'General Hospital' star returns after contract controversy

By Daphne Buenaflor

Aug 02, 2018

12:02 P.M.

Genie Francis is set to return to General Hospital following the contract controversy which caused her exit on the show in January 2018.

Francis, an Emmy award-winning actress, and her character, Laura Spencer, is coming back on the show, as she confirmed on her Twitter page.

She tweeted, ‘Laura is back. Starting another new chapter in my [General Hospital] journey. Thank you to all my fans!’

In January 2018, Laura was written out of the storyline when Francis had to leave and head to Europe to take care of her grandson who broke both of his legs.

Around the same time, it was revealed that ABC opted to not have Francis’ series-regular contract renewed. She was given a recurring status, which made a lot of General Hospital fans angry.

In March 2018, Francis had taken to Twitter to defend the show’s executive producer, Frank Valentini, as many of the fans blamed him for her exit on the show.

After several months, Laura will once again be seen on General Hospital as Valentini, announced Francis’ return on Twitter.

‘I’m really excited for Genie to be rejoining the cast and we have an amazing story for her,’ he wrote.

Francis also spoke exclusively with TV Insider and shared that she will be back on the show after coming back from Maine.

She continued, “I’m looking forward to coming home and I am really excited about this new invigorating storyline they have for Laura — I look forward to the next chapter of this prolific and historic character.”

The actress became part of the soap opera in 1977. She was introduced as the long-lost daughter of Denise Alexander’s character, Dr. Lesley Webber.

Because of her character, Francis was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1997.

After ten years, she finally took home an Emmy for her performance as Laura in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category.

As of now, the date of Francis’ premiere episode have not been revealed, but fans have expressed their excitement over it on social media.