Chloe Lanier's Nelle Benson returns to General Hospital -- but how and why?!

We have all heard the saying about the dead never staying dead on soaps, but is this truly the case for former hell-raiser Nelle Benson? Chloe Lanier will be stepping back into her General Hospital role in September -- and there are loads of questions that need to be answered.

Is it possible that Nelle Benson did not die when she fell over the cliff in 2020? We may soon get an answer because Emmy winner Chloe Lanier is set to return to General Hospital next week.

Before you get too excited, Lanier's return is currently slated to last only a short time. And, as you might expect, the show is being very light on details.

So, how did this return come about? Lanier told Soap Opera Digest that she received a text message from General Hospital's Executive Producer Frank Valentini asking if she would like to return to the show for a bit. Valentini reportedly didn't provide many details about what the return would entail.

To further tease the return, Lanier posted a photo to her Instagram Story asking, "You think falling off a cliff can keep THIS bitch down? See ya next week."

You'd think a short-term return would be a walk in the park for an actress who has won a Daytime Emmy for the role. Apparently, that's not the case. Lanier confessed that she had "totally forgotten" a lot about how she portrayed Nelle.

"I was looking at videos of Nelle online for days, like, 'It has been two years since I had played this role. What did I even do? What were my speech patterns? How did I walk as Nelle?' All of these things that were once so clicked-in for me, I had totally forgotten how to do, but hopefully it translated and I was able to slip back into character the way I did it before. I'm hoping," Lanier told Digest.

Since Nelle's alleged demise, viewers have learned that not only is Nina Reeves (Cynthia Watros) her birth mother, but Willow Tait (Katelyn MacMullen) is also her twin sister. Could Nelle's return play into these revelations? Or will Nelle's resurfacing be seen in newly created flashbacks or visions?

Nelle first arrived in Port Charles in 2016. The list of this character's misdeeds is a mile long. She drugged Sonny and made him believe they slept together, terrorized Carly by haunting her with Morgan, and switched her baby with Brad Cooper (Parry Shen) and Lucas Jones's (Ryan Carnes) adopted baby (given up for adoption by Willow), thus making Michael believe their son was dead when he was actually alive and well and living right under his nose. If you need to refresh your memory about more of the crimes of Janelle "Nelle" Benson Archer, visit the character history page here on Soap Central .

Trending

Since leaving General Hospital in 2020, Lanier has appeared on NCIS: Hawaii and 9-1-1. She has received three Daytime Emmy Award nominations, winning the Outstanding Younger Actress category in 2018.

Do you think Nelle will be revealed to be alive -- or will her visit be something else? Are you looking forward to seeing what Nelle's return will bring? We want to hear from you -- and there are many ways you can share your thoughts.

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback