Monica Quartermaine will pass away this fall on General Hospital

General Hospital co-head writers Elizabeth Korte and Chris Van Etten confirmed September 5th that legendary legacy character Monica Quartermaine will pass away this fall as the show pays tribute to the death of her portrayer, Leslie Charleson.

The news came in a wide-ranging interview with TV Insider that previews all of the storylines happening on General Hospital, and was also posted in Soap Opera Digest. The writers didn’t say when Monica would pass away, but said that Monica’s death would devastate the Quartermaines, and the family would come together.

Monica's death will leave a big void on General Hospital

Charleson died on Jan. 12, 2025, and like they have with other legends on the show in recent years, the showrunners have been waiting for the right time and the right story to honor the actor and the character.

General Hospital already did one tribute, when, during an April episode honoring the show's 62nd anniversary, they named a new cardiology wing at GH after Monica.

Monica’s death likely comes in the wake of the shooting of her son, Drew Cain (Cameron Mathison). His prognosis and the whodunnit nature of his shooting will continue to be a huge umbrella story in the coming weeks. Some fans are posting on social media that they hope Monica was the one who shot him.

“Drew’s path this fall might lead to ruin — or even an early grave,” the writers said. “His bold moves and transgressions have earned him a raft of enemies. You can only push people so far before they push back.”

Monica has been in poor health for quite a while on the show. She has been mentioned offscreen occasionally, dealing with illness, while she has helped the Quartermaines negotiate Drew’s schemes and Michael (Rory Gibson) and Willow’s (Katelyn MacMullen) custody battle while watching over the various children who spend time in the mansion.

In the interview, Korte and Van Etten teased the General Hospital debut of Erika Slezak, a six-time Daytime Emmy winner who is best known as Victoria Lord on One Life to Live. Currently, Victoria is Lulu’s (Alexa Havins) boss in Llanview at the Llanview Banner, which is in the same soap universe as Port Charles. There has also been widespread speculation that her character would be a long-lost relative of Monica’s. The writers seemed to lean towards Slezak being a new character in the interview, saying only that she has surprising connections to the Quatermaines and other characters in Port Charles.

There is also the matter of the mysterious letter addressed to Monica that Martin Grey (Michael E. Knight) found in Drew's house in July, and has not been mentioned since.

Either way, Slezak will serve a lot of notice on the show.

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“We’re in hock big time to (executive producer) Frank Valentini for coaxing Erika Slezak to come west and play with our cast,” the writers said in the interview. “She’s a class act and a powerhouse. We can’t wait to see how her character challenges the status quo in Port Charles.”

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

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