General Hospital spoilers: Franco is dead but is Roger Howarth leaving the show?

General Hospital fans watched as Peter (Wes Ramsey) shot Franco (Roger Howarth) in his art studio and left him for dead.

Jason (Steve Burton) called it in when he found Franco, but it was too late. Elizabeth (Rebecca Herbst) will now mourn the death of the man she loved so deeply, and Port Charles will have mixed reactions about the loss.

So, this means Roger Howarth is done with General Hospital, right?

Not quite.

Roger Howarth to remain on General Hospital

Just hours after General Hospital viewers across all time zones watched Franco die, there is news that Roger Howarth isn’t leaving the ABC soap.

The actor spoke exclusively to Soap Opera Digest and confirmed he was not leaving the show, saying, “I’m really excited. I have great faith in the people who think of these things. I’ve been in good hands so far.”

This leads to plenty of questions about who he will be playing when he returns from his time off. Howarth debuted on General Hospital in 2012 following the cancellation of One Life to Live, bringing his character Todd Manning to Port Charles. After a dispute over the use of the character’s name, he left and returned as Franco.

While having Roger Howarth return to General Hospital as someone else may seem a bit much and possibly unbelievable, remember they have done it with Michael Easton three separate times. He arrived as his One Life to Live character, John McBain, and was taken off because of the name dispute as well. Easton then returned as Silas Clay, who was later killed. And now, he is Hamilton Finn on the ABC soap.

GH fans upset over Franco’s death

The lead-in to Franco dying had viewers on the edge of their seats. Many wanted Peter dead instead, and when Franco was the one killed, Twitter was blowing up.

The good news is that even though Franco is likely dead, Roger Howarth isn’t leaving. There is some speculation that this could be another Taggert (Real Andrews) situation where the death was faked, but given that Elizabeth was involved in trying to keep him alive, that is unlikely.

As for when General Hospital viewers can expect Howarth back in Port Charles, it looks like the end of May sweeps may be a good bet. Roger Howarth is doing Cameos during his time off, with all proceeds going to charity. In the video he did on the Cameo site, he revealed that it would be happening through the beginning of April, indicating he would begin filming again around then.

General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC.