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General Hospital Jaw-Dropper: On the 10th Anniversary of Duke’s ‘Resurrection,’ It’s Time to Bring Him Back for Good
Saturday, August 27th, 2022
If they could do it once, they can do it again!
Duke was dead, to begin with. OK, OK, maybe we should start with something a bit less Dickensian. The General Hospital mobster turned hero was alive at one point, but he’d been gone for a long, long time by the time Ian Buchanan showed up on our screens once more on August 27, 2012.
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Anna’s true love (sorry, “Vanna” fans, but even James Patrick Stuart knows that relationship is a dead end) had died in a fire in 1989, risen from the grave with a new face, then died again in 1990. Except, well, it turns out that’s not quite what happened.
Duke had, it turns out, faked his first death back in 1989 to protect his loved ones and enter into witness protection. But the Jeromes snatched him along the way and tossed him into imprisonment with one Jonathan Paget, the man who, after pumping his cellmate for info headed to Port Charles to impersonate him. Without Duke’s face. Or his voice. Or his accent. Or, well, we feel like there should have been one or two other things that tipped at least Anna off after they reconnected, but sure, a few Duke stories did the trick.
Regardless, Jonathan/Duke eventually died at Julian’s hands and that was that for the next 22 years. Until, that is, Duke showed up once more in August of 2012. It was, to say the least, a shock. How was he alive? Where had he been? How did he have his face and accent back again??
First, Duke had to travel back in time to the roaring ’20s and reset the timeline before he could return. It was all very complicated.
Credit: Paul Skipper/JPI
We had so many questions! And none of them mattered.
This man who returned to Port Charles wasn’t Duke, either. Instead, Cesar Faison decided to take a page out of Jonathan Paget’s page in order to woo Anna. But since everyone knew his face and voice, he couldn’t just play himself as Duke, he had to look and sound like Duke too, so he slipped on a hyper realistic mask and… whatever he did to his voice. That part’s a bit murky.
We didn’t learn the truth for a few months, and when we did, it was a crushing blow to realize Duke hadn’t really returned. But our disappointment was premature because Faison’s first appearance on August 27 was actually the moment we got the real Duke’s resurrection!
The criminal mastermind had been holding two people hostage who we’d thought dead. One was Robin, whom he’d intended “rescue” as Duke in order to be hailed as a hero. The other was… Duke! How else would Faison be able to convince people he was the real deal unless he had a direct line to the man and his memories?
So while the man we were first reunited with ten years ago wasn’t who we thought, it’s still worth celebrating as the day we got our Duke back. It wasn’t until the real Duke was finally freed and Cesar put down once again that we’d figure out all (more or less) that had befallen him in the decades since we’d last seen him.
Sadly, he died again just a few years later… but it was lovely while it lasted.
Now, it’s been another decade since Buchanan’s return and Duke’s (eventual) return, and there couldn’t be a better time for him to make a comeback once again! Dead? Please, how many times have we heard that about him before?
It’s fair to say fans felt more than a little cheated after going through all that elaborate plotting to bring the real Duke back and reunite him and Anna, only to kill him off again just a few years later. This could fix that debacle.
And bringing him back to reunite with his love just Anna and Valentin finally get their own relationship off the ground would be a story for the ages. A Cassadine versus one of Port Charles’ original mobsters who’s gone up against the Jeromes and Faison? Oh, Anna would have her work cut out for her keeping those two from each other’s throats!
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Even if Stuart is correct (and there’s no guarantee he is) and Anna and Valentin are little more than infatuation, that doesn’t mean she won’t still be drawn to him, nor does it mean that her Cassadine beau would go down without a fight. But — and this is a big but — that doesn’t mean this should be a fight to the death!
The show’s worked hard to turn Valentin from an irredeemable monster to someone worthy of Anna’s love. No one wants to see him go, nor do they want to see him kill again. If Duke’s coming back (pretty please with icing on top?), it needs to be for good, regardless of how he and Anna end up.
Catch up on who and what Duke would be returning to with our photo guide to General Hospital.
