Helena Cassadine

**Helena Cassadine** was a fictional character on *General Hospital*.

Since her debut and even in death, Helena has been the main overarching antagonist of GH, and is known to be the most notorious and wicked female villain in GH and soap history.

The character reappeared 15 years later in 1996 for two or three episodes by actress Dimitra Arliss, and was recast with Constance Towers in 1997, for periods of varying length, nearly every year since.

Helena returned in 2014 after Robin Scorpio-Drake developed a protocol that revived her, but died in 2015 after being poisoned by her grandson Nikolas and later replaced by her male counterpart Landon Dixon who has Helena's instincts in 2016.

It was revealed in October 2009, that the only person Helena ever feared was her illegitimate son Valentin Cassadine. She was terrified of him to the point that she begged her most hated enemy, Luke to help her fend him off.

During her recurring appearances throughout the years; Helena wrecked havoc and terrorized the citizens of Port Charles, even mob boss Sonny Corinthos. She mainly targeted the Spencers' and most of Nikolas' love interests. However, she did have a small feud with the Quartermaine's and Scorpio's. Even after her death at Nikolas' hands, she continues to wreak havoc on PC residents and be behind the schemes of other villains.

Helena was pure evil, with little to no redeeming qualities and was the type of villain who committed countless crimes from blackmail, murder, kidnapping, conspiracy to committing mass murder, attempted murder, switching paternity tests, faking people's deaths and having their loved ones grieve, putting curses on her victims, bringing her relatives back from the dead, brainwashing people and trying to take over the world like her husband once did.

## Casting

A fan of the series and wildly and famous popular supercouple Luke Spencer and Laura Webber (Anthony Geary and Genie Francis), Taylor called then-Executive Producer Gloria Monty in 1981 and asked for a cameo role. She was cast as Helena, the vengeful widow of villain Mikkos Cassadine, who had died at the climax of that summer's popular "Ice Princess" storyline.

Luke and Laura's November 16, 1981 wedding, featuring Taylor's Helena, was watched by 30 million viewers and remains the highest-rated hour in American soap opera history. Dimitra Arliss appeared briefly as the character in 1996.

Constance Towers was later introduced as Helena on December 19, 1997.

Towers was a regular presence on the series until April 9, 2002; later returning on October 16 and 17, 2003; in December 2003, and from January 16 to October 2004. Towers' Helena reappeared in January 2005, April and May 2005, October and November 2005, and January 2006.

Most recently; Towers returned from April 13 to April 21, 2009; and again on June 4, 2009.

Towers appeared again from November 30 to December 3, 2012 and from March 29 to April 3, 2013 when she was allegedly killed off, although she appeared in Nikolas' flashbacks on April 11, 2013. She also appeared in a video on June 25, 2013 and again as a ghost on September 27, 2013.

Towers returned to the role for an extended arc from September 17, 2014 until February 20, 2015 when Helena was revealed to be alive. She made a one-day return on July 9, 2015.

Towers reprised the role again from November 19 until November 23, 2015 when Helena died of "natural causes" (later revealed to actually have been poisoned by Nikolas), but she made several guest appearances in 2016 after being replaced by Troy Ruptash as Landon Dixon who had the late Helena Cassadine's instincts.

On May 9, 2017; *Soap Opera Digest* announced that Towers would once again reprise the role of Helena. She returned from May 10 to May 26, 2017 before and after being replaced by her onscreen grandchildren Jack Dylan Grazer as Donald Cassadine and Scarlett Fernandez as Charlotte Cassadine.

On August 13, 2019; it was announced that Towers would return to *GH* in a flashback for Chief Andrew Cain's (Billy Miller & Steve Burton) and Hank Archer's (Coby Ryan McLaughlin) time in Afghanistan. She appeared on August 19 and August 21, 2019.

On February 1, 2020; it was revealed that Towers would return to *GH* sometime during February sweeps. She returned from February 13 to February 14, 2020.

On October 29, 2020; it was revealed that Towers would be making another return to *GH* as Helena Cassadine. It was also revealed that Towers filmed new scenes from her own home due to the pandemic. Towers returned as the voice of Helena from October 29 to October 30, 2020.

On December 4, 2021; it was revealed that Towers filmed a scene and would be returning soon. Towers appeared on the January 21, 2022 episode where a video of Helena surfaces following Luke's death.

On March 31, 2023; it was revealed on Facebook that Towers will return to *GH* as Helena for two episodes in May. She returned from May 3 to May 4, 2023.

On May 3, 2023; she returned as a hallucination seen by her only living child, Valentin after he was injected with a pathogen by order of his father Victor using him as a guinea pig for his scheme to cull the population before being.

## Storylines

On March 14, 2016; Helena's last will and testament was shown and she promised everyone who attended; Laura, Elizabeth, Nikolas, Sam, Alexis, and Lulu that she intends to immortalize herself through her will one month after the wedding disaster at the All Saints Church occurred by a man named Landon Dixon who had Helena's instincts as her male counterpart with a hostage situation which violated everybody's constitutional rights with the help of Mayor Janice Lomax leaving her outraged and security at the All Saints Church was later tightened in the aftermath because Mayor Lomax had no skills of being a hostage negotiator.

On August 19, 2019; it was revealed that Helena had approached Hank Archer who bore a striking resemblance to Nathan West in Afghanistan in July of 2012 in hopes of acquiring Jason Morgan's identical twin brother, Chief Andrew Cain so she could use him as her "soldier boy." She threatened to kill Hank if anything happened to Drew and had her men pay him for capturing him. It was also revealed that Peter August aided and abetted Helena in kidnapping Drew.

