General Hospital's Charles Shaughnessy Bids Fans 'Au Revoir' As Victor Meets Brutal Death
Victor Cassadine's reign of terror has finally ended on "General Hospital." Picking up where his brother Mikkos Cassadine (John Colicos) left off in 1981 when he tried to blackmail the world with a weather-controlling machine, Victor spent decades hatching his own scheme. But unlike Mikkos, who was a megalomaniac, Victor felt that humans were eroding the Earth's resources, so he spent decades trying to locate one of his brother's other bunkers that contained a pathogen lethal to 80% of humans. He kidnapped his nephews, Spencer Cassadine (Nicholas Chavez) and baby Ace, so that some of his family would survive the catastrophe he planned to unleash. He also kidnapped Dr. Liesl Obrecht (Kathleen Gati) and tasked her with creating an antidote to the virus.
Meanwhile, Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali), Spencer's girlfriend, stowed away on the Haunted Star — the ship Victor used to travel to Greenland. But Laura Collins (Genie Francis), who helped thwart the Cassadines in 1981, assembled a team of heroes on a mission to stop Victor and save the world. Because of the nature of his plan, the World Security Bureau got involved, although former WSB agent Robert Scorpio (Tristan Rogers) tried to stop their plan to blow the island up — which would have decimated the good guys. He convinced the Bureau to redirect the lethal drones to the Haunted Star, where Victor was attempting to escape with the pathogen.
Ultimately, the drone strike destroyed the ship, killing Victor.
Fans will miss the beloved villain
After nearly wiping out most of humanity as Victor Cassadine on "General Hospital," Charles Shaughnessy went to Twitter to thank everyone, stating, "Thank you! It was an absolute pleasure to terrorize the good people of PC for the last 18 months. I will miss the extraordinary cast and crew as well as you, the fans. Let's hope it's 'au revoir!'" A distraught fan of Shaughnessy's work on "GH" responded, "No!!!!!! I liked Victor!!!! He was the perfectly evil Cassadine!!!! And you played it perfectly!!!!"
The fans came out in droves to respond with their love and thanks for Shaughnessy's run as Victor, with many hoping either the character, or the actor in a new role, will return one day soon. Many expressed that they will miss Shaughnessy, with several pointing out that on soaps, death isn't the handicap it used to be. One viewer thanked Shaughnessy for his portrayal of Victor, and asked, "And BTW...what happened to the doves Uncle Victor took from Spencer at the PC grille?!" Shaughnessy cryptically replied, "Aha, funny to should ask.....stay tuned!" This was a reference to a time in December of 2022 when Spencer Cassadine was in prison, and his uncle — incarcerated criminal Cyrus Renault (Jeff Kober) — handed him a pair of turtle dove earrings to give to Trina Robinson, which Victor promptly took from Spencer.
We're hoping this dangling plot point will lead to more excitement and danger on "GH" in the future!