General Hospital Exclusive: Evan Hofer Opens Up About His Heartbreaking ‘Dexit’
After watching the Friday the 13th episode of General Hospital — in which Dex went from recovering nicely from his stab wound to inexplicably going into cardiac arrest and (gulp!) dying — we have three words for Evan Hofer: What… the… hell?!? Did he want to leave the show?
In an exclusive interview with Soaps.com, the actor says that he had a conversation with executive producer Frank Valentini, “and that’s where the story was going.
I was like, ‘How’s it happening? [Does Dex go out] in a cool way? What’s the story going to be after?’ That was kind of my chief concern.”
Hofer was surprised by the funeral-plot twist and yet… not. “With these kinds of things, you never know,” he shrugs.
“I’ve been shot twice. I’ve been in danger plenty… You never really know if this is the time that your character’s luck is going to run out.”
Viewers were shocked by the turn of events — and understandably so.
You don’t have to be Gloria Monty to figure that General Hospital wouldn’t kill off half of Dex and Josslyn, aka the show’s only young couple.
(Any relationship between Trina and Kai is still in its embryonic stages.)
Hofer, by contrast, is philosophical about his departure. “I believe everything works out the way it’s supposed to,” he says.
“I had auditioned for different parts on General Hospital, and it didn’t work out.” When at last he booked a role on the soap, he landed “exactly where I was supposed to be.”
Not only did he score a character that the audience embraced, and fast, he got paired on screen with daytime royalty: Maurice Benard (Sonny) and Eden McCoy (Josslyn).
“I got this incredible mentor out of” the job, Hofer says of Benard. “And then I was working with Eden, and that relationship worked so well.
Joss and Dex was so cool… It really is just a testament that everything works out how it’s supposed to.”
As the up-and-comer sets out to conquer the world, he admits that there is one thing that he will especially miss about working on the show: “The people, absolutely.
You know, they call me the mayor of Prospect Studios [where General Hospital tapes] because I really, really was friends with everybody and got to know so many incredible people there… everybody who works upstairs in the offices, everybody on set, everybody downstairs, hair and makeup… I’m going to miss seeing my friends every day.”
