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‘General Hospital’ News: Comings and Goings Derk Cheetwood Headed Back to GH

One of the best things about General Hospital is the excellent array of ancillary characters that populates Port Charles. And one particular fan favorite is Max Giambetti [Derk Cheetwood]. If you’re an amnesiac (like poor Jake Doe [Billy Miller] and forgot your GH history) or are new to GH fandom, here’s a primer on all things Max and an update on where Derk has been and what we can expect from Max now that he’s back.

Max is the main bodyguard to Sonny Corinthos [Maurice Benard] who has been around for much longer than Shawn Butler [Sean Blakemore] and other cronies. And, back in the day, Max used to have a major crush on Carly Corinthos [Laura Wright] whom he calls Mrs C. Max has always shown intense loyalty to Sonny, but even more so to Carly and Sonny’s children. When Sonny’s bipolar disorder was at its worst, Max prioritized and protected them over and above Sonny.

Max has also shown a lot of loyalty to Jason Morgan [Billy Miller now, Steve Burton then]. When Jason and Sonny were at odds over Sonny dating Emily Quartermaine, Jason’s sister, Max left to work for Carly and the boys protecting them so he didn’t have to take sides against Jason and Sonny as they fought over territory and the business. Max has suffered for this loyalty and has been shot by Morgan Corinthos [Bryan Craig], Jerry Jacks [Sebastian Roche], and Heather Webber [Robin Mattson].

Now, while Max is a great guy and loyal to a fault, he is still a gangster. Not only that, he’s a legacy mobster – his dad was Maximus Giambetti and Max is even named for his mobbed up dad. Max has helped out in the Corinthos versus Jerome mob wars, even helping kidnap Ava Jerome [Maura West]. Max got out of the mob game briefly working as chief of security over at the MetroCourt which allowed him to be closer to Carly, his main crush, but found being out of mob life too boring.

During Max’s on-screen hiatus from GH, we only heard about him in phone calls. But, in reality, Derk Cheetwood was completing a character arc on the hit TNT drama The Last Ship. The post-apocalyptic drama is about a world where a virus wipes out most of the world’s population. Cheetwood played Lt Pete Norris, a former Maryland State Trooper and evil henchman who went to work for an evil woman who wanted to take over the cure for the virus and only hand it out to a select few.

Cheetwood was great in the part but his character was killed off by the good guys – and deservedly so after Norris killed off one of the doctors who helped develop the cure for the killer virus. But now that his stint on The Last Ship is done, Cheetwood is bringing Max back to General Hospital and started shooting again mid-June. Cheetwood’s castmates are happy to have him back and so are all the fans. Can’t wait to see him back on regularly – maybe the writers can work up a new romance for Max!

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Rachel Rowan

Rachel is a General Hospital aficionado who is so dedicated to the populace of Port Charles that she scheduled her college class schedule around the show. Rachel loves writing spoilers, soap plot analysis, and storyline prognostication. When she’s not tuned in to daytime or primetime soaps, Rachel spends time outdoors with her son, husband and beloved retriever.