Final Farewell: ABC Announces Air Date for Anthony Geary Memorial Episode — A Heartbreaking Tribute With Surprises
ABC will honor the passing of General Hospital legend Anthony Geary, who died at the age of 78 on December 4, 2025, with a special encore presentation of his final episode of the long-running soap, in which Luke Spencer said goodbye to Port Charles.
TV Insider broke the news that on Thursday, January 1, 2026, GH will rebroadcast the show in question, which originally aired on July 27, 2015.
Encore, Encore
Geary made his first appearance as Lucas Lorenzo “Luke” Spencer on November 20, 1978, and though the character was initially only planned to last for 13 weeks of storyline, Luke proved popular with viewers and stuck around for years.
The actor left in 1983, returning for a guest arc in 1984 alongside longtime co-star Genie Francis (Laura). Then, in 1991, Geary came back to GH as a new character: Luke’s look-alike cousin, Bill Eckert.
In 1993, Bill was killed off, and the actor stayed on to bring Luke back to the canvas once more. Over his years on the soap, Geary took home a record eight Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor.
Geary announced in May 2015 that he was going to retire from the show and move full-time to Amsterdam, where he resided with husband Claudio Gama, telling TV Guide, “This show has been a huge part of my life for over half my life, and Luke Spencer is my alter ego [but] I’m just weary of the grind,” and noting that after undergoing back surgery the previous year, “it became clear to me that my time is not infinite.”
Luke’s farewell arc was the culmination of a long storyline that kicked off the year prior. Luke began acting erratically — hitting on Kiki (Kristen Alderson), speaking cruelly about his beloved Tracy (Jane Elliot), and eventually graduating to crimes like orchestrating the planting of a bomb aboard The Haunted Star — and fans suspected that an impostor had taken over his life. “Fluke” (aka “Fake Luke”) was the nickname bestowed upon the character by fans.
It was eventually revealed that it was, in fact, the real Luke, and he sought out his MIA older sister, Patricia (Dee Wallace), to find out what had caused his dark side to emerge.
He recovered memories of accidentally causing the death of his mother, Lena, and killing his abusive father, Tim, in self-defense, acts which caused his mind to splinter and create the “Fluke” personality.
As Geary explained it to Soaps in Depth in 2015, “To me, ‘Fluke’ has a removed, almost dream-like quality to him. He’s Luke going insane.”
After Luke received treatment, he was released from the hospital and it seemed like his life was back on track — but Laura returned to Port Charles and crashed his engagement party to Tracy bearing terrible news: their son, Lucky (Jonathan Jackson), had been kidnapped.
This kicked off one last Luke and Laura adventure, where he not only saved his sons, Lucky and Ethan (Nathan Parsons), but rescued young Jake (James Nigbor) — who, it was believed, Luke had killed in a drunken hit-and-run back in 2011 — from the clutches of Helena Cassadine (Constance Towers).
Soon after, Luke decided it would be best if he left Port Charles forever, telling Sonny, “I have recently experienced some Category 5 changes in my life that tore me up pretty badly, put me in pieces. I need to go away, and get myself together…. Find out who the hell I’m going to be the rest of my life.”
Two years later, Geary made a surprise cameo appearance on May 4, 2017, when Tracy — who at the time had decided to leave Port Charles forever — ran into him in a coffee shop in Europe at the very end of the episode, signalling a happily-ever-after for the veteran fan faves.
Alas, on New Year’s Day 2022, Tracy shared the news that Luke had died in a cable car crash in Austria, an incident that was later revealed to be the handiwork of Victor Cassadine (Charles Shaughnessy).
