Towards the end of January this year, General Hospital’s Michael (Chad Duell) was ushered off the soap’s canvas, sent to Germany to recover from his burns acquired during the explosion in Sonny’s (Maurice Benard) penthouse.
While we understand Duell was departing from the role of Michael after almost 15 years, and producers opted to handle his exit by taking the character out of Port Charles, given the increasing amount of drama revving up thanks to Willow (Katelyn MacMullen), Drew (Cameron Mathison) and Carly (Laura Wright) over Michael’s kids, we’d say it’s time he return. Heck, we don’t like to agree with Drew on anything, but he was right when he said it’s time for Michael to stop hiding behind his mother and get back to Port Charles to battle the unpopular #Drillow duo.
After Lucy (Lynn Herring) announced that the annual Nurses Ball is in the near future, we couldn’t help but think that perhaps producers are quietly building to Michael’s return, using the event to usher him in. Not for nothing, the Nurses Ball has historically been an occasion in Port Charles where surprises unfold for the residents.
Now if we’re right, this all begs the question: with Duell not expected to step back into Michael’s shoes, what actor could do the honors? We have three guesses, but we’re actually hoping another General Hospital alum becomes the new Michael.
Our first guest is actually an alum of The Young and the Restless, Tyler Johnson. He previously played Theo Vanderway, a nephew of Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman). Johnson would make a good fit in General Hospital as Michael, as he not only would be around the right age, but if he plays Michael in the way he played Theo, he could add a complexity to the businessman. With Michael having suffered another life-or-death ordeal thanks to Sonny’s ventures and feeling betrayed by Drew and Willow, we imagine him returning with an even darker persona than usual when he’s wronged. So Johnson may fit the bill.
Next up is Matthew Atkinson. Fans of The Bold and the Beautiful will recognize him as Thomas Forrester. He hasn’t been on the CBS soap in a while, so it’s possible he can take his talents to General Hospital. Again, Atkinson is the right age to portray Michael and we imagine he’d play a good, menacing aspect of the character, given how duplicitous Thomas has been. The only thing is, we don’t know how much The Bold and the Beautiful plans to use Atkinson’s services in the future.
If we had our say, former General Hospital star Drew Garrett would step back into the role of Michael. He portrayed the character before Duell, and he delivered a very solid performance of the character. From the moment Duell announced his departure from General Hospital, Garrett has always been our top choice to replace him. Garret had great onscreen chemistry with Benard and Wright, and we could picture his version of Michael truly giving Drew and Willow the fight they’ve been asking for.
Again, at the time of publication, there are no confirmed reports from the powers that be that Michael is returning to Port Charles for the Nurses Ball, or that the character has been recast. But we can dream, can’t we?
New episodes of General Hospital air on weekdays on ABC. If you miss an episode, you can catch up on Hulu.