## Relationships

* Family
* Friends
* Enemies

* Charlotte Cassadine - Helena's granddaughter
* Donald Cassadine - Helena's grandson
* Mikkos Cassadine - Helena's husband (deceased)
* Nikolas Cassadine - Helena's grandson (deceased)
* Stavros Cassadine - Helena's son with Mikkos (deceased)
* Stefan Cassadine - Helena's son with Mikkos (deceased)
* Spencer Cassadine - Helena's great-grandson and Nikolas' son
* Tony Cassadine - Helena's brother-in-law (deceased)
* Valentin Cassadine - Helena's son with Victor
* Victor Cassadine - Helena's brother-in-law (deceased)
* Alexis Davis - Helena's stepdaughter and Mikkos' daughter with Kristen
* Kristina Davis - Helena's step-granddaughter and Alexis' daughter with Sonny
* Molly Lansing-Davis - Helena's step-granddaughter and Alexis' daughter with Ric
* Sam McCall - Helena's step-granddaughter and Alexis' daughter with Julian
* Ace Prince-Cassadine - Helena's great-grandson and Nikolas' son

* Diego Alcazar - (deceased)
* Lorenzo Alcazar - (deceased)
* Luis Alcazar - (deceased)
* Hank Archer - aka Shiloh (deceased)
* Raymond Berlin
* Landon Dixon - Helena's male counterpart (captured)
* Cesar Faison - (deceased)
* Sonny Faison - Faison's son with an unknown woman
* Peter Harrell, Jr. - (deceased)
* Peter Harrell, Sr. - (deceased)
* Paul Hornsby - Former District Attorney (imprisoned)
* Jerry Jacks
* Raj Patel - Her son Stavros' counterpart (deceased)
* Jeffrey Scribner - (deceased)
* Joe Scully, Jr. - (deceased)
* Kyle Sloane - (deceased)
* Ted

* Haley Adams
* Leah Adams
* Randy Ashcroft - Sheriff of the Eerie County Sheriff's Department
* Curtis Ashford
* Jordan Ashford - Former Commissioner of the Port Charles Police Department and current Deputy Mayor of Port Charles
* T.J. Ashford
* Franco Baldwin - (deceased)
* Scott Baldwin - Former District Attorney
* Hayden Barnes - Franco's female counterpart/sister-in-law
* Shawn Butler
* Drew Cain - Former Navy SEAL
* Lucy Coe
* Kevin Collins
* Laura Collins - Current Mayor of Port Charles
* Brad Cooper
* Mike Corbin - Sonny and Courtney's father and her great-grandson Spencer's maternal grandfather (deceased)
* Michael Corinthos
* Morgan Corinthos - (deceased)
* Sonny Corinthos - Her step-granddaughter Kristina's father and her great-grandson Spencer's uncle
* Anna Devane - Former Commissioner of the Port Charles Police Department
* Roy DiLucca
* Patrick Drake - Her son Valentin's counterpart
* Felix DuBois
* Dante Falconeri - Lulu's ex-husband and Sonny and Olivia's son
* Pres Floyd - Former Mayor of Port Charles
* Russell Ford - Former General Hospital Chief of Staff (deceased)
* Audrey Hardy - Former General Hospital Head Nurse
* Steve Hardy - Former General Hospital Chief of Staff (deceased)
* James Horowitz
* Jasper "Jax" Jacks
* Ava Jerome - Helena's ex-granddaughter-in-law
* Julian Jerome - (deceased)
* Kiki Jerome - Helena's ex-step great-granddaughter (deceased)
* Epiphany Johnson - Former General Hospital Head Nurse (deceased)
* Maxie Jones
* Tony Jones - (deceased)
* Ric Lansing - Helena's ex-stepson-in-law and former District Attorney
* Duke Lavery - (deceased)
* Janice Lomax - Former Mayor of Port Charles
* Ethan Lovett
* Andre Maddox
* Courtney Matthews - Her great-grandson Spencer's biological mother (deceased)
* Jason Morgan - (deceased)
* A.J. Quartermaine - (deceased)
* Alan Quartermaine - (deceased)
* Amanda Quartermaine - Michael's cousin, Nicolas and Molly's daughter
* Brook Lynn Quartermaine
* Edward Quartermaine - Michael's great-grandfather (deceased)
* Emily Quartermaine - (deceased)
* Lila Quartermaine - Michael's great-grandmother (deceased)
* Molly Quartermaine - Michael's aunt by marriage to Nicolas
* Monica Quartermaine - Current General Hospital Chairperson of the board
* Ned Quartermaine
* Nicolas Quartermaine - Michael's uncle
* Olivia Quartermaine - Dante's and Leo's mother
* Tracy Quartermaine
* Coleman Ratcliffe
* Nina Reeves - Helena's ex-daughter-in-law
* Sabrina Santiago - (deceased)
* Felicia Scorpio
* James Scorpio
* Mac Scorpio - Current Commissioner and former Chief of Detectives of the Port Charles Police Department
* Robert Scorpio - Former Commissioner of the Port Charles Police Department, former WSB agent, and current district attorney
* Robin Scorpio-Drake - Now living in Berkeley
* Bobbie Spencer
* Carly Spencer
* Lucky Spencer - Luke's and Larua's son
* Luke Spencer - Helena's longtime enemy and rival (deceased)
* Lulu Spencer - Luke's and Laura's daughter and her granddaughter Charlotte's mother (hospitalized)
* Valerie Spencer
* Damian Spinelli - Private investigator
* Marcus Taggert
* Ellie Trout
* Twyla
* David Walters
* Jeff Webber - Rick's half-brother, Elizabeth's father and Cameron's Jake's and Aiden's maternal grandfather
* Elizabeth Webber
* Lesley Webber - Larua's mother
* Rick Webber - Lesley late husband and Jeff's half-brother (deceased)
* Mary Wells - Current General Hospital Head Nurse
* Nathan West - (deceased)