Chloe Lanier’s ‘General Hospital’ Exit Sparks Big Fan Reactions, Theories About What Should Happen To Nelle

News broke earlier this week that Chloe Lanier is leaving General Hospital and the role she originated of Nelle Benson. She is in the midst of a high-profile storyline with Michael and Carly right now and the buzz is that she has just wrapped up filming her final scenes. How are fans reacting and what do they think should happen to Nelle?

As the recap via SheKnows Soaps details, Jason and Spinelli made progress during Friday’s episode in proving Nelle was setting up Carly for a big fall. As for Michael, he had asked Benson to marry him, and General Hospital spoilers for the week of July 2 indicate that he’ll nudge her to follow through on tying the knot.

The challenge for Lanier is that many General Hospital viewers really disliked her character. She recently won a Daytime Emmy for playing Benson, but she was getting a lot of screentime and it was common on social media to see people wishing the character would be killed off at some point.

Will viewers get their wish now? It sounds as if Lanier will likely finish airing as Nelle in late July and that means there is little time yet to see how her storyline wraps up. Gold Derby ran a poll asking General Hospital fans how they wanted to see Nelle exit, and slightly more than half wanted to see Benson put behind bars.

BREAKING NEWS: Chloe Lanier Checks OUT of General Hospital! https://t.co/Wb2JocTydN #GH pic.twitter.com/PlxznM1YgN

— Daytime Confidential (@dcconfidential) June 28, 2018

Almost a third of the respondents picked the option of having a new murder mystery of killing off the character, and there would certainly be plenty of mileage the writers could get from this. Only a handful felt that the character should be recast with a new actress, and a slightly higher percentage wanted to simply see Nelle leave Port Charles.

So far, Chloe hasn’t acknowledged the news about her decision to leave General Hospital that has been circulating. However, she also hasn’t denied it. The actress did share a tweet of how Soap Opera Digest just recognized both Lanier and fellow actress Laura Wright (Carly Corinthos) as “Performers of the Week,” and the post was flooded with notes of support from her followers.

Some noted that they don’t want Chloe to go, pointing out that Port Charles needs a good villainess, and others mentioned the buzz about her leaving General Hospital and said they hope it’s not true. Across Twitter as a whole, however, the reaction was more mixed. Some tweeted that the character simply never connected with the audience, despite the massive amount of screentime she was given, and others felt that Nelle was painted into a corner with no logical way out.

Can GH fans count on the writers to put together a proper send-off for Nelle Benson and Chloe Lanier? Dominic Zamprogna just left as Dante Falconeri, and many viewers criticized how abrupt his exit felt. General Hospital spoilers should emerge soon, sharing tidbits about how the show will handle this departure, and viewers can’t wait to see where this heads.

Will GH kill off Nelle, send her out of town, or lock her up and leave Michael to raise the baby? There are plenty of options available and those fans aching for a payoff are hopefully about to get one here.