Kelly Monaco will leave “General Hospital” after more than two decades on the ABC soap opera. diversity has confirmed.

Monaco, who has played the role of Sam McCall on “General Hospital” since 2003, will make her final appearance in Port Charles this fall for storyline reasons.

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Monaco joined the soap opera in 2003 after working on the spin-off series “Port Charles,” where she played Livvie Locke from 2000 to 2003. On “General Hospital,” Monaco’s Sam was introduced as a con artist trying to turn her family’s misfortunes around. The character is the biological daughter of mob boss Julian Jerome (William deVry) and lawyer Alexis Davis (Nancy Lee Grahn), and the illegal adopted daughter of Cody McCall (Stanley Kamel) and Evelyn Bass.

Monaco has directed more than 2,200 episodes of General Hospital and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in 2006 for her portrayal of Sam.

In August 2020, Monaco was briefly recast, with Lindsay Hartley temporarily filling the role. Hartley later reappeared in the role in February 2020, and again in several episodes that year in January and again earlier this month.

Monaco’s exit comes amid the return of several “General Hospital” veterans, including Jonathan Jackson as Lucky Spencer, who rejoined the long-running soap opera on Friday. Rick Hearst also returned as Ric Lansing.

In July diversity reported exclusively that Emma Samms will reprise her role as Holly Sutton in early September. Her return is linked to Jackson’s.

Soap Opera Network was the first network to report on Monaco’s exit.

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