Ryan Paevey Exits 'General Hospital' Following Brief Return as Nathan's Twin

Ryan Paevey's latest chapter on 'General Hospital' has come to a close. The 41-year-old actor, who originally portrayed Nathan West on the ABC daytime drama before his character's death seven years ago, made his departure during Monday's July 6 episode.

His return to the show had come just months earlier, in September 2025, when Paevey took on the role of Cassius Faison—Nathan's previously unknown twin brother. While his time back on the canvas proved brief, executive producer Frank Valentini emphasized that the limited engagement was always part of the plan.

"Ryan's return was always planned as a short-term arc," Valentini shared with TV Insider. "He did incredible work, and we loved having him back."

The executive producer also left room for potential future appearances, noting that "the door is always open for him to return." Notably, Cassius was not written out through death, distinguishing this exit from Nathan's original departure from the show.

When Paevey first rejoined the cast in 2025, he had been candid about keeping his involvement temporary. During initial conversations about the return, he explained his hesitation about a brief stint, saying he wanted the storyline to be substantial rather than fleeting.

"The initial conversations were about really short periods of time, and I was like, 'OK, well, look, if we're going to do this, let's really do it. I don't want to come back for three weeks and be a ghost,'" he recalled.

Paevey was also deliberate about avoiding a straightforward resurrection narrative. Instead, he collaborated with producers on a twist that would keep audiences guessing. "I didn't want to do a resurrection story," he explained. "If the intention was to revive this whole machine just to do the same thing over again, I wasn't going to do it."

The creative solution involved initially presenting Cassius as Nathan's return before the reveal that he was actually Nathan's twin. "They were like, 'Well, what if we made everybody think it was Nathan for a while, and it turned out to really not be?' And I was like, 'Okay, well, that sounds much more interesting,'" Paevey said.

Before his 2025 return, Paevey had become a familiar face on Hallmark Channel, though he hasn't appeared in a film for the network since 2023.