General Hospital Comings And Goings: Kirsten Storms Is Back As Maxie — Her First Airdate Revealed!

Maxie fans, rejoice! General Hospital star Kirsten Storms revealed on Instagram on January 21 that she is back in action in Port Charles, returning to work in the role she began playing in 2005. The actress has been absent from the screen since August 2025, when Maxie was sent to a care facility in Boston after falling into a coma — a storyline turn scripted to accommodate Storms’s decision to take an extended leave of absence from the show. A rep for GH confirms to Soap Opera Digest that Storms will first appear on Thursday, February 12.

Ready For Action

In her new Instagram post, Storms shared a mirror selfie taken in her GH dressing room. “Boom,” she wrote. “2026 already…that was fast. Back at work!” Referencing her daughter, Harper Rose Barash, 12, who she shares with ex-husband Brandon Barash (ex-Johnny, GH; ex-Stefan/Jake, Days of Our Lives), the actress added, ” Seriously missing my BugBug though. California doesn’t feel right without her here. 🌙💕🌊”

Storms first announced her planned hiatus from the show in July of last year, when opened up on Instagram about a discussion she had initiated with GH Executive Producer Frank Valentini “about my reasons for wanting to move — and my desire to not leave the show.” She went on to explain that in June, “I had my final taping day for the year.” The reason she gave at the time was that she had decided to relocate from Los Angeles to Tennessee (where Barash had recently put down roots) with Harper. “I really want to thank GH, the ABC network executives, the writers for agreeing to let me take this time,” she stated in her video. “I know Frank and the producers there know my reasons and I am so grateful that they understand and are supportive.”

It was just a few months later, in October, that Storms revealed to her Instagram followers that her move was motivated in part by health issues. The actress, who in 2021 underwent a brain surgery called a craniotomy to drain and remove noncancerous cysts on the left side of her brain, reported that in January 2025, a new brain scan revealed “an aneurysm on the right side of my brain.” Storms admitted, “Since I knew what an aneurysm was, the scan in January majorly freaked me out.” She went on to explain that she was scheduled to undergo another brain operation, which she described as a “coiling procedure” designed to stop the aneurysm from bursting, in the coming weeks. In that post, she shared that upon learning about the aneurysm, ” it was clear I needed to change some things in my life asap. For my own personal reasons, no longer living in Los Angeles was very important to me. The biggest reason for the move was Harper, but a lot of it was for my physical and mental health. And my overall happiness.”

Comeback Trail

Shortly before Christmas, Storms made another Instagram post. “I’ve received a lot of social media support on this subject, so I want to give an update on my medical situation,” she wrote. “My last appointment was with a new Neurosurgeon in St Louis. He told me that I am in the ‘gray zone’ for the aneurysm procedure. It’s not super small, but it’s not at the mandatory surgery size. Basically, I can keep monitoring it – or have the coiling done, BUT he told me I wasn’t in immediate/’OMG! it’s going to burst tomorrow!’ kind of danger. Obvi, great news. 💁🏼‍♀️” She mused, “Trying to see if I’m comfortable with the ‘wait and see if it gets worse’ plan. I do know that I am not eager to hop right on the operating table.”

At the end of that update, she hinted that she might be resuming her GH duties in the near future, teasing, “maaaaybe you will be seeing me back in Port Charles soon.”

Now Storms is officially back at the studio, and it won’t be long before fans see Maxie again — and as GH fans know, she’ll be returning to plenty of drama, given that her “late” husband, Nathan (Ryan Paevey), returned from the dead while she was in her coma, as did her also thought-to-be-dead sister-in-law, Britt (Kelly Thiebaud). Not only that, but Nathan has been growing closer to Maxie’s best friend, Lulu (Alexa Havins), and the man who is responsible for Maxie’s coma, Sidwell (Carlo Rota), is now holding Maxie’s godmother, Anna (Finola Hughes), hostage!

No wonder that from the first time she let fans know she’d be taking a break from the show, Storms was hyping up the plot in store for Maxie’s return. “I promise you the storyline they have going on until my return to Port Charles is kind of incredible,” she declared. “You guys are gonna freak out, actually.”

Are you excited that Maxie’s comeback is on the horizon? Let us know in the comments below!