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GENERAL HOSPITAL

Charles Shaughnessy Opens up About Taking Over as Victor on GH

Victor Cassadine got a new look when he came back from the dead in September 2001 on GENERAL HOSPITAL and Charles Shaughnessy stepped into the role… but he’s still the same devious character! And interestingly, he took over for Thaao Penghlis, who he worked with back on DAYS OF OUR LIVES where they played Shane and Tony/Andre! 

“It’s really kind of unique to the soap universe that you can do this,” Shaughnessy mused to Soap Opera Digest. “That a character will die and be resurrected by different actors. In the soap world, you can take a character that’s been established and put your twist on it, your little spin. It’s a fun character, a complex character to play.”

When he first joined the soap, the actor had a chat with GH story editor Elizabeth Korte to get a little background on the Cassadine. “victor is a classic psychopath who can get violent, can get aggressive,” Shaughnessy noted, “but a psychopath doesn’t necessarily have to be that. They just have to be master manipulators and have a complete lack of empathy. You don’t have a kind of purely evil character, you just have someone who is entirely about what they want and achieving their goals, with absolutely no compunction, no moral compass. That’s kind of scary… and fascinating!”

GH Victor Nikolas
What does Victor have up his sleeve this time around?ABC/Eric McCandless

Victor has made it clear that he will do whatever it takes to bring the Cassadine family back to power, but of course, with him leading the clan. Nikolas is already wary of his uncle, and Valentin is certainly not thrilled to have discovered that he is actually a Cassadine by blood after all because Victor is his real father! 

When Shaughnessy accepted the role, he was told that it would be “a limited contract role for at least six months.” So there’s still plenty of drama left to come, and who knows, perhaps even more, if they extend the contract. In soaps, you never know what might happen next! Stay tuned to see what’s next!

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

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