Mark your calendars and set your DVRs now, General Hospital fans: Emma Samms is returning to the ABC daytime drama on Wednesday, October 19.
Fans heard in August that the British actress would pop up on General Hospital sometime this month, but now Soap Opera Digest has nailed down Samms’ return date as October 19 — unless, of course, preemptions delay General Hospital’s airing schedule.
As Deadline reported in August, Samms last appeared on General Hospital in September 2020, when the presumed-dead Holly was revealed to be alive and imprisoned in Monte Carlo.
But Samms’ return to the long-running show had to be postponed when she came down with COVID-19 and then suffered the effects of long COVID.
In a statement to Deadline at the time, Samms said, “I can’t believe that it’s been 40 years since I first appeared on General Hospital and that, once again, I get to play the wonderful character of Holly Sutton. No one is more interested in what’s happened to her since we saw her two years ago, being held captive by a mysterious villain, than me!”
GH executive producer Frank Valentini added that he was “thrilled the wonderful Emma Samms will be returning to the canvas in October, so we can continue telling Holly’s story and the fans can finally see what happened after we learned she was alive and being held hostage.”
Samms has appeared on General Hospital off and on since 1982, when Holly was introduced as a con-artist love interest for Luke Spencer (Anthony Geary), the two characters pictured below.
ABC/Courtesy: Everett Collection
The actress also starred as Fallon Carrington Colby on the ABC primetime soap Dynasty and its spinoff The Colbys in the late 1980s. More recently, Samms played Amanda Vardalis on the British soap Doctors in 2005 and again in 2018.
In March 2021, Samms organized an online Dynasty reunion to raise money for the North Bristol NHS Trust in her native United Kingdom, so that the organization could continue helping COVID long-haulers like herself.
“It’s so hard for me to catch my breath, to feel enough oxygen is in me,” Samms told People at the time. “And that horrible sensation is constant.”
Linda Evans, John James, Heather Locklear, and other Dynasty alums joined Samms for the nostalgic fundraiser. “We agreed not to try and calculate how long it’s been since we spoke!” Samms added. “It’s thrilling that so many have offered to help. I’ve been so encouraged by their support.”
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