Nikolas was hit over the head with a statue in the 6 February 2023 episode of GH and seems to be dead.
Some daytime operas have been cancelled as a result of declining viewership numbers, but others have adapted.
General Hospital (GH) is one of the older daytime soap operas that is still on the air, but the show has seemingly killed off one of its fan-favourite characters Nikolas Cassadine in a recent episode.
General Hospital and Nikolas Cassadine
General Hospital is one of the older daytime soap operas which have not yet made the move to streaming only, but the show has such complex plots and interesting characters that it still draws in over 2 million viewers per episode to this day.
Most recently, fans of the show have been watching the long-time character Nikolas Cassadine as his life slowly unravels on their screens.
In past seasons of the show, Nikolas was known for being the Cassadine heir and an all-round good guy, but after it was revealed that he was the father of Esme Prince’s baby, his stellar reputation has been taking a turn for the worse.
Does Nikolas die on GH?
Like most characters on GH, Nikolas has seen his fair share of trials and tribulations on the show.
In fact, in just the last few years he lost ownership of Wyndemere Castle to Ava, his son Spencer is working keep his other siblings away from their father and he has been dealing with a slew of plots against him.
All of this has sent Nikolas into a spiral and has led him to do some very desperate things in the most recent 6 February 2023 episode.
At the beginning of this episode, Nikolas connects the dots and realises that Ava must have been the one to give Spencer the video of his confession and he storms off to Wyndemere Castle to confront Ava.
It is likely that his confession, about never truly moving on after their split in the previous episode, as well as the fact that Ava has been helping Spencer in his crusade for custody of his siblings, fuelled his anger and their confrontation quickly escalates.
This sends Ava into a blind rage. She ends up hitting him over the head with a statue. Although Ava clearly instantly regrets her actions, Nikolas is dead and she gets to work covering up what she has done.
While it is never out of the question for GH characters to return after their deaths on the show, for now it seems like Nikolas is really dead and will be off the show for a while.
Why did Austin help Ava to cover up Nikolas’s death?
After Ava realises that Nikolas is most likely dead, she drags his body to the stables, which is where Austin catches her in the act. However, shockingly, it does not take long for Ava to convince Austin not to go to the police with what he saw.
It is possible that Austin helped Ava to cover up Nikolas’s death so that he will be able to blackmail her later on, but some fans hope that this could be the start of a new romance between the two of them moving forward.
What will happen to Ava in the next few episodes of the show?
While nothing will be certain until more GH episodes air, several show insiders have been spreading rumours that Ava’s troubles will not be over after Nikolas’s death. According to these rumours it will not be long until Ryan, Heather and Esme escape.
However, instead of leaving town immediately, Ryan will go after Ava to tie up his last loose ends and this may lead to even more blood being spilled on Spoon Island.
How did fans of the show react to Nikolas’s death?
Nikolas Cassadine is one of the characters that have been on GH almost since the beginning of the show. His character was first introduced in 1996.
Although the character has undergone many changes over the years and has even been played by six different actors since then, the most recent version of Nikolas has been played by Adam Huss since 2021, who has been a real fan-favourite character (even with his downward spiral in the past few episodes).
As a result, fans have taken to social media to vent their frustrations with the way that Nikolas was killed off in the 6 February episode.
Many fans think that Nikolas is not really dead and that he will somehow return to the show later on, and others are just angry that Ava was the one to kill him.