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Image: ABC
1/51
<p><em>General Hospital</em> largely revolves around <span style="text-decoration: line-through">fearsome mobster</span> mild-mannered coffee importer Sonny Corinthos, who at this point has fathered half of Port Charles. Maybe more than half. We suck at math.</p>
Image: ABC
2/51
<p>Sonny’s current <span style="text-decoration: line-through">moll</span> girlfriend is <em>Crimson</em> magazine publisher Nina Reeves, with whom he struck up a relationship while she kept secret for months the fact that he wasn’t dead, just chilling in Nixon Falls with amnesia.</p>
Image: ABC
3/51
<p>Sonny only decided to make a real go of it with Nina when mercurial missus Carly Corinthos elected to put a stop to their marriage over his lingering feelings for “the other woman.”</p>
Image: ABC
4/51
<p>… Carly has Aurora Media bigwig Drew Cain, the twin brother of her late BFF/sorta husband Jason Morgan. Considering that this is how Drew looks in handcuffs with a boo-boo, we doubt that the friend zone is where he’ll stay.</p>
Image: ABC
5/51
<p>ELQ exec Michael Corinthos is actually the result of Carly’s one-night stand with the late A.J. Quartermaine. But Sonny sorta took possession of the boy, who now loathes “Dad” for choosing Nina over their family.</p>
Image: ABC
6/51
<p>What only Carly knows so far (and isn’t inclined to reveal!) is that Michael’s pregnant-and-ailing significant other, schoolteacher Willow Tait, is the long-lost daughter of — awkward! — Nina. Explosions in three, two…</p>
Image: ABC
7/51
<p>New to Sonny’s organization is Dex Heller, who the boss has no idea is, in fact, a spy sent by Michael to undermine his pop. Apparently, the hottie has not been clued in to Sonny’s feelings about betrayal.</p>
Image: ABC
8/51
<p>Sonny’s confidant, Brando Corbin, might have figured out by now that Dex isn’t on the level, had he not been distracted by model-wife Sasha Gilmore’s pill-popping in the wake of their son’s tragic death.</p>
Image: ABC
9/51
<p>To mom Carly and stepdad Sonny and pretty much <em>everyone’s</em> horror, the first time that Josslyn Jacks made love with boyfriend Cameron Webber, a video was shot — unbeknownst to the teens — and uploaded to the Internet.</p>
Image: ABC
10/51
<p>Joss’ gal pal, Trina Robinson, was accused of the crime. But as if the halo around her head didn’t make it clear enough, she was beyond innocent. The actual guilty party was…</p>
Image: ABC
11/51
<p>Esme Prince was the amateur “filmmaker” who turned Joss and Cam into reluctant viral sensations and framed Trina for her misdeed. But if she’s super mega twisted, you can probably blame it on…</p>
Image: ABC
12/51
<p>Before plummeting off the parapet at Wyndemere, Esme was being manipulated by Ryan Chamberlain, a card-carrying psycho serial killer obsessed with Port Charles’ foremost…</p>
Image: ABC
13/51
<p>Ava Jerome thought that she’d found something that made her as happy as martinis in her marriage to prince Nikolas Cassadine. Then he went and screwed it all up by sleeping with Esme.</p>
Image: ABC
14/51
<p>Maybe Nikolas is destined to blow every chance he gets. He is, after all, the especially chiseled product of mom Laura Collins’ time as the prisoner of his maniacal father, Stavros Cassadine.</p>
Image: ABC
15/51
<p>Um, she is. Years after her legendary marriage to Luke Spencer ended, Laura is living large and in charge as the mayor of Port Charles. She even has a new husband by her side. Unfortunately…</p>
Image: ABC
16/51
<p>Mainly because, as you can see, Port Charles’ shrink about town, Kevin Collins, is an exact replica of twin brother, Ryan. Except in the category of homicidal tendencies, thankfully.</p>
Image: ABC screenshot
17/51
<p>Nikolas’ son with Sonny’s late half sister, Courtney, worked as tirelelessly as sneakily to expose “girlfriend” Esme’s crime and exonerate Trina. He took so long, though, that the young woman he truly loved found herself in a most appealing…</p>
