General Hospital Comings and Goings: Kirsten Storms is back at work as Maxie Jones

It won't be long now until General Hospital fans welcome Maxie back to the Port Charles scene. The actress, who took a leave of absence from the soap last summer, is back filming scenes as our beloved Mariah Maximiliana 'Maxie' Jones.

Kirsten Storms returns to General Hospital

Storms took to Instagram late at night on January 21st, welcoming in the new year and a new beginning on GH.

"Boom. 2026 already…that was fast," Storms wrote. "Back at work! Seriously missing my BugBug though. California doesn’t feel right without her here. @generalhospitalabc #gh"

Storms left the soap she has called home since 2005 in July to move to Tennessee with her daughter. Harper's dad and Storms' ex-husband, Brandon Barash (ex-Stefan/Jake DiMera, Days of our Lives, ex-Johnny Zacchara, General Hospital), also lives in Tennessee.

In the fall, Storms also offered a health report, saying she would need brain surgery for an aneurysm, but in December, she said she opted to have doctors monitor the condition, as the aneurysm was not large enough that surgery would be mandatory.

"Basically, I can keep monitoring it — or have the coiling done, BUT he told me I wasn’t in immediate/’OMG! it’s going to burst tomorrow!’ kind of danger. Obvi, great news. Trying to see if I’m comfortable with the ‘wait and see if it gets worse’ plan," she wrote on Instagram.

Storms underwent brain surgery in 2021 for a cyst that had split in two, which she said made her current condition hard to talk about. Thankfully, Storms is well enough to work and bring Maxie to life once again.

Maxie's great awakening

Maxie collapsed within seconds of using tainted skin cream | Image: ABC

To accommodate Storms' break from the soap, the writers put Maxie in a coma after she used some Deception skin cream that Sidwell had clearly poisoned. However, Maxie's family does not yet know what really happened. Maxie has been in a Boston facility during this time, but boy, will she have a shock when she wakes.

Not long after Maxie entered her coma, her presumed-dead husband, Nathan West (Ryan Paevey), returned to Port Charles, having no idea what happened to him during the seven years he had been gone. Since his return, Nathan has grown closer to Maxie's BFF, Lulu. However, Nathan may not be all he appears. Will Maxie be the first person to figure that out?

Catch all-new episodes of General Hospital weekdays on ABC and Hulu.