Why General Hospital’s Ryan Chamberlain *Really* Died — and Who Should Be Next!
“Ryan Chamberlain’s reign of terror is over.”
As crazies go, General Hospital‘s Ryan Chamberlain had a good run. After all, the character was first introduced way back in 1992 and has managed to rise from more than a few premature graves since then. He’s also claimed quite a few lives, usually in the name of (obsessive) love.
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But in the episode airing Wednesday, February 22, the madman finally met his maker. And from what we can tell, yes, Ryan is really, most sincerely dead. Not kinda-sorta dead like that time Sonny was off living another life in Nixon Falls. Not maybe possibly dead like when Finn and Liz stuck Peter in a freezer. Not even “they say he’s gone but we don’t believe it for a minute” dead, which is how we’re currently classifying Nikolas.
Nope, as Mac put it, “Ryan Chamberlain’s reign of terror is finally over.” And as much as we loved the character — and Jon Lindstrom’s fantastic turn as Kevin’s evil brother — we’re okay with the way this played out.
Why? Because in order for a big February sweeps storyline to have impact, someone had to die. Sure, Heather’s hook had already taken out Brando, Rory and Britt, but this week’s events were the climax of the story, which meant there needed to be one big, final twist.
Best of all, General Hospital got to kill off Ryan without actually losing Lindstrom, who’ll continue on as Laura’s hubby and the best darn shrink money can buy (in Port Charles, anyway). Which in a way makes this particular death a bit of a cheat.
Unless the General Hospital writers have one last trick up their sleeves and are planning to do away with Ryan’s equally demented partner in (literal) crime, Heather.
It would, after all, make sense on several levels. Heather has had an even longer run than Ryan, having been introduced way back in 1976. In the years since, she’s taken part in some of the show’s most infamous storylines, including the time she was accidentally dosed with LSD meant for a rival. (It was, in fact, that glass of tainted tea which resulted in the never-quite-right young woman going completely around the bend.)
Much as we love Heather, she may have run her course, especially given the body count she’s accumulated since returning in the form of Alley Mills in the fall of 2022. With Esme appearing to be on a bit of a redemption tour, what better way to garner sympathy from some of her staunchest critics than by having her lose both parents — loons though they may be — in the course of a few hours?
Did Ryan make our list of daytime’s all-time best villains? Check in the gallery below after guessing who “earned” the No. 1 spot!
