‘General Hospital’ News: Richard Burgi Talks About His Shocking Exit, Ends His Reign As Paul Hornsby On ‘GH’

Richard Burgi will wrap up his run on General Hospital next week, and given his serial killer status, Richard Burgi was not shocked to learn Paul Hornsby’s fate, Soap Opera Digest reports.

“It’s not my first rodeo. It’s not my first time hearing ‘Come on in! We’ve got to get rid of you,'” Burgi laughed.

Even so, Richard says he harbors no resentment towards his boss, Frank Valentini. He reveals that he doesn’t take it personally and felt that Frank was upfront with him about his character. Burgi explained that now that his General Hospital run is over, he can explore other opportunities.

“A contract on a soap, for some people, is really wonderful, but for me, it was like golden handcuffs. It was nice knowing that I was going to get a steady income, but I couldn’t do anything else, really, though I manage to wedge in an episode of the series Rush Hour last year. The other piece is that I may have been expensive for the company and my character didn’t substantiate having to keep me around for that. that’s kind of what I got, that ABC is making cuts and I’m just one of the characters that were on the bubble of importance.”

Richard explained that he had difficulty understanding his character’s descent into becoming a serial killer. He found the storyline strange and wondered why General Hospital chose to make him a cold-blooded murderer. Burgi struggled with the storyline and tried to make it as believable as possible, but he struggled to connect with his character when Paul went off the rails.

The General Hospital star revealed that his toughest day on the job was when they taped Sabrina’s (Teresa Castillo) brutal murder.

“As an actor, I’ve done crazy things and I probably will again, but that was really disturbing. I had a very hard time doing it.”

Even now, Burgi admits that he feels such sadness about Teresa losing her job on General Hospital. Richard explained that he spoke to her about her departure and she felt it was time to move on, but still, he cannot help but feel bad for her.

“I had a lot of sadness about her leaving. I had a lot of sadness for people that were driven to commit horrible acts of violence because they felt they had no other choice (like Paul Hornsby). After we taped the scene, I burst into tears and I cried a while. It was therapeutic. for me.”

Richard will cherish the time he spent on General Hospital. He said that Finola Hughes (Anna), Jane Elliot (Tracy), and Maura West (Ava) are a great group of ladies who challenged him every day on the set. He explained that they each brought something unique to the table and “kept him on his toes.”

On his last day on the General Hospital set, the other cast members couldn’t believe that he wouldn’t be on the show anymore. Richard did say he was disappointed that the GH writers decided to shuffle Paul to jail instead of making his fate a little more fitting, Soap Opera Spy reports.

” I think it would have been more fitting for Paul to end up identical to his daughter, just catatonic and unable to speak and function because of the weight of what he’s done.”

General Hospital spoilers tease that we may see Paul in the future because, in the entertainment business, a jail sentence doesn’t mean you are off the show permanently. General Hospital fans, do you think Paul can be redeemed for his horrible crimes?

Chilling… Paul tells a terrified Sabrini that he can't let her go #gh https://t.co/asABloUFRC

— The WSB ??? (@The_WSB) September 19, 2016

General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC daytime.

[Featured Image by Angela Weiss/Getty Images]