General Hospital: Maxie Returns — Everything Fans Need to Know to Get Ready for Her Comeback
When Maxie Jones awakens from her coma on General Hospital — the actress who plays her, Kirsten Storms, returns to the soap in the Thursday, February 12, episode after a real-life hiatus — she will have quite a lot to catch up on. It was six months ago, in August 2025, that Maxie’s family agreed to send her to a long-term care facility in Boston after she fell into a coma. So, for viewers who might need a little bit of a refresher, here’s a look back at what took Maxie off the canvas last year, and a look ahead at all the big changes that have happened in Port Charles while she was away.
Hanging by a Thread
Back in August 2025, Maxie found herself feeling conflicted in her role as the vice president and creative director of Deception Cosmetics. While her co-workers were willing to keep quiet about learning that some of Sonny’s (Maurice Benard) investments in their company were illegal, she was uncomfortable and wanted to come clean. In the August 18 episode, Maxie was preparing for another presentation of Deception products on the Home & Heart shopping channel when she pulled attorney Martin (Michael E. Knight) aside to talk. Although he warned against it, she insisted on making an appointment to speak with the district attorney.
Unfortunately, that appointment was never made as, while demonstrating Deception’s new “Youth Truth” face serum on camera, Maxie suddenly collapsed on set! She was rushed to G.H., where Lucas (Van Hansis) and Liz (Rebecca Herbst) worked frantically to save her life. Once Maxie was stabilized, Lucas reported to her family and friends that she had suffered a heart attack, and they were just waiting for her to wake up. When that took longer than expected, further tests were done, and Lucas discovered there was an unidentified enzyme in her blood.
Anna (Finola Hughes) wondered if Maxie could have been poisoned, and after Mac (John J. York) and Felicia (Kristina Wagner) agreed to send their daughter to Mass General for long-term coma care, it was revealed that’s exactly what happened! After Sidwell (Carlo Rota) urged Lucy (Lynn Herring) to keep Deception going in Maxie’s absence, he returned home to Wyndemere, where he assured crooked WSB agent Colette (Mercedes Lopez Renard) that he would soon have a controlling interest in Deception and thanked her for providing the compound that had been used to ensure that Maxie was no longer a threat to his plans.
While You Were Sleeping
Spinelli (Bradford Anderson) had told an unconscious Maxie that he was going to propose when she woke up, but those plans changed during the months that she was gone. First, Britt (Kelly Thiebaud) returned to Port Charles in September very much alive, and later that month, her brother — and Maxie’s husband — Nathan (Ryan Paevey) also returned from the dead!
This led to some understandably uncomfortable moments for Spinelli as he feared that the family unit he’d built with Maxie would be torn apart by Nathan taking it for his own. But Nathan assured Spinelli that he was still adjusting to coming back to his life after seven years and wasn’t ready to be a full-time father to his and Maxie’s son, James (Gary James Fuller), quite yet.
In fact, Nathan appeared to spend more time with Lulu (Alexa Havins) than visiting Maxie in Boston. The two found common ground as Lulu had missed out on four years of her own life after falling into a coma in 2020. As the months went on, Nathan and Lulu spent more and more time together, and while sheltering together during a blizzard in January, they shared a kiss.
Lulu insisted that they couldn’t pursue the feelings that they were developing for each other because it would break Maxie’s heart when she woke up, and Nathan reluctantly agreed. But Lulu confided in Laura (Genie Francis), and Nathan opened up to Nina (Cynthia Watros), about their complicated situation, and it became clear that the affection growing between them is not as easily dismissed as they’d like it to be!
All of this means that when Maxie wakes up, she’s not only going to have to adjust to the shocking news that her beloved husband has returned from the dead (Or has he? Some viewers aren’t completely convinced!) but that he has developed feelings for her best friend. Plus, there’s the matter of getting to the bottom of who poisoned her, and why. This is going to be quite the homecoming!
Share your predictions about what’s going to happen next on GH after Maxie wakes up in the comments section below!
