‘General Hospital’: No One Wanted Nelle to Be Alive

There are some tropes for fans of General Hospital and other soap operas that just never get old. Babies swapped at birth will forever be a standard for the genre. Lovers slipping into and out of comas at just the right moment will make sure that the tension is always perfectly timed.

Children will get rapidly aged so that they can take a more central role in the plot points, but the people around them don’t age along with them.

It’s all just part of what makes soap operas tick. One of the bizarre features of soap operas is that the dead have a tendency to rise again.

No, they’re not zombies. It’s just that characters presumed dead will turn out to be very much alive, making a surprise return when fans least expect it. 

Often, a resurrected character is a welcome sight, allowing fans to regain one of their favorites. Other times, however, the character was so loathed that fans would rather they just stayed dead. This is the case for many viewers of General Hospital who do not want to see Nelle return. 

‘General Hospital’ has been questionable for fans

General Hospital is definitely a staple among daytime soap operas with a long-running history that dates all the way back to 1963. Obviously, there has to be a lot of ups and downs to fill 58 seasons of drama in Port Charles. The setting for all of these unlikely interactions is along coastal upstate New York.

There are several threads fans love to follow including the titular major hospital as well as several notable business owners and a substantial criminal underbelly that frequents the docks. 

Fans have seen villains and heroes come and go, and their allegiances have shifted right along with the alliances and trusts of the characters on the screen. That hasn’t meant that fans are always happy with the show’s creative direction, however.

Many fans are torn over everything from which characters should remain to which relationships should flourish. Some fans have even been longing for classics from the show’s bygone era. 

Nelle is not a fan favorite on ‘General Hospital’

One character that fans have definitely been lukewarm about is Nelle Hayes. Nelle is played by Chloe Lanier and was first introduced in 2016. She has frequently battled with rivals Willow and Sasha, and she has definitely earned her reputation as a mean girl who stirs up trouble everywhere she goes. Fans often find her character grating and difficult to watch. 

She has also made several short departures from the show, including time spent behind bars for murder. Nelle’s bad girl reputation extends beyond her feuds and into downright criminal behavior, and many fans have hoped that eventually a trip to the slammer will stick and take her out of the picture completely.

Time and time again, though, Nelle manages to pop back up and continue to make the people around her — and some of the fans watching along — miserable. 

Fans suspect that Nelle’s death will be temporary

The latest plot line surrounding Nelle has been a custody dispute after one of her schemes went awry. Nelle tried to leave town with her son, Wiley, but a judge granted custody of the young boy to Michael and Willow instead.

Things got even messier when Nelle hatched yet another scheme to kidnap Wiley during the Nurses Ball, but she was thwarted. Eventually, Carly chased Nelle through the woods, and Nelle stumbled over a cliff. Carly tried to help, but it was too late.

Nelle tumbled to her doom, and a body that was found was positively identified as hers. 

That seems like pretty solid evidence of an actual death, but fans aren’t so sure. They’ve seen General Hospital writers resurrect characters in the past, and they’re afraid that Nelle will be the next to rise from the dead. Most are hoping that won’t be the case and would rather see the troublemaker stay gone.