Chad Brannon (aka Zander Smith) Returns to ‘General Hospital’ and We Have the First Look

Michael Maloney March 9, 2021, 2:30 pm

The last time soap fans saw Chad Brannon on General Hospital was in 2009, when the Daytime Emmy winner did a one-shot appearance as a guy named Aaron, a dead-ringer for the dead Zander Smith, the part Brannon played from 2000-2004.

The ABC serial had invited the actor back to do a scene with Natalia Livingston’s Rebecca as she was flying off to Paris.

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Veteran GH fans recall that Zander and Rebecca’s twin Emily (Amber Tamblyn) shared an ill-fated romance as youngsters so, the show teased that their lookalikes were maybe going to find happiness together.

The week of March 15, Brannon’s back on GH again and TV Insider has a First Look at his appearance in this exclusive photo, above. Is the actor coming back as Zander, Aaron, or someone else? One thing we do know, as evidenced by the photo, is that the actor will be sharing screen-time with William Lipton, who plays Cameron Webber, Zander’s son with Elizabeth (Rebecca Herbst). And it sure looks as if Brannon’s character is pretty choked up with emotion.

Rebecca Herbst (Elizabeth) and Roger Howarth (Franco) (Walt Disney Television/Matt Petit)

Cameron’s taken teen angst to new levels the last few years – losing pals Oscar (Garren Stitt) and Dev (Ashton Arab) to that great soap in the sky and learning that his surrogate dad Franco (Roger Howarth) may have a terminal illness.

One thing Brannon’s character won’t be telling Cameron to do is to get a haircut! Recently, the teen enlisted the aid of his pals Joss (Eden McCoy) and Trina (Sydney Mikayla) to crop off most of his hair in solidarity as Franco’s condition threatens not only his life, but his follicles, too.

As veteran viewers recall, Zander died in a shootout before he got to meet his son – will that scenario change? GH has been known to invite actors back to play ghostly apparitions or to flat-out resurrect them. What’s it going to be this time? Tune in to find out!

General Hospital, Weekdays, Check Local Listings for daytime/syndicated shows, ABC