fact, Faison and Peter have both returned from their graves in the past. Faison supposedly died in two separate boat explosions, one in 1992 and one in 2012.
Faison’s latest death occurred when Jason Morgan (Steve Burton) shot him, although not fatally. However, when Faison went into cardiac arrest in the hospital, Peter took the call button from him so that he couldn’t get help, and he died. Dr. Kevin Collins (Jon Lindstrom) then kept Faison’s brain in a jar on his desk after studying it as part of his research about psychopaths.
Peter also survived death after Hamilton Finn (Michael Easton) threw him down a flight of stairs. Finn and Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst) thought he was dead, and hid his body in a freezer in the hospital’s sub-basement, but when Finn laterconfessed to Anna Devane (Finola Hughes), the freezer was empty because Peter had escaped.
Peter then continued his reign of terror until Felicia Scorpio (Kristina Wagner) killed him by striking him on the head with a tire iron in order to save her daughter, Maxie Jones (Kirsten Storms) from him. Anna stayed with Peter until he took his last breath. Because viewers watched both Faison and Peter die on-screen, it would be ridiculous to ask fans to suspend their disbelief yet again, and have them return now.
I really hope thatGeneral Hospitalisn’t planning on bringing Faison or Peter back again. It would be so predictable considering how many times they’ve returned in the past, and it would ruin what could be an exciting storyline for Britt. Viewers have already had to accept that Britt’s alive after watching her pass away in Liesl’s arms, and, if Nathan’s alive too, bringing back Faison and Peter would be laughable rather than shocking or intriguing.
I also feel that Faison and Nathan are frustrating and relentless villains who overstayed their welcomes onGeneral Hospitalduring their original runs on the soap. While Hove and Ramsey are fantastic actors, their characters have run their course, and there’s simply no place for them on the show anymore.
General Hospitalmoves from one over-the-top villain to the next, and it’s time to give viewers a break from these types of storylines. I really hope that Paevey’s comeback doesn’t mean that Faison and Peter have also cheated death once again.
General Hospital
Cast
General Hospital, a series released in 1963, weaves narratives of families, friends, adversaries, and lovers in the bustling city of Port Charles, New York. Set against the backdrop of a busy hospital, upscale hotel, and crime-ridden waterfront, it explores life-altering events in this intricate social tapestry.
