‘General Hospital’ Shocker: Kelly Monaco Leaving After 21 Years On ABC Sudser

A seismic shift is about to occur in Port Charles: Kelly Monaco, who plays Sam McCall, is leaving General Hospital.

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Deadline has confirmed that Monaco, who first joined the ABC sudser in 2003, will leave sometime this fall. Monaco has shot more than 2,200 episodes of GH and has received two Daytime Emmy nominations for her work. She went to win the mirrorball trophy in the first season of Dancing with the Stars .

Soap Opera Network was first to report the news about Monaco.

Monaco’s surprise departure mirrors what happened on CBS’ The Bold & the Beautiful earlier this year when Executive Producer Brad Bell decided to kill off Sheila Carter, played by the popular Kimberlin Brown. Brown told Deadline the surprise decision to write off her character was a “hard pillow to swallow” — especially since the decision was made two months later to bring her back .

Change is certainly afoot at GH . Earlier this month , it was revealed that co-head writer Patrick Mulcahey was leaving the show while Chris Van Etten was returning to run the writers room with Elizabeth Korte.

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Last week, Deadline broke that Sawandi Wilson ( Star Trek: Discovery ) will join the sudser as Isaiah, who is only described for now as having a “connection” to Jonathan Jackson’s Lucky.

Wilson’s first airdate as a GH castmember is Aug. 26.

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