Soap Star Real Andrews Confirms ‘General Hospital’ Exit More Than 1 Year After Final Scene

General Hospital star Réal Andrews is officially saying goodbye to his role as Marcus Taggert — more than a year after his final scene aired.

“My chapter with General Hospital is over,” Andrews, 61, revealed in an Instagram video posted on Monday, October 24. “The writing has been on the wall for a long time. It’s been an amazing journey. I wanted to come here because you guys have been phenomenal, the best, amazing supporters.”

The actor noted that he wanted to address his departure from the series because he’s been getting “a lot of questions” for the past year about returning to the show.

“It’s just been an incredible journey,” he added. “It’s been 37 years. Wow, that’s amazing.”

Andrews initially played Marcus Taggert from 1996 to 2003 before departing from the series. He returned in a recurring capacity in 2020. Andrews’ last episode aired in July 2023 with a memorable episode that included his character having a breakdown after it was revealed that his daughter Trina ( Tabyana Ali ) was not biologically his.

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Andrews said he was happy to “go out on top,” referring to his final scenes.

“Being blessed to be on a show like General Hospital , I mean, it really is a blessing from top to bottom,” he explained to fans. “When I came back after 17 years of being away, what was crazy was it was like a time warp.”

In his social media video on Monday, Andrews also teased his upcoming project.

“I got offered what is the biggest role in my life. It’s [with] the biggest and best network, the best director, producers, writers, in my opinion, in the industry,” he teased. “We’re in pre-production for it. I signed an NDA so I’m not able to talk about it right now, but it’s huge.”

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He added, “When I’m able to share with you guys, it’s gonna blow your mind. It’s the biggest project of my life, ever. The most important one. And everything comes together, and happens for a reason, right? Everything I’ve done in my whole life was for this role.”

Andrews’ Instagram post came amid the ongoing General Hospital cast shakeups. The ABC soap opera has brought back past characters during its current season, including Scott Reeves as Dr. Steven Webber and Rick Hearst as Ric Lansing.

General Hospital star Kelly Monaco , who has played the role of Sam McCall for 21 years, also confirmed her departure earlier this month.

“Last scene with the Davis girls. 😘🥲🙏🏻,” she captioned an October 6 Instagram photo alongside her costars. “Still doesn’t make any sense to me.”