Evan Hofer: Is this how Evan Hofer could return to General Hospital?

Dex Heller’s (Evan Hofer) time on General Hospital was all too brief. When he started in 2022, he was a newcomer to Sonny Corinthos’ (Maurice Benard) organization who, as he should be, was reluctant to completely trust the young man right out of the gate. He does run a criminal enterprise, after all. But Dex’s arrival was just what the doctor ordered because Jason Morgan (Steve Burton) was still presumed dead, and Sonny really needed a trustworthy right-hand man to mold into his next chief enforcer. However, a mysterious person — presumably Cyrus Renault (Jeff Kober) — injected Dex with an overdose of digitalis while he was in the hospital recovering from a non-lethal knife wound, killing him. And fans of Dex and Hofer have been upset ever since.

There’s a couple of ways he could come back

General Hospital's Dex training for the police force. | Image Source: ABC

Dex was originally hired by Sonny’s son, Michael Corinthos (Chad Duell), to infiltrate the organization and take his dad down. Michael and Sonny were at odds at the time, but once they patched things up, Michael’s mom Carly Spencer (Laura Wright) slapped some sense into him by explaining that Sonny was necessary for the survival of Port Charles. He kept out drugs, prostitution, guns, and rival mobsters who were truly evil people, defending the city. Michael then changed his orders for Dex to protect Sonny rather than take him down.

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Eventually, Dex’s cover was blown, and Sonny nearly killed him. Dex did a complete 180 and later joined the police force. But it was as a cop that he was stabbed, landing in General Hospital, which ultimately sealed his fate. (Find out what Hofer had to say about Dex's untimely death.)

For fans of Dex, there is some semblance of hope that he could return. It’s possible that after the death of Sam McCall (Kelly Monaco), also from an overdose of digitalis, Police Commissioner Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) ordered Dex to “get stabbed” in the line of duty and land in the hospital, where they could try to nab the mysterious killer by faking Dex’s death. Dex was stabbed in the soft, fleshy part of his side with no vital organs in any danger. He could have agreed to be stabbed by someone trusted not to really hurt him in order to implement their plan. His girlfriend, Josslyn Jacks (Eden McCoy), would be overjoyed to eventually learn that Dex’s death was faked and planned from the beginning.

Alternately, let’s pretend Dex is truly dead. His family would want to know what happened to him, even though they treated him like dirt. He mentioned having older brothers who bullied him. If one of them was his twin and older by a few minutes, then he would technically count as being an “older brother.” Then Hofer could return, and everyone would be shocked, thinking Dex was back from the dead somehow.

However, this Heller boy would probably be a real jerk, which is good because it could provide Hofer with a complete change in character and open up a redemption arc if Joss finds herself attracted to the bullying brother.