Kelly Monaco to Exit ‘General Hospital’ After 21 Years

Kelly Monaco is set to leave “General Hospital” after more than two decades on the ABC soap opera, Variety has confirmed.

Monaco, who has played the role of Sam McCall on “General Hospital” since 2003, will make her final appearance in Port Charles this fall due to storyline.

Monaco joined “General Hospital” in 2003 after working on the soap’s spinoff series “Port Charles,” in which she portrayed Livvie Locke from 2000 to 2003. “General Hospital” introduced Monaco’s Sam as a con artist attempting to reverse her family’s bad luck. The character is the biological daughter of mob boss Julian Jerome (William deVry) and attorney Alexis Davis (Nancy Lee Grahn), as well as the illegal adoptive daughter of Cody McCall (Stanley Kamel) and Evelyn Bass.

Monaco has shot more than 2,200 episodes of “General Hospital,” and in 2006, she received a Daytime Emmy nomination for her performance as Sam.

In August 2020, Lindsay Hartley temporarily played the role of Sam while Monaco was out on temporary leave. Hartley later reappeared as the character in February 2020, as well as for several episodes in January and August of this year.

Monaco’s exit comes amid the return of several “General Hospital” veterans, including Jonathan Jackson as Lucky Spencer, who checked back into the long-running soap opera on Friday.

In July, Variety exclusively reported that Emma Samms will reprise her role as Holly Sutton in early September. Her return ties in with Jackson’s.

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