Hard to believe that there was a time when General Hospital (GH) was only filled with doctors and nurses. No mobsters. No hit-men. No princes.
The Royal Lineage
When Nikolas Cassadine first arrived in 1996, played by Tyler Baker (who then change his professional name to Tyler Christopher) as the now-teen baby Laura (Genie Francis) forgot to mention she’d had during her “dead” years, he brought a touch of royalty to Port Charles, along with his Uncle Stefan (Stephan Nichols).
Stefan and Nikolas were the first Cassadines we’d met who wasn’t pure evil, through and through. (Well, the first one we ever met, Tony, was OK. But he only lasted a few months before being turned into an icicle by his crazy brother, Mikkos.)
Bad To the Bone
Everyone else, namely Helena (Constance Towers), Victor (Thaao Penghlis), Stavros (Robert Kelker-Kelly), and Valentin (James Patrick Stuart) leave much to be desired in the pleasant personality department.
We’re excluding Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) and her girls because their last name isn’t Cassadine and because, as the witch sings in Into the Woods, they’re not good, they’re not bad, they’re just nice. That’s not nearly as interesting.
Once Stefan was dead, Nikolas was the only Cassadine left to straddle the good/bad side.
What Happens Now?
So, what will Port Charles be like without him, now that Christopher has confirmed he won’t be coming back to GH and is, in fact, already taping a new role at Days Of Our Lives?
Lulu (Emme Rylan) won’t have her big brother to lean on anymore, Valentin won’t have a family member to focus his wrath on, and creepy Wyndermere will be without its rightful owner.
And what about Spencer (Nicolas Bechtel)? He needs his father and has assumed he knows he’s really alive somewhere.
Then again, between 1999 and 2003, Nikolas was played by actor Coltin Scott, and briefly in 2016, by Nick Stabile. A recast is not out of the question.
So… the prince is dead? Long live the prince?
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Nikolas Cassadine 01-07-16 (Part 1)
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