Genie Francis’ PASSIONATE Defense of Frank Valentini!

If Genie Francis isn’t hinting at a General Hospital (GH) return, she’s certainly being upfront about her feelings regarding the show’s executive producer, Frank Valentini.

In January, word got out that Francis had been released from her contract, and told this on a Friday after taping scenes where Laura suddenly scrapped her mayoral campaign out of nowhere.

Rumors immediately began flying that she wanted to talk to Valentini, but he refused to see her. Today, the actress took to Twitter to set the record straight and praise the 54-year-old soap’s showrunner.

Francis first tweeted late Monday afternoon that she had a nice lunch with Valentini over the weekend, with fans responding they hoped he apologized for dropping her contract, while also hoping the lunch meant she worked something out with the show and would be returning.

About an hour later, Francis tweeted a pic of herself with Valentini, defending him and indicating that he’s been receiving false blame for her contract situation.

This tweet also set off a fury of responses from devoted fans hoping all of this means Laura will be returning to Port Charles soon.

Last month, ABC exec Nathan Varni told Daytime After Dark that the writers were brainstorming a front-burner story for Laura, but there were no guarantees or timeframe for her return.

See Francis’ tweets below. Like the fans responding–and the fans we are at Soap Hub–we also hope to see Laura back where she belongs sooner than later.

General Hospital (GH) airs weekdays on ABC. Check your local listings for airtimes.