General Hospital brings Chad Brannon back: Will Zander return from the dead?

The latest General Hospital casting news going around is that of Chad Brannon, who played Zander Smith, is returning to the ABC soap. He is expected to begin filming on Feb. 12 and will make it back on screen sometime in March.

The excitement has been growing ever since EW broke the news on Wednesday, Feb. 10. The character was killed off in 2004. However, that doesn’t seem to mean much when it comes to daytime television.

Many people have come back alive, but Zander was shot by police on screen. So, unless he was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time of his death, then nothing else would make much sense.

That leaves the notion that he would either have to come back as a ghost or as a new character. It wasn’t mentioned just yet who he would be playing or how long he would be staying in Port Charles.

Here are a few possibilities that could occur in this future storyline with Chad Brannon.

General Hospital brings back Zander from the dead…sort of

It’s certainly not unusual when a loved one shows up in a ghostly form on soaps to help someone through a difficult time. The actor could just be back for just one episode as the dead Zander ready to help someone out.

His son Cameron is getting ready for college and is dealing with Franco’s brain tumor diagnosis. There are rumors floating around that his step-dad may die from it. Is that why Zander returns to help Cameron deal with it?

A completely new character?

It’s not totally unusual for a General Hospital actor to return but as a different person. It gets a little confusing at times, but it has been done. For example, Michael Easton played the roles of both Silas Clay and the current Hamilton Finn.

Will Chad Brannon come back with a permanent role as someone new? There are many possibilities of where he could fit into any of the current storylines.

There is always the twin story as well. In fact, he could come back as Zander’s twin and be involved in the memory-mapping deal. Of course, that seems to have been overdone these days. However, that certainly can’t be ruled out.

Another returning character that is still a mystery?

Remember Aaron? No? Well, not many General Hospital fans may know who that was. Back in 2009, Chad Brannon returned to his old stomping ground for a quick minute.

He played a Zander look-a-like who was seated beside Rebecca Shaw, Emily Quartermaine’s twin sister, as she jetted off to Paris. All we knew about him was that he introduced himself as Aaron and that he seemed quite infatuated with Rebecca.

Other than the ghost sighting, the character of this Aaron coming back seems to be a likely choice. Wouldn’t it be quite a surprise if actress Natalia Livingston would return with him in her role as Rebecca Shaw as a couple?

We will just have to wait to see how this all develops and if Chad Brannon will be back for good or just a temporary glimpse.

What are your thoughts? Let us know who you would like to see him return as.

General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC.