General Hospital (GH) spoilers reveal that although Roger Howarth’s contract with the ABC soap was renewed, there was a lengthy contract dispute before the deal was done and that means we’ll see some impact on Franco (Roger Howarth) and Liz Webber’s (Rebecca Herbst) relationship that will play out on our screens.
As of now, Franco was back from Cassadine Island where he beat Jason Morgan (Billy Miller) to help him recover memories but wound up taking a beating himself thanks to Stone Cold’s temper over being chained and thrashed. Franco deserved that ass kicking and he and Jason were back to sniping at each other at the Nurses Ball.
Jason referred to Franco as “noise” and Franco hasn’t been seen since the night Jake Webber (Hudson Webber) almost unleashed the Chimera Project under brainwashing orders from Helena Cassadine (Constance Towers). So where is Franco and why the gap in his story? Also, with Franco absent, will Liz go missing, too?
Nathan Varni spilled some info on the contract talks and said although they did reach a deal with Roger Howarth, they wrote him out of the show temporarily to protect themselves just in case the two sides couldn’t come to terms to bring Howarth back to General Hospital. Varni also shared that Liz would not miss any scheduled General Hospital episodes.
What’s interesting about this is that when Rebecca Herbst was going through similar contract negotiations, Liz abruptly went missing at about the same time Jake was run over by a car (yet again) and taken to Shriners Hospitals for Children. But since she wasn’t neck deep in her relationship with Franco yet, it wasn’t quite so noticeable.
However, Franco’s absence will stick out like a sore thumb. So how will General Hospital explain away Franco’s absence? GH spoilers for next week say Liz has an offer for Franco and we suspect it’s that she wants him to move in with her. Whether she’ll talk to Franco in person is a big question – and we might simply see one-sided phone calls.
This is a common tactic. General Hospital has used this frequently with missing characters like Maxie Jones (Kirsten Storms) and Damian Spinelli (Bradford Anderson). Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) has frequent phone conversations with her ex-husband Robert Scorpio (Tristan Rogers) but we never hear his voice. Perhaps Franco will take time away for an art therapy certification course.
Or, since we last saw Franco working as the General Hospital parking attendant, maybe he’ll go to a parking lot professionals’ convention. The important thing to remember is that no matter how GH explains away Franco’s absence, the rocky road coming soon for Friz will be short term. General Hospital Summer spoilers have promised lots of Friz romance to come.
Also, Roger Howarth is already back on set working, so we can look forward to a sweet reunion when Franco is back to Port Charles – and back in Liz’s arms. Soon he’ll move in and he’ll be a happy family with Liz and her boys although Jason will hate it. Share your comments below on Franco’s coming absence and tune into CDL often for more General Hospital spoilers.
