Soap Opera’s Year-End Review For 2024 – Most Shocking Exit

As 2024 winds to an end, it’s hard not to reflect on the year that has gone by in soaps. While there’s nothing better than a splashing character return, there’s also nothing more riveting than an unexpected exit. Who offered the most shocking soapy exits in 2024? Time to review.

Days of Our Lives – Stefan DiMera

No Days of Our Lives’ (DOOL) fan had Stefan DiMera’s (Brandon Barash) exit on their bingo card for 2024, but here we are. While there was an official announcement from the actor a day before it all unraveled on the show, the exit completely caught fans off guard.

Stefan’s mother, Vivian Alamain (Louise Sorel) was behind the whole thing when she arrived in town, ready to scheme with Philip Kiriakis (John-Paul Lavoisier) to snag Titan out from under Xander Kiriakis (Paul Telfer), but what Salemites don’t know is that she also had her right-hand man, Ivan Marais (Ivan G’Vera), kidnap Stefan and take him back to Alamania.

She was wholeheartedly against a romantic reunion with Gabi Hernandez (Cherie Jimenez), and made sure it didn’t happen, but will anyone ever figure out what “really” happened to Stefan?

General Hospital – John “Jagger” Cates

General Hospital (GH) fans could feel as if the end was near for John “Jagger” Cates (Adam J. Harrington), especially in light of his recent over-the-top actions.

Arresting Kristina Corinthos-Davis (Kate Mansi) for the passing of Baby Irene/Baby Adela was outrageous on all accounts and as his attempts to nail Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) got more and more desperate, fans could feel as if he’d either wind up a goner or sent to jail for abusing his FBI badge.

Still, when Sonny ended up shooting Agent Cates point blank, at the Quartermaine’s lake house with some of his children and grandchildren at the main house, GH viewers were, pardon the pun, blown away!

It was a cliffhanger that had fans reeling and counting down the moments until the next show. Was John still alive? Was it a “fake” Sonny that pulled the trigger? Was it all a dream? It ended up being very real, with the “real” Sonny behind the gun.

However, the speculation ran wild, and John Cates’ exit proved to be far more exciting than the character’s return was.

General Hospital – Robert Scorpio

Robert Scorpio’s (Tristan Rogers) recent exit wasn’t as traumatic as John Cates’, but it was still surprising.

GH fans expected Holly Sutton (Emma Samms) to leave storylines, as they anticipated a short run from the character; however, Robert joining her as she fled Port Charles was unexpected.

While it was nice to see the super couple finally reunite after all these years, it caught fans off guard that Robert left, considering he had just found out about his new daughter, Sasha Corbin (Sofia Mattsson).

Many fans expected to watch the two bond in the weeks ahead, but it looks like Robert has some re-bonding to do with Holly in the interim.

Alas, he will likely return in 2025 to get better acquainted with Sasha, but it still caught many fans off guard.

The Young and the Restless – Heather Stevens

Speaking of being “caught off guard”, The Young and the Restless (Y&R) fans were completely thrown for a loop in September of this year when a mentally unstable Sharon Newman (Sharon Case) was set to do the unthinkable – poison Daniel Romalotti (Michael Graziadei) in an effort to seek revenge for this role in Cassie Newman’s (Camryn Grimes) passing, all those years ago.

While the good news was, that she ended up coming to her senses and not placing the poison in Daniel’s whiskey bottle, despite “Cameron Kirsten’s’” (Linden Ashby) goading, what happened after she ‘cleaned up’ the mess she made and tried to leave his apartment rocked Y&R viewers to their core.

While Daniel was out with Lucy Romalotti (Lily Brooks O’Briant) during Sharon’s break into their apartment, Heather Stevens (Vail Bloom) returned home and caught Sharon leaving.

The two women got into a fight, Sharon blacked out, and the rest was history. Fans were blown away that Heather was gone.

However, Sharon cleaning up the crime scene and then dumping the body in the river also offered some dark and insane moments that left fans wondering if what they were witnessing was a dream, hallucination, or reality …

Which soapy character had the best exit this year? Comment below and visit this site for the best news, spoilers, and updates in daytime drama.