Port Charles is bidding farewell to its resident antagonist. A spokesperson for General Hospital confirmed to Soap Opera Digest that Avery Pohl has officially exited the long-running soap opera after her character, Esme Prince, was presumed dead.

On Wednesday’s (Jan. 31) episode of General Hospital, Esme met her fate when she attempted to murder her ex-boyfriend Spencer Cassadine (Nicholas Chavez) and his new girlfriend Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali) while onboard a yacht in Paris. In an attempt to save Trina, Spencer wrestled with Esme only for the two of them to fall overboard.

“At the end of the day, my job is to help tell a story and to entertain people, and if people are entertained by the fact that they love to loathe me, then I guess my job is done!” Pohl said of playing a villain, per Soap Opera Digest.

Chavez’s departure, on the other hand, doesn’t come as much of a shock seeing as he’s gearing up to star in a leading role in Ryan Murphy‘s Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. However, TV Insider reports that it is still possible for his character to return to General Hospital in the future.

Pohl made her General Hospital debut in August 2021 when her character was introduced as Spencer’s girlfriend. As it turns out, Esme was the biological daughter of serial killers Ryan Chamberlain (Jon Lindstrom) and Heather Webber (Robin Mattson/Ali Mills) — and her unhinged nature truly came into play when she released footage of Cameron (William Lipton) and Josslyn (Eden McCoy) having sex and later framed Trina for the revenge porn.

While Pohl and Ali’s characters are at odds in General Hospital, the two actresses couldn’t be closer in real life.

“With Avery, it’s a little different because she lives right across the street from me and I talk to her all the time,” Ali told Soap Opera Digest. “But I was still like, ‘Dang, I’m not going to see you at work! But I will see you in the neighborhood!'”

She continued, “We talk and hang out frequently, but I hate that I’m not going to see her at work. I’ll still call her every day but I am going to miss seeing her at work. The day that Avery left was a very tearful day. We all gave her hugs and flowers and gifts. It was a bittersweet thing.”

General Hospital airs on weekdays at 3 p.m. ET on ABC. New episodes are available to stream the next day on Hulu.