General Hospital's Rory Gibson previews upcoming episodes on Monica's death

General Hospital fans are gearing up to say goodbye to Monica Quartermaine, who passed away at the end of the September 17th episode. The start of her tribute already has viewers tearing up, when at the end of the episode, a tearful Jason Morgan (Steve Burton) told Tracy Quartermaine (Jane Elliot) that she had died.

The episodes to come will be emotional and heartbreaking as we watch the characters process her passing and grieve with each other as they also honor her portrayer, Leslie Charleson, who passed away in January 2025 after nearly 50 years on General Hospital.

Gibson researched Michael's relationship with Monica on General Hospital

Filming the aftermath of Monica’s passing was an intense but rewarding challenge for Rory Gibson, who plays Michael Corinthos. Gibson, who debuted in the role in May of this year, is still new to being part of the Quartermaine family and all the dynamics involved in the clan’s legacy dynasty.

Rory Gibson has played a lot of emotional scenes since debuting as Michael in May | Image: AB

In an interview with Soap Opera Digest, he described how he prepared for filming these episodes. He heaped a lot of praise on Burton, who plays Monica’s son, Jason. Gibson talked a lot in the interview about Burton’s performance, saying Burton had the crew crying behind the scenes and that he was able to play off of Jason’s portrayer to help him with his own acting. He said Burton’s performances will be heartbreaking for fans of Monica and the show to watch.

“I was just playing off of Steve the whole time, and Steve, in these scenes, oh my God. He just really brought it. It was intense stuff, for sure,” Gibson said.

Gibson never got to work with Charleson because he joined General Hospital a few months after her death. But as he prepared to become Michael Corinthos and understand all of the character’s family and personal relationships, he learned what Monica means to Michael.

Still, he was uncertain how well we would be able to portray Michael’s grief since he didn’t experience that relationship with Monica, but he told SOD he was happy with how it turned out.

“Michael’s life has been an unbelievable storm of chaos that is pretty unrelenting,” Gibson said. “He’s been going and spending time with her on a daily basis, and she’s always been able to kind of bring him back down to a level place and talk him down a bit. So, her passing away kind of throws him into a bit of an emotional spiral, I think.”

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