William deVry Opens up About Leaving GENERAL HOSPITAL

Fans were stunned when the news broke that William deVry was leaving GENERAL HOSPITAL and his character of Julian Jerome was being killed off, but it turns out that the actor himself had long seen the writing on the wall. “I personally could feel it coming on in September of 2019,” deVry confided to the Toronto Sun. “I didn’t really see a big investment in the character.

“At that point, I just felt I should prepare myself for not being re-signed,” he added. “I had always told Frank [Valentini, GH’s executive producer] to not string me along once they knew I’d be gone. And to his credit, he did let me know.”

However, deVry insisted that he does not know exactly why he was written off the soap. “There are a ton of reasons why actors leave a show,” he mused. “There are personal and political reasons within the realm of the show, backstage or with the network. Or maybe a situation or actor became toxic for all involved, or the character just didn’t work out. [None of the aforementioned] was a case with me, I feel. I’m not the paranoid type, but in the end, I’ll never really know. But regardless, I’ll always be grateful for an amazing seven-year run. I really got lucky with GH. No regrets or bitterness.”

Currently, deVry is preparing to leave Los Angeles and move to Vancouver with partner Rebecca Staab (ex-Elizabeth, PORT CHARLES) as that’s where a lot of the work is now as he focuses on primetime. Although he doesn’t rule out a return to soaps at some point in the future. “That option is always open,” the actor admitted, “but right now, during COVID cutbacks, it just doesn’t seem like a possibility in the time frame I’d like it to happen. So that being said, once I leave, I’m gone. I think that was the biggest thing that the fans took notice of. I had said a few times, if they let me go now, in this environment, I’m not coming back. I have to jump through way too many hoops and disruptions in our life only to come back in six months. Once I sell the house and leave the U.S. and get set up in Canada, I’m committed to a primetime existence.”

While characters come back from the dead all the time on soaps, GH did seem to make Julian’s demise rather definitive. “I always prefer to look forward,” deVry shrugged. “But yeah, it does seem like they made sure to slam the door tight behind me and, from a personal view, it did hurt a little.”

The actor also understands how his characters’ death affected the viewers. “I feel it was a good story from a personal perspective because of all the characters it impacts,” deVry confessed. “But I can also appreciate we’re living in really difficult times and a lot of what was shown may have been unnecessary. I really felt that they underestimated the backlash the whole story was gonna get during the holidays and with COVID.”

As he prepares to pack up his life and move to Vancouver, deVry is looking towards his future with a positive outlook. “On a personal and emotional level, I’m kind of going with the flow, to be honest. I never get too high or low about anything,” he allowed. “I do, however, feel bad for the fans, because, in a big way, they’re right — Julian had a lot of story left to tell.”

Keep checking back at SoapsInDepth.com for future updates on deVry’s career as we’ll be sure to keep you in the loop about all of his future projects!

Love GH? Be sure to join our We Love General Hospital Facebook group to chat about all the latest storylines and juicy gossip!