“General Hospital” plans to honor beloved cast member John Reilly and his iconic character Sean Donely with an episode dedicated to him this spring, Variety learned exclusively.
Executive producer Frank Valentini tells Variety that Reilly “was a big part of the ‘GH’ story and will be honored in an episode that the writers are working on now.”
Due to COVID-19, ABC’s daytime drama has slightly tweaked its schedule, but both the writers room and production are still working weeks ahead and are currently preparing content for the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the second quarter of 2021. .
Reilly started on “General Hospital” in June 1984, playing Sean Donely consecutively for more than a decade, until February 1995, and then making sporadic appearances as the character in 2008 (towards the end of the “General Hospital: Night Shift spinoff” ”) And in 2013.
The character was first introduced when Luke Spencer (Anthony Geary) needed help while on the run from murder charges, but Sean was a force to be reckoned with: in the 1970s, he was the head of the World Security Office (WSB) ), which added an element of adventure to medical soap.
Robert (Tristan Rogers), who worked for Sean, sent Luke to Sean for help. At the time, there was a mystery about the Aztec treasure that Sean was looking for, and things got so complicated that he ended up kidnapping some people close to Robert. Eventually, the two reconciled and Sean became the godfather of Robert’s daughter, Robin (Kimberly McCullough). This, together with his romance with Dr. Monica Quartermaine (Leslie Charleson), consolidated his place as an important player in Port Charles. Subsequently, he became a police commissioner, which deepened his ties.
Sean also had a relationship with characters like Dr. Greta Ingstrom (Kristina Wayborn), Jessica Holmes (Starr Andreeff) and, of course, Tiffany Hill Donely (Sharon Wyatt), with whom his character had a daughter named Anna (Courtney Halverson) .
The WSB has been a big part of “General Hospital” history recently, through characters like Robert and Anna Devane (Finola Hughes).
When Reilly died on January 9, the team behind the “General Hospital” paid tribute to him on social media, tweeting, “The whole family at General Hospital is heartbroken to learn of the death of John Reilly. Our thoughts and prayers go out to your loved ones. Rest in peace.”