Rena Sofer leaves General Hospital for now as Lois leaves Port Charles

Rena Sofer has left General Hospital for the time being as her longtime character, Lois Cerullo, announced she was leaving Port Charles on the October 24th episode.

Soap Opera Digest confirmed Sofer’s exit in an article that published after the episode aired.

Lois has been back on General Hospital for two years

Sofer moved to New York in August with her husband, director Sanford Bookstaver. She has come back to Los Angeles for brief appearances on General Hospital since, but her scenes in the new episode put a definitive stopping point on Lois’s story for the time being.

Brook Lynn and Lois appeared on Home & Heart while they were estranged | Image: ABC

In the episode, Lois and her daughter Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton) mended fences as Brook Lynn forgave her mother for keeping the secret from her that Gio Palmieri (Giovanni Mazza) is the biological son she gave up for adoption as a teenager.

They had an emotional talk as Lois told her daughter that she was leaving Port Charles to become the new tour manager for Blaze (Jacqueline Grace Lopez), and was preparing to fly to South Korea to join the tour.

Before she left, Lois told Brook Lynn “The second you need me, I will drop everything and come running.”

Before talking to Brook Lynn, Lois had an emotional talk with Gio October 23rd as she tried to convince him to give Brook Lynn and his biological father Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) a chance to build a relationship with him. Lois reminded Gio that keeping the secret about his identity was all her doing. That before the secret was outed in May at the General Hospital Nurses’ Ball, Dante didn’t even know Brook Lynn had a child, and that Brook Lynn had no idea Gio was her son. Lois tried to get Gio to be angry at her, not them.

Then, they talked about her cousin Camila, who raised Gio as her son, and how much they both missed her. And then Lois tried to convince Gio to start playing the violin again.

Sofer came back to General Hospital two years ago after more than 25 years away from the role which made her a star. Lois moved back into the Quartermaine mansion and got embroiled in Q family drama. She was also right by her daughter’s side when Brook Lynn married Harrison Chase (Josh Swickard) in 2024.

Before that, Lois arranged for Gio to get a room with the Quartermaines, not telling anyone else in the house that Gio was her grandson and a relative to others in the house.

In the months since the big reveal, Lois left the Q mansion and Brook Lynn fired her from Deception, where Lois had been a spokesperson helping sell the products. Lois returned for Monica’s funeral to support her family.

Now she’s back to her original roots. Lois managed Brook Lynn’s musical career and toured with her when she was younger and could still sing (before Nelle slashed her throat in 2020), and now she’s getting another chance to help a rising songstress in Blaze.

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