Chad Brannon Returning to General Hospital… But as Zander?

Sometimes actors are like boomerangs: They come back. Case in point: Chad Brannon is returning to General Hospital, where he played Mob flunky Zander Smith from 2000-04.

But even EW.com, which broke the news, couldn’t say whether he’d be resurrecting his old character, who you may recall went out in a hail of bullets. (As if that ever stopped anybody in Port Charles from rising from the grave!) 

Before volunteering to be a SWAT team’s target, the baby-faced ne’er-do-well had been married to ill-fated Emily Quartermaine and had had a fling with Elizabeth Webber that was brief, sure, but not so brief that it didn’t leave her expecting son Cameron (named for Zander’s father. by the way).

Were Brannon to be reprising his former role, there would certainly be a lot of storyline for him, what with Cam now being a teenager and Liz being worried sick that her latest husband might turn back into a serial killer. Not only that, but she’s fast coming to a crossroads with both better half Franco and ex-lover Jason.

Of course, there is another option…

Brannon could be playing Aaron, the Zander lookalike that Emily’s twin sister, Rebecca Shaw, met on her way out of Port Charles in 20009. (And we do know that her portrayer, Natalia Livingston, wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to giving Emily a new lease on life. Remember our interview?)

On the other hand — wait, is that our third hand — the Emmy winner could just be playing Zander as a ghost or a vision. General Hospital does like those, after all. (Right, Duke Lavery?) Whoever he’s playing, the website reports that he begins taping on February 12 and will first air the following month.

While you’re here, contemplating the comings and goings from General Hospital, perhaps you might be keen on a photographic tour of all of the show’s recent exits.