The week of October 21, General Hospital heroine Sam McCall is set to go under the knife in order to donate part of her liver to boyfriend Dante Falconeri’s former wife, Lulu Spencer. If Sam makes it out of surgery alive, she won’t be staying that way for long.

In late August, the news broke that Kelly Monaco had been let go by ABC’s soap after 20+ years in the role. Why? Unclear. Some fans speculated that she hadn’t been willing to take the cut in pay or guaranteed number of episodes that was being implemented by parent company Disney across the board. But Soap Opera Network reported that she said, “I took the cut.”

In October, Monaco linked her exit to that of the late Billy Miller as Drew Cain in 2019. When he “was fired,” she Instagrammed, “Sam’s storyline stopped. Stripping Sam of every characteristic she had. Something I worked for decades to build… Slowly dismantling her, into a character that I did not recognize, let alone the audience.

“Call it what you will… retaliation at it[s] finest,” she added. “I will give a proper statement. The truth will set you free.”

In a photo from the episodes to come, Sam spends some quality time with mom Alexis and daughter Scout before undergoing the procedure that is needed to save Lulu (soon to be played by All My Children vet Alexa Havins). Something tells us that the emotion on Monaco’s face wasn’t all scripted.

In other developments, rumors have begun to swirl that Bible-thumping baddie Cyrus is going to inject digitalis into Sam’s IV. However she goes, her passing is going to have a profound impact on Port Charles. Scroll through the below photo gallery below to review just some of the characters who will be affected.