Image: ABC
18/51
<p>Rookie cop Rory Cabrera took one look at Trina and was not only convinced that she was innocent, he was convinced that he’d met the girl of his dreams. See that gaze? The boy is <em>smitten</em>!</p>
Image: ABC
19/51
<p>Also offering unconditional support to Trina is virtuous mom Portia, an MVP among General Hospital’s MDs who off duty plays doctor with…</p>
Image: ABC
20/51
<p>Curtis Ashford went from private eye to private parties — as the owner of hot spot The Savoy. He still loves a good mystery, though. What’s the recipe for those tasty cocktails that he serves? Only he knows!</p>
Image: ABC screenshot
21/51
<p>Here, Curtis’ auntie, Stella Henry, demonstrates the look that you never want to see cross her face. It is by and large an indication that you have done or are about to do something of which the social worker disapproves.</p>
Image: ABC, ABC screenshot
22/51
<p>Curtis’ dad, Marshall Ashford — long thought to be dead (take a number!) — is certain that Nurse Epiphany Johnson is good for the heartsickness that ails him.</p>
Image: ABC
23/51
<p>Yes, yes, we digress. Sonny’s firstborn, Port Charles PD detective Dante Falconeri — who conveniently looks the other way where Dad’s “coffee business” in concerned — is all boo’d up with his old man’s ex-lover, reformed con artist-turned-gumshoe Sam McCall.</p>
Image: ABC
24/51
<p>Sam’s mother, fiery <em>Invader</em> publisher, disgraced lawyer and ex-con Alexis Davis, has two other daughters, future RBG Molly Lansing (with Sonny’s half brother, Ric Lansing) and Kristina Davis (with Sonny himself).</p>
Image: ABC
25/51
<p>Molly’s honey is fine — <em>very</em> fine — upstanding, aspiring General Hospital doctor T.J. Ashford, the son of Sonny’s onetime muscle, Shawn Butler, and, ironically, Port Charles’ top cop…</p>
Image: ABC
26/51
<p>Jordan Ashford is charged with keeping law and order in Port Charles, a town where they’ve practically erected a statue to <span style="text-decoration: line-through">racketeer</span> coffee importer Sonny. We would <em>not</em> want her job. Her cheekbones, yes. Her job… no.</p>
Image: ABC
27/51
<p>These days, if Sam wants to catch up with Kristina, all she has to do is swing by Charlie’s Bar. Not just for a drink, but because owner Phyllis Caulfield recently named the young woman manager. </p>
Image: ABC (2)
28/51
<p>Back to Alexis for a second… Despite her predilection for mobsters, she’s currently embroiled in a flirtation with Gregory Chase, the ex of journalist Jackie Templeton and the father of…</p>
Image: ABC
29/51
<p>Because this is the cutest picture of all time. But beyond that, this is Gregory’s older son, Hamilton Finn, a doctor at General Hospital and the father of adorable Violet (with the MIA Hayden Barnes).</p>
Image: ABC screenshot
30/51
<p>Finn is enamored of Cam’s mother, Nurse Elizabeth Webber, who since the death of husband Franco Baldwin and their “killing” of his murderer, Peter August, has been a little unstable. As in, she occasionally hugs her attire. See?</p>
Image: ABC
31/51
<p>Finn’s kid brother, easy-on-the-eyes Harrison Chase, is one of Port Charles’ finest. As in, he’s a detective with the PCPD… at least when not suspended for one reason or another. He’s also drawn to drama. Which explains why he’s made a VIP in his life the one and only…</p>
Image: ABC
32/51
<p>Natural born pot stirrer Brook Lynn Quartermaine, the songwriter daughter of ELQ honcho Ned and the third of his many wives, onetime L&B Records founder Lois Cerullo.</p>
Image: ABC
33/51
<p>Ned, by the way, has formed a whole new family with Sonny’s babymama, Olivia Falconeri, and her son by the late Julian Jerome, lil’ Leo, who has autism. And also, it would appear, a keen willingness to hold one’s gaze.</p>
Image: ABC
34/51
<p>For some reason, Ned, Olivia and a whole bunch of others live at the Quartermaine mansion, which Alan’s widow, fellow doctor Monica, will be quick to remind anyone within earshot is hers, damn it!</p>
