In a shock we’re still reeling from, on August 26, news broke that Kelly Monaco is leaving General Hospital. The actress has played Samantha McCall for over 20 years, and the character has become a fan favorite. Plus, Sam’s relationship with Jason (Steve Burton) easily goes down in General Hospital history as one of the great romances. Although she’s currently paired with Dante (Dominic Zamprogna), we always assumed she’d eventually work her way back to Jason once she let her anger with Stone Cold subside.
Unfortunately, with news that Monaco is leaving the soap, it seems like a #JaSam reunion just isn’t in the cards. If you’re thinking a reunion could still happen with a recast of Sam, we have even more bad news. According to Soap Opera Network, the character is being killed off the soap altogether. As we wait for General Hospital producers, ABC or Monaco to confirm this latter revelation, we’re left saddened by Sam’s potentially deadly departure.
If you’re like us and can manage to move past your feelings about Monaco leaving, then your next move may be to contemplate possible exit scenarios for Sam if she really is to be killed off the soap. As of publication, Sam isn’t really tied up in any dangerous scenarios, which can prompt your imagination to go wild about her possible upcoming storylines.
If we had to guess, Sam will be swept up in the new drama involving Lucky (Jonathan Jackson). Fans will recall that Laura (Genie Francis) is desperate to find her son as he may be the person who can save Lulu. With the youngest of Luke’s (Anthony Geary) children fighting for her life in a coma and in need of a liver transplant, Laura hopes to locate Lucky in time, hoping he could be a donor match for his sister.
Sadly, at the moment, no one knows where Lucky is. And even if they did know he was being held captive in a prison by a group of very dangerous men, it would take some courage, wisdom and strength to rescue him. Enter Sam and Jason.
We can imagine a scenario in which Sam offers up her services as a private investigator to get a lead on where Lucky might be. Not only does she respect Laura, but she’s bonded with Dante and Lulu’s son Rocco (Finn Francis Carr), so it’s not hard to think that Sam would do what she can to help save Lulu’s life.
Following this line of thinking, if Sam, with the help of Spinelli (Bradford Anderson) of course, is able to track down Lucky, she may want to go to him ASAP. Now there’s no way Dante would be happy with Sam going by herself somewhere, not knowing what dangers could lie ahead. But, he probably needs to stay in Port Charles with Rocco in case Lulu makes a turn for the worse, so we can picture Dante enlisting Jason to go with Sam. She could always ask Jason herself, but given how frosty she’s been with him lately, Dante may have to intervene.
Either way, we think Sam and Jason going out for one last adventure together seems fitting. They’ve been on and off romantically for nearly two decades, and have a history of partnering in some dangerous schemes, so tracking Lucky down makes for a great final caper. But what starts as a missing person search is likely to become a rescue mission, one that puts the lives of Sam, Jason and Lucky in danger.
In the midst of a rescue mission, it’s not hard to envision a gunfight taking place. Then as Sam, Jason and Lucky try to escape the prison, they make a run for it but Sam doesn’t make it out alive. It’s possible that either she dies taking a bullet for Jason to spare him, or she is surprised by a mercenary who kills her. In either scenario, you better believe her death will send Jason into a grieving spiral.
Moving past our theory of how Sam dies, we have to additionally think about the ramifications of her death. Upon returning to Port Charles, Dante and Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) are likely to be furious with Jason, blaming him for what happened to Sam. However, Sam dying may be what reunites Kristina (Kate Mansi) and Molly (Kristen Vaganos). Speaking of reunions, with Sam gone, the pathway for Dante and Lulu to rekindle things becomes clearer.
Oh, and we can't forget Danny (Asher Antonyzyn). How will his mom dying impact him going forward? Will her death bring him and Jason closer or do the opposite?
All in all, we’ll have to pay close attention to see how Sam leaves Port Charles... possibly for good.
New episodes of General Hospital air on weekdays on ABC. If you miss an episode, you can catch up on Hulu.
