Emma Samms Returning to ‘General Hospital’ After Two Years of Long COVID

Holly Sutton is coming back! After a battle with long COVID, Emma Samms is officially returning to General Hospital to pick up where her character’s storyline left off back in 2020 before she contracted the virus.

When we last saw Holly in September 2020, she was presumed dead, though revealed to be alive, albeit locked in a cell in Monte Carlo. In real life, however, Samms ended up catching COVID-19, which ultimately postponed the character’s storyline.

The actress first starred as the fan-favorite character from 1982 to 1985, before she was “killed off” in a plane crash. Samms then went on to act as Fallon Carrington in the original Dynasty as well as spinoffs The Colbys and Dynasty: The Reunion.

She couldn’t stay away from General Hospital for too long as her character was so popular, she was resurrected in 1992 and stayed until 1993, going on to make numerous appearances on the ABC soap opera in the last three decades.

“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,” Samms told Deadline. “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!”

Fans were unsurprisingly ecstatic about the news, writing “WELCOME HOME HOLLY!!!” and “Best news ever! So grateful Emma and #GH are working it out to make this happen. Can’t wait for Robert to find out the love of his life is alive! Hopefully we can get a wonderful Robert & Holly reunion. GH is about to become must see TV!”

According to executive producer Frank Valentini, Samms will be returning to her role in October. He told Deadline he is “thrilled” about the news 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.”

General Hospital airs on weekdays at 3 p.m. ET on ABC.