General Hospital fans knew the day was coming, but now it's finally here: Nicholas Alexander Chavez's (Spencer Cassadine) final General Hospital appearance -- at least for now.
It's been more than six months since news broke that Nicholas Alexander Chavez had landed a role in the Netflix anthology series Monster. The job marks the actor's first major outside-of-daytime role.
The second season of Monster is officially titled Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story. Chavez will be portraying Lyle Menéndez, one half of the pair of infamous Beverly Hills brothers who were convicted in 1996 for shooting and killing their parents, José and Mary Louise "Kitty" Menéndez. Cooper Koch portrays Lyle's brother Erik. Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny round out the cast as the murdered parents, Jose and Kitty Menéndez.
Production on Monster was delayed by the SAG/AFTRA and Writers Guild strikes.
According to show sources, Chavez is scheduled to make his final GH appearance on Wednesday, January 31. In story preview provided by ABC, that's the day that Spencer and Trina find themselves in danger. Eek!
It's unclear exactly how long Chavez will be off-screen, but his absence is expected to last "several months."
Interestingly, Tabyana Ali (Trina Robinson) is not expected to be taking a leave from General Hospital, though her character has committed to a semester at the Sorbonne.
Addressing Chavez's absence and his eventual return will be left to General Hospital's new co-head writing team of Patrick Mulcahey and Elizabeth Korte. Their work will begin airing sometime this spring.
Chavez joined General Hospital in July 2021. The actor picked up a Daytime Emmy in 2022 in the Outstanding Younger Performer in a Drama Series category. Chavez was nominated in the Outstanding Supporting Actor category last year.
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