5 General Hospital Characters Who Took a Turn to the Dark Side

For 63 years on General Hospital, we've been treated to a wild assortment of villains, but some of them didn't start out that way when they first arrived in Port Charles. Here are five GH characters who began as likable people but eventually went dark.

Drew Cain

Drew has become one of the most hated characters | Image: ABC

For decades, we were led to believe that Susan Moore (Gail Ramsey) only had one child with Alan Quartermaine (Stuart Damon). That child was Jason (Steve Burton). But as soaps often do, the GH writers changed the narrative. In 2014, Drew (played by Billy Miller) came on the scene. He was Jason's twin brother who was separated from Jason at birth and raised by a nurse named Betsy Frank (the woman who also raised Franco, played by James Franco and later by Roger Howarth).

In the early years that Drew lived in Port Charles, he was a good guy. He had admirable qualities, like being an ex-Navy SEAL. After Cameron Mathison took over the role in 2021, Drew was still a good guy, except for his snarky attitude toward Jason, even though Jason saved his life on Cassadine Island. Couldn't Drew show some gratitude to his brother?

Since Drew became romantically involved with his nephew Michael's (then Chad Duell) wife, Willow (Katelyn MacMullen), that all changed. Over the past two years, he's made life a living hell for so many people that he could easily win a prize for most despicable soap villain. It's all a mystery. What happened to Drew that made him turn so dark? Many fans speculate that he became this way due to the beating he suffered after he was sent to prison for insider trading. We still don't know for sure, but we would love to find out. As our beloved Tracy Quartermaine (Jane Elliot) recently said, "You could burn down an orphanage and still be better than he is." She would know, since Drew once tried to frame her for drugging him!

Peter August

Peter has returned as Anna's hallucination | Image: ABC

When Peter August first appeared on the scene in 2017, he was a decent guy who was hired by "nice Drew" (the Billy Miller version) to work at Aurora Media. He had good relationships with Nina (then played by Michelle Stafford), Sam (Kelly Monaco), Lulu (then Emme Rylan), and Maxie (Kirsten Storms). Maxie eventually fell in love with him, and she and Peter had a daughter, Bailey Lou, together.

But as the son of Cesar Faison (Anders Hove) and Alex Devane (Finola Hughes), it couldn't have been easy for Peter to stay good. He was secretly in cahoots with GH supervillain Jerry Jacks. And as any GH fan knows, when anyone in PC is involved with Jerry, things never end well! One of Peter's most horrendous crimes was when he killed Franco (Roger Howarth), which turned Elizabeth (Rebecca Herbst) into a widow and destroyed the happy life that she and Franco had shared. Thankfully, Felicia (Kristina Wagner) killed Peter in 2022 to defend Maxie, and we were finally rid of his evil doings.

Now, Anna is haunted by hallucinations of him, which goes to show that in PC, we can never really be rid of villains for good. Most of them return, in one form or another!

Paul Hornsby

Paul was Tracy's ex-husband | Image: ABC

Paul Hornsby (played by Paul Satterfield and later by Richard Burgi) was Tracy's ex-husband and the father of Dillon (played by Scott Clifton and later by Robert Palmer Watkins). When he first arrived in PC, he seemed like an affable guy when took over as the CEO of the Quartermaine business, ELQ, after the sabotage of a Quartermaine ship that had been named after Tracy.

Eventually, we discovered that Paul had been instrumental in the sabotage. Over the years, he was involved in an assortment of other dirty dealings. He set up a false bank account in Robert Scorpio's (Tristan Rogers) name. He married Tracy in order to gain eleven percent of her ELQ stock. He blackmailed Ava (Maura West) into working for him. From 2015 to 2016, he murdered numerous residents of PC, including Sabrina Santiago (Teresa Castillo). After having a father like Paul, it's a wonder (and a miracle) that Dillon turned out to be such a nice guy!

Willow Tait

Willow's relationship with Drew most likely kicked off her dark side | Image: ABC

Willow (Katelyn MacMullen) used to be a nice person in her early years in PC. She was haunted by her memories of being raised in a cult and being groomed by its leader, Shiloh (Coby Ryan McLaughlin). But for the most part, she seemed like a well-adjusted person who was, at one point, a teacher and later a nurse at General Hospital. She enjoyed a happy life with Michael when they were married and raising Wiley (Viron Weaver) and Amelia together.

But ever since she began an affair with Drew, Willow's life has spiraled out of control. He grew more and more obnoxious, and it appears that his horrible demeanor has rubbed off on her, to the point where she is now a power-hungry congresswoman (taking over what used to be his job).

Many fans can't stand Willow anymore, and we don't know how she can ever be redeemed to be the sweet young woman she once was. The GH writers have taken her down a road so dark that we can't imagine how she will ever come back from all of her recent evil doings, including shooting Drew in the back and incapacitating him for months.

Nelle Benson

Willow's twin sister, Nelle, was as treacherous as Willow is | Image: ABC

Nelle Benson (Chloe Lanier) arrived in PC after learning that she had been Josslyn's (Eden McCoy) kidney donor. Carly was so grateful to meet the young woman who had saved her daughter's life that she offered Nelle a job as her own personal assistant.

Eventually, though, Nelle started doing underhanded things, like drugging Sonny and making him believe that they'd slept together. Her end game was to destroy Sonny and Carly's marriage. Her father was Frank Benson, Carly's adoptive father. Nelle's childhood was extremely difficult, since her mother died and Frank struggled financially. Nelle blamed wealthy Carly for refusing to help him whenever he reached out to her.

During Nelle's time in PC, she was involved in a laundry list of crimes, including blackmail, theft, murder, and baby-switching (to name a few). Since we learned a few years ago that Nelle is Willow's twin sister, we have to wonder how Willow's current storyline would play out if a presumed-dead Nelle suddenly appeared in PC very much alive! We imagine that she would cause all kinds of misery for Willow. For starters, she would most likely try to take Wiley away from her. A face-off between evil Nelle and her now evil twin sister Willow would be epic!

Tell us, GH fans, would you like to see Nelle return from the dead and cause major trouble for Willow? Sound off in the comments!