Did General Hospital Just Kill Off Austin? We’re Not Buying It!

On November 18, a “General Hospital” fan posted a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, in which Roger Howarth discussed that he was grateful to have been part of the Franco Baldwin and Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst) storyline when he played Franco. The poster later stated that it came from a Cameo video that was made by Howarth for a friend. The video hit the panic button for fans who interpreted it as him saying goodbye to Austin Gatlin-Holt. Fans went into a tizzy discussing whether or not he was leaving the show, and naturally assumed that since he’s done it before, he’ll come back again as another character. But we’re not going to fall for that, although it might be what the powers that be want us to believe.

Killing Austin off would be a seriously missed opportunity, as his past has yet to be fully explored. His father was Jimmy Lee Holt (Steve Bond), who was the illegitimate son of the wealthy Edward Quartermaine (then David Lewis), so there’s a lot of character history to be delved into. Also, his connection with Cyrus Renault, who paid Austin’s way through medical school, still needs to be revealed in depth. And his great chemistry with Maura West has us believing that he and Ava Jerome have a fun relationship to explore. So, we’re not buying that Austin is dead at all.