Why Alexis Being In GH Prison Hasn’t Meant Seeing Less of Nancy Lee Grahn

General Hospital, like life itself, is unpredictable. When it looks like a character is headed off in one direction, fate will intervene and that character will suddenly arrive at a new destination. Sometimes those destinations mean that a character will be headed off-screen for a while. However, that hasn’t been the case with incarcerated felon Alexis Davis, played by Nancy Lee Grahn.

Nancy Lee Grahn – Jail Time Equals Screentime

It appeared that Alexis was headed for the back burner after she was found guilty of harming Dante Falconeri (Dominic Zamprogna) and was sent to Pentonville. Instead, GH decided to actively explore Alexis’s life behind bars. We saw her giving legal advice to another inmate and trying to survive tense interactions with some of the more aggressive prisoners who were under the thumb of bad mobster Cyrus Renault (Jeff Kober).

Next, the writers decided to have Alexis (two-time Daytime Emmy-winner Nancy Lee Grahn) cross paths with her former love interest and fellow prisoner Shawn Butler (Sean Blakemore), who was sent off to Pentonville years ago after confessing to a crime he didn’t commit – the attempted murder of Hayden Barnes (Rebecca Budig).

Not only did Alexis and Shawn reconnect but she was able to help him secure his release after shining a light on unfair sentencing practices committed by Judge Naomi Carson (Anita Finlay). Conversely, Shawn was able to support Alexis when she had conflicts at Pentonville.

General Hospital’s Alexis Davis – Parole Denied For Now

While Shawn was released, Alexis wasn’t that lucky. However, the writers did get her out of Pentonville and sent her to a facility that has less violent criminals — in theory. The drama is continuing for Alexis now that she’s in the same prison as the one-handed inactive (supposedly) Ryan Chamberlin (Jon Lindstrom).

Alexis has faced her share of baddies who manage to overcome all kinds of odds (e.g., Helena Cassadine, played by Constance Towers) so she knows better than to give Ryan the benefit of the doubt. She asked the nearly catatonic killer if he were even in there as she waved her hand over his face hoping to get a reaction.

Alexis practically cross-examined Ryan as she tried to figure out if he was still alert. She pulled the equivalent of a courtroom stunt by pressing her finger onto Ryan’s body to see if he’d react. Just then, nephew Nikolas Cassadine (Marcus Coloma) surprised Alexis from behind, prompting her to put her questioning of Ryan on hold.

That’s something else about being in prison on GH – you’re allowed visitors so we are optimistically hopeful that we’ll continue to see Alexis on our screens despite her being incarcerated. It’s just another way the ABC soap reminds us that you can never tell what’s going to happen next!

General Hospital (GH) airs weekdays on ABC. Check your local listings for airtimes. For more about what’s coming up in Port Charles, check out all the latest that’s been posted on GH spoilers.