Victor Cassadine on GENERAL HOSPITAL was believed to be deceased, but as longtime viewers know, it’s hard to keep a Cassadine in the grave! But for newer fans who might not be familiar with Victor’s history, he’s one of the more dastardly members of the Cassadine family, who has threatened multiple lives — and even the entire city of Port Charles! The character of Victor Cassadine was introduced back in 1981 alongside brothers Mikkos and Tony. The part was played by Thaao Penghlis, who also reprised the role in 2014, but when the character was brought back to life in September 2021, Victor was being portrayed by Charles Shaughnessy.
In one of GH‘s most infamous storylines, Mikkos, Tony, and Victor stole the Ice Princess diamond and planned to use it as a power source for a weather machine that would freeze the world! But he wasn’t without a heart, because Victor had a brief romance with B-movie actress Tiffany Hill. Luke, Laura, and Robert journeyed to Cassadine Island where they thwarted the evil plot and while Mikkos and Tony were both killed, Victor was arrested and was later believed to have been killed behind bars.
In 2014, Victor appeared at Robin Scorpio’s doorstep to reveal that he was the new director of the WSB and he wanted the doctor to bring Helena Cassadine and Stavros Cassadine back to life. When she refused, he informed her that her beloved Jason Morgan was still alive in cryogenic stasis, so she could help him as well. Reluctantly, Robin eventually agreed to his scheme.
It was also revealed that Victor had a past with Liesl Obrecht, and had also put Rafe up to running Patrick’s car off the road, resulting in the death of his and Sabrina’s son, Gabriel. At the Crichton-Clark Clinic, Robin had a breakthrough with her reanimating process and wanted to test it on Stavros and Helena, but Victor didn’t want to risk his own family and forced her to try it on Jason first. Once he was successfully brought back to life, Victor had no further use for Robin and had his goons take her away as he prepared to resurrect Helena and Stavros.
Victor was also working with Levi to steal the Aztec treasure, and when Nathan West came to Maxie’s rescue, Victor was stunned to learn he was Obrecht’s son and hesitated to shoot the cop, presumably fearing he could be Nathan’s father! After taking a blood sample from Nathan and locking him up with Maxie, Victor asked Liesl if he was Nathan’s father, but she denied it. However, later, Obrecht claimed that it was true, and she had only kept quiet to protect Victor from a jealous Cesar Faison.
Victor was furious to have had his child kept from him, and when Nathan burst into his office demanding he release Maxie, Victor warned the cop he couldn’t shoot his own father. Nathan was stunned when Obrecht confirmed the claim, but after he ran off to save Maxie, the DNA test results came back and Victor was confused to find he and Nathan were not related. When Anna arrived to arrest Victor, Obrecht grabbed his gun and shot him. She insisted she had to do it to protect Nathan because nobody else could know Victor wasn’t really his father — the truth was much worse! (It was the evil Faison who was later revealed to be Nathan’s dad.)
Victor set off a self-destruct bomb that destroyed the clinic and presumably himself, but as soap fans know, characters come back to life all the time. And in 2021, the Cassadine turned out to be very much alive, to Obrecht’s shock!
Stay tuned to see what happens next!