3 Years After His Abrupt ‘General Hospital' Exit, This Star Is Breaking Silence on the Health Crisis That Ended His Run
Former General Hospital star Marcus Coloma is opening up about the very personal reason that he abruptly exited the soap opera back in 2023.
Back in 2023, Coloma's character Nikolas was in the midst of a front-burner storyline. He had served his wife Ava Jerome (Maura West) with divorce papers, while having impregnated his son Spencer Cassadine's (Nicholas Chavez) girlfriend Esme Prince (Avery Kristen Pohl) with his son.
Fans were stunned when news broke that the decision had been made to write Nikolas off. This matter was made even more confusing when Daytime Confidential reported that Coloma declined to film his final scenes after learning the character was being written out of the show.
Now, Coloma is telling his side of the story in a candid conversation with General Hospital star Maurice Benard on his podcast, State of Mind. The actor revealed health struggles led to the impromptu exit.
"The thing that really sucked about General Hospital the last week, [is after] two and a half years, 300 episodes, I start going up on lines and I start getting really nervous," he said.
The actor then revealed he was diagnosed with tachycardia. "My heart was beating at 110 beats per minute, all of the time, 24 hours a day."
The condition became so serious that he revealed he had to have heart surgery.
"The way it ended bummed me out because I felt like I'd worked so hard on that show and had given so much to it, and then I didn't finish the last week, and that really bummed me out."
Following his immediate exit, actor Adam Huss, who filled in for Colma when he was out with COVID-19, assumed the role and finished out Nikolas's storyline. Huss would go on to make multiple appearances throughout 2024 as Nikolas to flesh out and bring his storyline to a proper conclusion.
The role of Nikolas was originated by Daytime Emmy winner Tyler Christopher, who portrayed the part on and off from 1996 until his exit in 2016.
General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC and streams weeknights on Hulu.
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This story was originally published May 25, 2026 at 10:17 AM.