General Hospital fans aren’t typically given months of advance notice when an adored character is leaving, which leads to a lot of guesswork and curiosity about pretty much every person in Port Charles. Grim news came out a few months ago about Kelly Monaco’s firing, and viewers have been dreading the actual moment of Sam McCall‘s exit.
People reported that although fans assumed they saw the end of Sam when she donated her liver to Lulu Spencer (Emme Rylan), Monaco is going to be in one more episode of General Hospital.
Usually, hearing that you get to watch your favorite character one more time is celebratory news. You’d love 100 more episodes, but you’ll take one more. This time, though, GH fans are still angry that Sam died in the first place, and so they aren’t cheering over this news. Several explained how they feel on X, and it’s safe to say everyone has a negative opinion of it.
Another X user made a great point: how is Sam going to be in another General Hospital episode? After all, she just passed away! They asked if Sam will be a spirit, and I have to admit I’m wondering that, too. But who would she haunt? If Sam left because Monaco wanted to, then it might be cool and fun to see Sam attempting to get even with someone who hurt in the past. That’s just not the vibe right now, though. The actress is the one who is understandably upset about her unfair exit, not the character. Sam was doing just fine before this drama went down. Well, she had her struggles and didn’t always make the most clever decisions, but that’s why people loved watching her.
If Sam isn’t a ghost, the only other alternative is a montage series of flashbacks of her 21-year history on the soap opera. Considering how irritated fans are that the actress was let go, that isn’t going to satisfy anyone. If they want to reflect on this character’s considerable legacy, they can rewatch their favorite scenes and think about how much Sam has meant to them. It feels unnecessary to include this. In order to truly honor Sam, General Hospital would have to let her remain a main character instead of thinking that it would be a smart idea for her to die.
Back in 2003, Monaco told Michael Fairman TV that she wouldn’t “often go to the writers and the producers.” She added, “I know when to pick my battles. I know the vision they have.” More recently, though, she has sounded understandably uncertain about why she has to leave. I have to wonder if Monaco had any chats with the team about why they wanted to do this to Sam. And, sure, fans might have supported story decisions in the past, but now they’re upset.
Even though no one is jumping up and down about Sam’s death, General Hospital fans can watch the episode that airs Thursday Oct. 31 or Friday Nov. 1 to see Sam once more. Maybe they’ll be surprised and the tail end of her character arc will be awe-inspiring and beautiful. Hey, I’m an optimist! It’s more likely that fans will continue to be discouraged at what happened to one of their favorite Port Charles people.
