The March 24 episode of General Hospital marked the end of the line for James Patrick Stuart’s Port Charles counterpart, Valentin Cassadine. In the hour’s final moments, he said goodbye to daughter Charlotte and was taken away to Steinmauer Prison to serve out a life sentence.

Which may not turn out to be all that long. The last words Anna’s lost love said weren’t “Well, that’s that, then,” they were “Till next time.”

Since Stuart was only recurring on General Hospital, Valentin’s prison sentence “was no skin off my teeth,” he tells Soap Opera Digest, adding that he’d happily return down the road. “But who knows? Who knows what’ll happen in the future?”

We kept hoping against hope that the show wasn’t writing off the soap vet, who first turned heads as All My Children baddie Will Cortlandt. But the hints that he was headed for the exit continued piling up. First, General Hospital introduced Jack, who is much like Valentin when he’s having a gray-hat day. Then, the show brought on Sidwell, who is more like Valentin when he’s being a full-on black-hatted villain.

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It felt like Stuart was being replaced, just not in that exact role.

Adding fuel to the speculation was the fact that the MVP and his wife recently moved. “Jocelyn and I are Portlanders now,” he shared on social media in June. And while many an actor has commuted from out of town for their soap job, it doesn’t seem like that’s going to be the case in this case.

In fact, when a fan playfully commented that Stuart’s move “better not mean you’re leaving General Hospital, because you’ll have to answer to me,” he didn’t respond.