BREAKING NEWS! GH Star Finola Hughes Drops Bombshell Announcement That Will Shock Fans!

NEW YORK CITY — Celebrating 40 years since first appearing on “General Hospital,” star Finola Hughes talked about what fans can expect from this week’s episode featuring the annual Nurses Ball.

“It is the most exquisite gala with everybody dressed as our family,” Hughes said. “It’s a fictitious gala to help with HIV and AIDS, raising money, and it’s just wonderful.”

Among other characters, she plays Anna Devane, currently a police commissioner in the world of “General Hospital.”

“I love the fact that she’s a police commissioner, and she stands for justice,” she said. “I think that’s cool.”

Despite having more than 1000 episodes under her belt, Hughes has not been on “General Hospital” for all 40 years since first appearing. In fact, it was the return of executive producer Frank Valentini that brought her back.

“He asked me, and I just couldn’t wait,” Hughes said. “I couldn’t wait to get back.”

The 62-season soap opera has had many guest stars over the years, and Hughes knows exactly who she wants to join that list, quickly answering “Tom Cruise.”

Ultimately, though, she truly loves the people she stars with in each and every episode of “General Hospital,” from 40 years ago to today.

“We’re all really good friends,” Hughes said. “The entire cast supports each other. We go to each other’s dressing rooms and chat, and we know so much about each other.”

Don’t miss “General Hospital” episodes every weekday on ABC.

Tristan Rogers is being remembered by his longtime TV wife.

Finola Hughes, who played Anna Devane opposite Rogers’ Robert Scorpio on General Hospital, took to her Instagram on Saturday, Aug. 16, to pay tribute to him in the wake of his death at the age of 79.

“Wish I could play one more scene with you, my friend,” she wrote alongside photos of them together. “Tris sauntered into my life on that first day to rehearse. Cropped hair & steel blue eyes, I thought ‘damn, I’m gonna be working with Steve McQueen!'”

“From day one he called me ‘kid’ or ‘Finny’ and he made me laugh,” the British actress, 65, recalled.

Hughes called Rogers an “effortless actor” who “taught me so much” throughout the years.

“Serious about his work, but always a rebel. His own man, navigating the system, he protected me, protected Kimberly [McCullough], his character, his friends,” she continued of Rogers. “God, he was a good one. Silly, funny, kind, serious.”

“I am heartbroken for his awesome wife Teresa, his children Sarah Jane & Cale,” Hughes added of the Australian actor’s loved ones. “His family made him so happy and he adored talking about them.”

Hughes ended her post, writing, “Love you Trissy. Mai Tai’s on the beach Scorpio.”

McCullough, who played Rogers and Hughes’ daughter Robin Scorpio on General Hospital, also paid tribute in a post of her own.

“Trissy forever,” she wrote of her TV dad in a separate post.

Alongside McCullough’s tribute was a photo of her as a young actress with her arms wrapped around Rogers and him kissing her on her cheek.

Rogers’ longtime manager, Meryl Soodak, confirmed the actor’s death on Aug. 15.

Soodak told ABC 7 Eyewitness News that Rogers, whose cancer diagnosis was revealed in July, that his General Hospital role “meant everything to him.”

“He loved being Scorpio and he created that role from nothing,” Soodak said. “He was supposed to work a day and he ended up making it into something huge. He was just a genuinely loyal, kind human being and he loved his family.”

General Hospital executive producer Frank Valentini reacted to Rogers’ death in a statement to PEOPLE that said the soap opera family was “heartbroken” to lose one of their own.