General Hospital handed Andrew Hawkes his death sentence without saying a single word. The actor behind corrupt WSB villain Ross Cullum walked into a routine suit fitting. What he saw there told him everything. Fans are still buzzing about Cullum’s bloody end at Josslyn’s hands. Now Hawkes is spilling exactly how he discovered his number was up.
A Suit Fitting That Said Everything
Picture walking into wardrobe for a simple fitting. Then you notice what the team is actually doing. “I found out because I was brought in for a suit fitting,” Hawkes shares. “When I came in, they were sewing in squibs.” Those sealed pouches of fake blood mean one thing in daytime. Somebody is getting shot.
Amazingly, the silence stretched on afterward. “About a week later, I still hadn’t heard the official word,” he recalls. Then executive producer Frank Valentini finally addressed the elephant in the room. “You know what’s going on, right?” Valentini asked. Hawkes said yes, and Frank confirmed it. “It’s happening on the 18th of May.” That was his final day. Talk about reading your fate in thread and fake blood.
General Hospital: Dying On Set Came With an Unexpected Perk
That last day delivered more than a death scene. John Oliver was on set filming his entrance as the mysterious Z. Hawkes could barely contain his excitement. “I thought there was nobody cooler than John Oliver to come in and play Z,” he enthuses. The superfan got a full day beside his comedy hero. Even a dying villain gets parting gifts.
Then came the fatal moment itself. Josslyn pulled the trigger and ended Cullum’s reign for good. Oddly enough, Hawkes felt peace wash over him. “I was like, ‘Okay, they put a bullet in me and now I’m done for the day!'” He lay dead through several more scenes and nearly dozed off. Instead, his mind wandered through gratitude for everyone at the show. He was, in his words, “probably radiating a little love.”
A Villain’s Farewell Full of Heart
Before leaving, Hawkes cornered Valentini for a proper goodbye. He thanked Frank along with casting directors Mark Teschner and Lisa Booth. The show could have hired any big-name actor for Cullum. “They went with me, and it was such a huge learning experience with incredible people,” he says. That humility explains why castmates adored him.
Valentini returned the affection publicly. “We love Andrew,” he tells Digest. “He has been the perfect bad guy, and we wish him nothing but the best.” High praise for the man fans loved to hate. Perfect bad guys rarely stay gone forever in daytime, though. Could the WSB’s dirtiest agent have a twin lurking somewhere?
General Hospital gave Cullum a death worthy of his villainy and gave Hawkes a sendoff full of warmth. His squib discovery story may become soap legend among actors. Meanwhile, Z’s arrival suggests Cullum’s dirty legacy keeps poisoning Port Charles. The bullet ended the man, not the mess he made. Keep checking with Soap Opera Daily to see how deep Cullum’s corruption still runs.