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What Happened to Dante on GENERAL HOSPITAL

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Dante Falconeri on GENERAL HOSPITAL quickly became a fan favorite character soon after his introduction in June of 2009. Portrayer Dominic Zamprogna has also earned himself four Daytime Emmy Award nominations for his work over the years. While Zamprogna left GH in 2018, he made it clear he’s happy to return and did so in March of 2019 for a brief stint. And although it took a bit longer, the actor eventually returned to GH full-time in August 2020!

Introduced as Dominic Pirelli, Dante quickly became part of Sonny Corinthos’ life when he saved the mob boss from an ambush and rescued his son, Morgan Corinthos. He also became smitten with Lulu Spencer, and it was revealed that he was actually an undercover cop named Dante after he was arrested and tipped the Port Charles Police that he was investigating Sonny. But when he attempted to arrest the mobster, Sonny shot him just as Olivia Falconeri arrived to announce he’d shot his own son!

General Hospital Sonny Olivia Steven Dante
Sonny probably wouldn’t have shot Dante if he’d known he was his son!Adam Larkey/ABC via Getty Images

Dante was stunned to learn that Sonny was his father, and was upset at his mother, Olivia, for not telling him the truth. But he agreed to lie that he’d accidentally shot himself so Sonny wouldn’t be charged. When Dante was fired from the NYPD, Mac Scorpio offered him a job on the PCPD. Dante decided to send Sonny to jail for the murder of Claudia Zacchara, but was surprised to learn that he was actually covering for Michael Corinthos.

His relationship with Lulu hit a snag when Brenda Barrett returned to Port Charles and it was revealed that the pair shared a romantic past together. But they soon reconciled, and Dante proposed. However, when he was shot on the job, Lulu had second thoughts about becoming a policeman’s wife. She eventually overcame her fear and the pair were married in a private ceremony in Brooklyn by his cousin, Tommy, with only Olivia in attendance.

General Hospital Lulu Dante
Lulu and Dante overcame many obstacles to find true love.Howard Wise/jpistudios.com

Dante and Lulu wanted desperately to have a child, but she found she was unable to carry a baby. Maxie Jones offered to be their surrogate, but in the end, the baby she gave birth to was her own from a one-night stand with Damian Spinelli. Meanwhile, Dante also had to rescue a kidnapped Lulu from an obsessed Stavros Cassadine, and she temporarily lost her memories of him! Although heartbroken to learn that their daughter was really Maxie’s, Dante and Lulu then discovered that Dr. Britt Westbourne‘s baby she claimed was Patrick Drake’s had actually been grown from their other embryo! Dante and Lulu brought the boy home and named him Rocco.

After all that, Lulu continued to want another child and Dante supported her as she had surgery that would allow her to carry her own baby. But then he had to team up with his partner, Nathan West, to rescue Maxie and Lulu from Levi Dunkleman who had kidnapped them! This led to Dante having to save Lulu from Stavros again, this time because the guy wanted to have a baby with her! Once that ordeal was over and Stavros was dispatched, Lulu assured Dante she would be happy with just him and Rocco for now.

Dante got jealous when Dillon Quartermaine returned and joined Lulu on an adventure to save her brothers. Believing that his wife was cheating on him, Dante had a one-night stand with her cousin, Valerie Spencer, who had a big crush on him. This led to Dante and Lulu divorcing, but they had second thoughts and gave their relationship another try, re-marrying in their living room on Thanksgiving, 2016.

General Hospital Lulu Dante Charlotte Rocco
Dante and Lulu had their hands full!ChrisD/jpistudios.com

Things got complicated when Lulu discovered that Charlotte Cassadine was her daughter with Valentin, and an ugly custody battle ensued. Dante and Lulu received custody of the girl for a while, but she was ultimately returned to her father. Dante was devastated when Nathan was murdered in cold blood by Cesar Faison, and struggled to accept his new partner on the force, Detective Harrison Chase. But ultimately, Dante joined a special WSB task force to hunt down the criminal who had tried to kill Lulu a couple of years earlier, and left Port Charles with his wife fearing for his safety.

After Lulu was nearly murdered by the serial killer stalking Port Charles, Sonny was determined to bring his son home and with the help of Robert Scorpio, tracked Dante to Turkey where he had gone undercover working for his target, the villainous Raj. Sonny managed to help Dante escape and with Raj dead, return to Port Charles. Unfortunately, Dante’s ordeal left some scars that go much deeper than the ones on his back, and he admitted to Lulu that he had to leave again to deal with his PTSD.

Maxie worried about Lulu being alone and missing her husband so she roped Peter August into helping her bring Dante home but when they went to visit him in a WSB facility in Ithaca, Dante grabbed a guard’s gun and shot Peter! After that, Lulu was stunned when she received divorce papers in the mail and it appeared that Dante was trying to cut everyone out of his life and give her the chance to move on. Later, Olivia was heartbroken when all the letters she’d been writing to her son were returned to her, unopened. Eventually, Lulu decided to move on with her life and began dating schoolteacher Dustin Phillips.

