Why is General Hospital a repeat and when do new episodes return?

General Hospital fans may be wondering why there is an encore episode airing today instead of a new one.

This is going to be a trend for the coming weeks as the coronavirus pandemic shut down production of General Hospital.

There were several episodes filmed ahead of time, but to preserve the length of time fans will get new shows, the executives decided to add some throwback episodes in the mix.

Why are we seeing reruns of General Hospital?

Earlier this week, General Hospital announced that starting today, they would be airing encore episodes every Friday through May 22.

They have enough episodes to air new shows four days a week and then end with a throwback show.

The coronavirus pandemic has General Hospital completely shut down.

Initially, it was believed that taping would resume next week. With the guidelines changing and social distancing in effect until April 30, production is ceased until at least the end of the month.

So for now, expect encore episodes for the next several Fridays when General Hospital airs.

Which episodes of General Hospital will be seen?

At this point, General Hospital has only announced what today’s episode will be. The reading of Gail Baldwin’s will coincided with the actress’ real-life passing, something the show honored beautifully.

Laura Wright (Carly Corinthos) introduced the episode today.

Other presenters have not been mentioned yet. The announcement that came earlier this week only laid out the plans for today’s episode and nothing beyond that.

Future episodes have not been named, but they will continue to air every Friday through May 22. General Hospital fans hope the show will include classic episodes with some of the super couples of times past.

What happens after May for General Hospital?

As of now, General Hospital plans to air reruns if they cannot resume filming before the new episodes run out.

If they are allowed to resume production at the beginning of May, by the end of the month, they should be back on track.

These are unprecedented times, and General Hospital executives are just going with the flow. No one knows when this will end and how things will be after the pandemic subsides.

As the next few weeks pass, there should be a better idea of how things will go and what will be next for the show.

General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC.