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Nathan, we all now know, seems to be well and truly dead on General Hospital. Cassius said as much to Sidwell on Wednesday’s episode, as they got into how and why he took over his brother’s life. Sidwell putting Maxie in a coma, it seems, gave Cassius the opening to take over as her dead husband. If she’d been around when he returned, she might have figured things out before he had a chance to settle into the role. But who really is Cassius Faison?

We don’t know a whole lot about him yet. We know that he’s Nathan’s identical twin (Whew! That means he’s not Peter in a mask), which makes Obrecht his mother and Cesar Faison his father. And that also makes both Britt and the late Peter his half-siblings. On top of that, it seems he’s got more in common with his parents (at least before Liesl “reformed”) than Nathan ever did because Cassius has worked with Sidwell for years.

But, as Ryan Paevey explained to Soap Opera Digest, he’s more “henchman” than Big Bad. And while Nathan grew up loved, Paevey doesn’t feel like Cassius ever had that, saying, “He’s never really been loved or appreciated or seen or anything like that.”

We got to see something of that upbringing when he slipped up in the blizzard and told Lulu that his dad had drilled the periodic table into him as a kid to the point that he still has it memorized. But what we don’t know just yet is if that dad was Faison. Though, since Cassius shares his last name, there’s a good chance it was.

We also know he’s not so great at baseball, unlike his brother. But he has to be a darn quick study if he’s only slipped up (noticeably) with police procedure once when he broke the chain of custody. Whether that’s from his upbringing or years of having to lie, cheat and (potentially) murder, it’s tough to say.

He certainly didn’t seem to have any qualms about helping frame Laura for murder or Sidwell poisoning Maxie into a coma! Nor does he seem to be all that concerned about “dealing with” his own sister if Britt’s compromised their operation.

But it’s clear that Cassius isn’t all bad. His feelings for Lulu seem genuine (despite sleeping with her under a false identity, which is very problematic), and so far he’s protecting her and Rocco from his longtime boss, Sidwell. And yes, he’s been learning how nice it is to be loved and to be Nathan — which could push him to do some horrible things to keep being Nathan.

Whether or not that means he could ever be a good guy or turn into an actual leading man is up in the air — but genetics aren’t everything, as the real Nathan proved. And as both Britt and even Obrecht have shown, in Port Charles, there are always second chances.