GH Olivia Dante
Dante tried to leave his old life behind but couldn’t stay away forever.ABC

But in August 2020, Dante was seen in his room at a WSB facility in Geneva, writing a letter home he would never send. Dr. Kirk attempted to treat Dante, but he even refused to see Olivia when his mother traveled to Switzerland to visit him. Eventually, Dr. Kirk got his patient a new assignment to investigate Peter, and Dante finally returned to Port Charles. Lulu introduced him to Dustin, who offered to step aside if she wanted a second chance, but Lulu insisted she’d moved on. Tragically, Lulu was seriously injured in an explosion, and just as she told Dante she still loved him, fell into a coma and was sent off to a long-term care facility.

Dante began working for Peter so he could have easier access to his computer files for his mission. When Dr. Kirk died unexpectedly, Dante resisted Liesl Obrecht as his new handler, not realizing she’d been controlling Kirk from the start. He also had no idea he was being controlled through hypnotic suggestion every time Kirk or Obrecht clicked a pen! Things took a shocking turn when he tried to stop Alexis from attacking Franco at the hospital and the drunken attorney stabbed Dante with a syringe and the drugs inside left him near death!

Thankfully, Dante survived and Obrecht ordered him to kill Peter and blame Dr. Kirk for the mission, but Sam McCall stopped him before he could pull the trigger. After getting his head back together, Dante agreed to help Mac track down a missing Jason, but that one job inspired him to return to work as a detective for the PCPD. He began working on cases like Maxie’s abduction and missing baby and Peter’s disappearance, but also grew closer to Sam. The pair shared a kiss on the Fourth of July that left both of them shaken and wondering if this was a good idea.

GH Dante Sam
Dante and Sam found they made quite a team!ABC/Craig Sjodin

Although they initially tried to set aside their feelings, Dante and Sam eventually struck up a romance. Things got complicated when Drew turned out to be alive, but he joined her on a trip to Greece to rescue him from the Cassadines and Peter and bring him back to Port Charles. Dante comforted Sam when Jason was killed during that adventure, and the couple later consummated their new relationship and declared their love. Sam and Dante made a good team as they joined others in helping to bring down Victor Cassadine, but when she snooped on his phone trying to help prove Trina’s innocence, they clashed.

Dante was surprised when his old friend Cody Bell dropped into Port Charles — literally — by skydiving into the Metro Court Pool during a party. The pair reminisced about their wild past, and Cody opened up to his pal about his troubles. Dante and Sam cleared the air between them and decided to move in together, though he asked her to stop digging into Cody’s past. The detective then found himself very busy investigating the series of attacks and murders committed by The Hook. He and Sam also traveled to England to track down Esme Prince’s nanny, Maggie Fitzgerald, and were stunned to learn that Esme’s father was Ryan Chamberlain! After Heather Webber was arrested for being The Hook and Ryan shot dead, Dante tried to find out what happened to a missing Nikolas Cassadine but came up empty. He was also stunned when Cody revealed that he’d lied and the paternity test revealed that Mac is his father. 

After a shooting at the Metro Court pool and threats against Anna, Dante launched an investigation. He also took Charlotte to visit Lulu and agreed to rent their empty house to Maxie. After Sam told him she’d helped Cody get into Ferncliff to rescue Sasha, she took Dante to the cabin where they were hiding out. With their help, Dante was able to arrest Dr. Montague for what he’d done to Sasha. Responding to Ava’s kidnapping, Dante shot Mason Gatlin and helped rescue her. After Charlotte was shot accidentally by Anna, Dante’s investigation linked the teen to some of the threats against Anna. When Austin Gatlin-Holt wanted to cut a deal in exchange for what he knew about Mason’s boss, Dante told him he’d need to bring him evidence, but Austin was shot and killed before he could. 

GH Dante Anna
Dante teamed up with Anna to figure out who was after her.Christine Bartolucci/Disney

After Jameson Forsythe’s body was found, the coroner gave Dante the key he found on the body before the WSB stepped in. Trying to stay under the radar, Dante used the key to open a locker that contained photos of Anna, Forsythe, and another man as well as a wallet and the file on a WSB mission gone wrong that had been stolen from Anna. He filled Anna in and she identified the photo of the other man as John Brennan, who was the current director of the WSB. They managed to get information out of Hume so they could arrest Brennan before things got any worse.

Dante was forced to arrest Sonny after he assaulted Cyrus in a rage. He and Chase also tracked Esme to Canada, but found only her nanny. He then followed the real trail to Paris, where he sadly reported to Laura that Esme and Spencer were presumed dead after going overboard. When Sonny set up a sting to lure out the assassin after him and the other mob bosses, Dante joined the other cops in breaking it up. Pursuing a suspect, Dante was stunned to discover it was Jason! He was then shot point blank by the other assassin, who Jason quickly took out! Jason administered first aid and called 911 before disappearing and Dante was rushed to the hospital where emergency surgery saved his life, though he lingered in a coma.

Stay tuned to see what happens next!

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