Is General Hospital ready to recast Michael?

With Chad Duell exiting General Hospital in dramatic fashion as an explosion at Sonny's penthouse sets Michael ablaze, it looks like the perfect soap opera send-off to reintroduce a new version of Michael down the line — with a whole new face.

Michael Corinthos can't be gone

When Duell first announced his impending GH departure in November, executive producer Frank Valentini insisted there were no plans to recast Michael at that time. However, that could have just meant Michael wouldn't emerge with a new actor with no fanfare and no break.

At the time, Valentini posted the following on X (formerly Twitter).

"There are no plans to recast his role at this time, but you never know in daytime. I can promise a great story for Michael and his family when Chad exits in the new year."

Duell himself has said that he's not ruling out the possibility of a return.

"We'll see what happens in the future, but right now, I'm just trying to grow in ways that maybe I stifled myself," he told Steve Burton and Bradford Anderson on the Daily Drama Podcast.

General Hospital's perfect exit story

Michael has been a part of the GH canvas since 1997 when Carly (then played by Sarah Joy Brown) gave birth to him during an emergency C-section. He's a legacy character who has seen his fair share of traumatizing drama. From a high school prison stint in which he was raped to losing girlfriend after girlfriend to brutal deaths, Michael has been through the wringer.

Now, an explosion at Sonny's (Maurice Benard) penthouse has set Michael on fire, and there is no way he escapes without burns throughout his whole body. All GH needs to do is send Michael away to recover from his burns for a few months, and voilà! A new Michael can emerge.

It's the perfect setup for casting a new actor in the role, but it still doesn't rule out the possibility of Duell returning one day. It wouldn't be the first time a character had plastic surgery after burns and returned with a new actor in the role only to have the old actor return and pretend the plastic surgery story ever happened. That's what happened when Nicholas Walker took over for James DePaiva as One Life to Live's Max Holden.

Michael could return as a brand-new man at any point in 2025, but for now, it looks like it's so long for Carly Spencer's (Laura Wright) baby boy.

Catch all-new episodes of General Hospital weekdays on ABC and Hulu.