No ‘Kidding’: General Hospital Has Recast Maxie and Nathan’s Son

No “abracadabra” needed: General Hospital has presto-change-o’d the actor playing James West, the young son of Maxie and late husband Nathan. Gary James Fuller stepped into the role on April 6, when James performed a magic act at the Nurses Ball with half sister Georgie. (You’ll recall that they made grandma Liesl disappear… and couldn’t make her reappear, what with her having been kidnapped by Victor and all!)

Fuller got in another episode on May 19 ahead of James’ departure for summer camp. (Ruh-roh. Sounds like a good place to come down with a case of Soap-Opera Rapid-Aging Syndrome!)

Already, more than a half-dozen youngsters have played the legacy character, usually twins so that neither child has too heavy a workload. If Fuller continues on at General Hospital, there is a chance, however slim, that he could introduce James to his father, who was killed off before his son made his “debut.” (In fact, it was James’ nefarious uncle Peter who helped Maxie deliver him.)

“I’m always open to work,” Nathan’s portrayer Ryan Paevey told Soaps.com in 2021. “I don’t know if anybody’s picked up on this yet, but I a little bit of a workhorse. I don’t sit still very well.”

What would make resurrecting Nathan especially enticing to the actor would be if he returned with an edge. “I laugh about this a lot, because usually on soaps, you have a good guy, but there was that one time he maybe murdered somebody or cheated on his wife,” he said. “Everybody has a bit of a checkered past. But Nathan was just kind of a good, nice guy.”

Catch up on all of the latest additions to the cast of General Hospital in our newly updated photo gallery.

Video: YouTube/Moose 497