Anthony Geary’s ‘General Hospital’ Exit: Actor Talks Final Storyline, Luke Spencer Farewell
General Hospital fans have known for some time now that Anthony Geary would be leaving Port Charles and the role of Luke Spencer this summer. Luke and Laura had one last wild adventure to set the stage for his departure and now just a few more episodes remain before Spencer leaves town for good. What does Geary say now that he’s done filming and his final show is about to air?
Anthony Geary’s last air date as Luke Spencer on General Hospital will air on Monday, July 27. Geary tells TV Insider that he did indeed get unusually emotional during his last day on the set, but not because he was sad to be done with the character of Luke. Rather, Geary got emotional over the goodbyes he faced with the many he’s worked with in nearly three decades on the show.
Viewers have seen in recent episodes that Luke and Laura are back in Port Charles now that Lucky was rescued and little Jake was found. General Hospital spoilers for the week indicate that Luke will have in-depth conversations with Tracy and Lulu in the episodes ahead, as well as a visit to his childhood home where he deals with some intense memories.
As for that final storyline and episode, Geary teases General Hospital spoilers that the final farewell is a simple one. Luke says goodbye to long-time friend Sonny Corinthos and seemingly disappears quietly into the fog on the dock. It seems that Luke decides he needs to go figure out what comes next and Geary jokes that the writers stole the storyline from his own personal decision to leave the show and the role.
Geary started playing Luke Spencer in 1978 and he has eight Emmy awards to show for his efforts. The past year has been an emotional one for the character with the “fake Luke” saga that ended in a rush of memories about how he killed his parents. Geary indicates that should he happen to win another Emmy for the work he did this past year, he’ll happily accept it and he doesn’t take these honors lightly.
As the actor shared when the news was first confirmed that he was leaving General Hospital, Geary indicates that he’s embracing a full-time life in Amsterdam now. He’s now studying literature and Dutch theater history and he’s also been writing. Those with the show have indicated that the door will always be open to a return, but at least at this point, he seemingly has no plans to return.
While Geary may be emotional about the people he’s worked with, he’s clearly a bit disappointed in how the show ended his storyline. As Soap Opera Digest shares, the actor was thrilled to get to work with Genie Francis, Jonathan Jackson and the others again, and viewers were stunned by the amazing scenes Jackson and Geary had in this final run. Geary and Jackson put in a lot of hours to collaborate on their final scenes together and viewers would say the work paid off.
That said, Geary says that the plot that brought them all together was “ill-conceived, cheesy and showed a lack of imagination.” He says that viewers already saw Spencer shoot Frank Smith years ago as well as little Jake’s organs being harvested. Geary hates redemption and was not thrilled with the decision the show made to rewrite history so that Luke ultimately wasn’t a child killer.
Many had expected Luke to leave after the revelation that he had killed his parents, and Geary himself thinks that would perhaps have been the way to go. However, the final scenes of Luke and Lucky together perhaps were worth the cheesy set-up.
Geary also makes it clear that he’s tired of the “whole Luke-and-Laura thing,” and he surely would have been glad to bid farewell to the show without one last adventure on that front. He says he’s grateful to the fans who loved them, but he’s not going to hold back now that he’s done with the role.
While Geary and Francis had their challenging moments working together, Anthony says that this last run was “absolutely lovely.” He says he has no regrets about his run on the show and he thinks ultimately he timed his departure perfectly.
From the sounds of what Anthony Geary has shared, Luke Spencer’s departure next week from Port Charles will be fairly fitting. Though Spencer has been away from town for extended periods of time before, this time it is seemingly for good. Fans won’t want to miss these final scenes for Geary as they play out over the coming week on General Hospital.
[Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images]