Soap star Real Andrews confirms departure from ‘General Hospital’ more than a year after the final scene

General Hospital star Real Andrews is officially saying goodbye to his role as Marcus Taggert – more than a year after his final scene aired.

“My chapter with General Hospital is over,” Andrews, 61, revealed in an Instagram video posted on Monday, October 24. “The writing has been on the wall for a long time. It was a great trip. I wanted to come here because you guys have been phenomenal, best and amazing supporters.”

The actor noted that he wanted to address his departure from the series because he received “a lot of questions” over the past year about returning to the series.

“It’s just been an incredible journey,” he added. “It’s been 37 years. Wow, that’s amazing.”

Andrews initially played Marcus Taggert from 1996 to 2003 before leaving the series. He returned in a recurring capacity in 2020. Andrews’ final episode aired in July 2023 with a memorable episode in which his character suffered a breakdown after it was revealed that his daughter Trina (Tabjana Ali) was not biologically his.

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Andrews said he was happy to “get over it”, referring to his final scenes.

“Being blessed to be on a show General HospitalI mean, it really is a blessing from top to bottom,” he explained to fans. “When I came back after being away for seventeen years, the strange thing was that it was like a time warp.”

In his social media video on Monday, Andrews also teased his upcoming project.

“I was offered the biggest role of my life. It is (with) the biggest and best network, the best director, producers and writers, in my opinion, in the industry,” he teased. “We are working on pre-production on it. I signed an NDA so I can’t talk about it right now, but it’s huge.”

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He added: “If I can share it with you, it will blow your mind. It’s the biggest project of my life ever. The most important. And everything comes together and happens for a reason, right? Everything I have done my whole life has been for this role.”

Andrews’ Instagram post came amid the ongoing events General Hospital release shakeups. The ABC soap opera has brought back characters from the past during the current season, including Scott Reeves as Dr. Steven Webber and Rick Hearst as Ric Lansing.

General Hospital star Kelly Monacowho has played the role of Sam McCall for 21 years, also confirmed her departure earlier this month.

“Last scene with the Davis girls. 😘🥲🙏🏻,” she captioned an Oct. 6 Instagram photo alongside her costars. “I still don’t feel like it.”