General Hospital's Dominic Zamprogna unpacks Dante's Rocco truth bomb

General Hospital’s acting police commissioner, Dante Falconeri, has had a lot of no-win situations over the years when a member of his family gets into legal trouble. Dante, played by Dominic Zamprogna, wasn’t prepared for his biggest life-changing shock yet, when he realized that his son, Rocco, was the person who shot WSB Director Ross Cullum.

Trying to protect his son

Dante and Elizabeth on General Hospital | Image: ABC

Dante figured it out after Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst) confided that she had treated Rocco (Finn Carr) for an injury to his hand that night. And that she had kept the injury off the books and didn't report it to the PCPD as a favor to Rocco’s mother, Lulu Spencer (Alexa Havins Bruening).

Dante had believed Rocco and Lulu’s story that his hand injury was due to a kitchen accident. When Liz told him she was confident it was a slide bite, an injury from firing a gun caused by gripping it incorrectly, Dante's world caved in.

Not only has Dante realized his son nearly killed a WSB agent, which is bad enough, but also, Lulu had kept the truth from him.

“That is devastating to Dante,” Zamprogna told Soap Opera Digest. “He gets that the reason they probably didn’t want to tell him is because they’re worried that he’s too by the book, but this is his son! He has a lot of anger over them not telling him.”

Between a rock and a hard place

Dante was surprised by what Liz told him | Image: ABC

The truth puts Dante in perhaps the most difficult spot in his law enforcement career. He now knows that Jason Morgan (Steve Burton) was protecting Rocco by taking the fall for the shooting, because he saw firsthand that shooting a WSB agent results in a lot more than a slap on the wrist. Revealing that Rocco is the shooter could ruin his kid's life forever.

Zamprogna said that his character knows that Jason had really good reasons for his actions that night, which started with him headbutting Dante in the high school parking lot to escape and get to Pier 55, where he encountered Cullum.

Dante needs to have intense and truthful conversations with both his ex-wife and son, which he will, based on official GH spoilers. He is also set to talk with his partner, "Nathan" (Ryan Paevey).

Where does Dante go from here?

Elizabeth was a good friend to Dante | Image: ABC

Zamprogna said this could cause a huge rift in Dante’s relationship with Lulu, which may not heal soon.

As far as Rocco? “This puts him in a situation where he’s potentially going to do things that he wouldn’t normally do, and that’s a big deal for him,” Zamprogna said. “He’s the father in this situation, and he’s got to be a grown-up. This is a moment for him to put on his big-boy pants and deal with things hopefully better, emotionally, than he’s dealt with things in the past.”

Zamprogna noted that he loves working with both Bruening and Herbst. He praised Herbst for how soothing Liz was in the May 8 episode when she helped Dante get to the truth. That could be good news to fans who have seen a spark between Dante and Elizabeth and want future romance between them.

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