Image: ABC
35/51
<p>No one has noticed that new Quartermaine on the block Austin Gatlin-Holt looks exactly like Liz’s last husband. Fashionista Maxie Jones is just glad that he isn’t as obviously evil as her last boyfriend, Peter August. That said, Austin and Franco could have been…</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
36/51
<p>This <span style="text-decoration: line-through">is</span> was Franco. But let’s be real — it could just as well be and/or have been Austin. The same as Finn could pass for John McBain or Silas Clay… We just don’t talk about that stuff, and you shouldn’t, either.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
37/51
<p>Among the first to smell a rat whenever Maxie’s late almost-husband entered the room was her former non-husband, Damian Spinelli. Kindly don’t call him geeky. He is, if anything, geektastic. Thank you.</p>
Image: ABC
38/51
<p>Ever since he parachuted into the pool at the Metro Court, Dante’s old pal, Cody Bell, has been turning heads. Alas, smokin’ as he is, sometimes he’s been turning them… away. Meanwhile, he was recently revealed to be the son of Dominique Stanton, the late love of Scotty Baldwin (whom we’ll meet in a moment). </p>
Image: ABC
39/51
<p>Reformed Dr. Feel-Bad Britt Westbourne has thus far remained immune to Cody’s charms. But with limited options and his unlimited appeal… c’mon, you do the math. Mainly because, as previously admitted, we’re terrible at it.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
40/51
<p>Britt’s longtime wingman is Brad Cooper — not Bradley, <em>Brad</em>. A former conniver, he, too, is now walking the straight and narrow after losing both his husband and his freedom by pretending Michael’s son was really his late, adopted one.</p>
Image: ABC screenshot
41/51
<p>Brad’s aunt, Mafia queenpin Selina Wu, would love nothing more than to involve him in the “family business.” OK, she might love to take over Sonny’s turf more, but that’s another matter altogether.</p>
Image: ABC screenshot
42/51
<p>Terry Randolph, Britt’s co-chief of staff at the hospital, is looking for love. It’s a bit trickier for her than most, however, as she’s an out and proud transgender woman in a world that isn’t always, or even often, welcoming.</p>
Image: ABC
43/51
<p>Once upon a time, Britt’s mother, Dr. Liesl Obrecht, was the obsessive acolyte of supervillain babydaddy Cesar Faison. Nowadays, she’s — gasp — kinda… nice?!? And she’s head over heels in love, as anyone would be, with…</p>
Image: ABC
44/51
<p>He’s been naughty. He’s been nice. But one thing that smarter-than-the-average-bear attorney Scotty Baldwin has never been is boring. One doesn’t achieve iconic status by being meh.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI (2)
45/51
<p>Lucy Coe hung up her devil’s horns ages ago. Now the question is, can she convince besotted barrister Martin Gray — who just happens to be Laura’s surprise half brother — to do the same so that the only Deception in their relationship is her company?</p>
Image: ABC
46/51
<p>Back when Sonny was living in Nixon Falls as amnesiac Mike, he became close with Phyllis, who eventually relocated to Port Charles and took over Charlie’s Pub, the bar previously run by the mafioso’s late nemesis, Julian Jerome.</p>
Image: ABC
47/51
<p>After years of miscommunication and animosity, onetime WSB operative and eternal badass Anna Devane surrendered to passion and struck up a romance with her longtime admirer…</p>
Image: ABC
48/51
<p>Valentin Cassadine is handsome, charming, rich, powerful… and so complicated that Rubik’s Cubes look at him and go, “[Bleep], we should’ve been more like that.” Making matters even more difficult for him and Anna is that he’s had to…</p>
Image: ABC
49/51
<p>And Valentin’s surprise pop, Victor Cassadine, is only a hair less treacherous than, say, Princess Aura’s dad, Ming the Merciless.</p>
Image: ABC
50/51
