It’s finally happening: Hayden Barnes is coming back to Port Charles.
EW has learned exclusively that Rebecca Budig — a.k.a. Hayden, that conniving little heartbreaker who ran out on Finn (Michael Easton) — will return to General Hospital this summer. The brass is staying mum about Hayden’s much-anticipated return, though it seems kind of obvious that she’s ready to introduce her baby to its father!
Let’s recap: The last time fans saw Hayden was in September 2017, when she was writing an apology letter to Finn for leaving him at the altar. She was also clearly pregnant, even though she let Finn believe the baby had been lost.
Since then, fans have wondered whether Budig would ever return and put Finn out of his misery. (Though he hasn’t suffered too much; he’s now in a relationship with Anna, played by Finola Hughes.) ABC executive Nathan Varni certainly teased the possibility earlier this year on Blog Talk Radio’s Daytime After Dark.
“I think it’s definitely a possibility,” he said. “As you know, we left Hayden telling Finn she lost the baby, but the reality of the situation was that she did not lose the baby. So I think with that cliffhanger, there’s definitely room to perhaps one day play that again. Obviously no guarantees, but I think the writers did a good job of kind of tying that story up and leaving a lot to be desired, and that could be a potential obstacle down the road for Finn and kind of a big surprise. So we’ll have to see. But I think it’ll be a while, as we’re not quite yet to that point where we’re ready to return Hayden to the canvas.”
Budig first joined GH in 2015. Before that, she starred as Greenlee Smythe on All My Children.
She’s also set to appear in Charter Communications’ upcoming Bad Boys spin-off, LA.’s Finest. It drops on Spectrum’s On Demand platform May 13 and stars Jessica Alba and Gabrielle Union.
General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC.
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