Twin storylines may be a classic soap opera staple, but the twin twist General Hospital is rumored to have on the horizon will be one for the books. Though nothing has been officially confirmed, viewers are pretty much convinced that the Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) we've been seeing in Port Charles is actually her twin sister, Alexandra.
Funny enough, this isn't the first time the gorgeous twins have been caught up in an identity mystery. Alex Devane was first introduced to soap audiences back in 1999, when Finola Hughes joined the cast of All My Children. While viewers initially thought the actress would be headed to Pine Valley as Anna, she actually debuted as an Anna look-alike named Alexandra Devane. But, as with any truly great soap opera storyline, it wasn't nearly as simple as that.
The origins of Alex Devane: an empty funeral casket, a lunatic mother, and more
Neurosurgeon Alexandra Devane arrived in AMC's Pine Valley as the brand-new wife of returning character Dimitri Marick (Michael Nader). But her newlywed bliss didn't last long. Before the pair could break the news of their marriage, Dimitri fell ill and died. His family grew suspicious when Alex acted strangely about her hubby's death, refusing an autopsy and insisting on a closed casket funeral. Unable to accept his brother's demise, Edmund Grey (John Callahan) sprung Dimitri's casket open and was shocked to find it empty. Alex was then forced to explain that Dimitri was still alive, but he didn't want his family to see him barely clinging to life. Edmund convinced Alex to use a radical treatment to try to save his brother, and although it appeared to be working, Dimitri later went missing and was presumed to have drowned in the nearby ocean.
After mourning Dimitri's death, Alex and Edmund found themselves falling in love with each other. But once again, Alex's happiness was short-lived, as she began having strange flashbacks. With Edmund's help, she was shocked to discover that she had a twin sister named Anna and that Charlotte, the woman Alex believed to be her mother, had brainwashed Alex years earlier into thinking she was Anna as a plot to trick Alex into killing her.
While Alex was reeling over the news that she had a twin sister and that her "mother" was actually an unrelated lunatic murderer, the neurosurgeon's life got even more complicated: Dimitri returned, very much alive and well! After he explained that Charlotte's thugs had kidnapped him, Alex broke things off with Edmund and reunited with her husband.
When Alex went missing not long after, Dimitri jumped to the conclusion that his jealous brother had kidnapped her. However, Dimitri and Edmund were shocked to discover Alex had actually been in Canada, trying to nurse her falsely presumed dead twin sister, Anna, back to health!
With the threat of Charlotte still looming, Alex secretly transported her sister back to Pine Valley, where she was treated and stayed hidden within the walls of Dimitri and Edmund's mansion, Wildwind. Soon after, Anna's life was threatened when a hit man broke in and nearly killed her. But when the mystery man couldn't go through with his job, it was revealed that he was Anna and Alex's half-brother, Gabriel, who had also been brainwashed by Charlotte.
Anna was lucky to have escaped Charlotte's assassination plot, but Dimitri and Edmund's niece, Gillian (Esther Terblanche), wasn't so lucky. The beloved brunette was shot and killed when another of Charlotte's assassins mistook her for Anna. Racked with guilt for the pain and horror she had brought to everyone in Pine Valley -- and especially for Gillian's untimely death -- Alex decided to relocate to Hungary with Dimitri in 2001.
How Alex could fit into GH
So where exactly is Alex today? It was revealed years ago that she and Dimitri had gotten a divorce, but that's the only nugget of information soap viewers have been given in the last 1.5 decades. But Alex is somewhere out there (perhaps living in Port Charles as Anna?), and now that the lawsuit between ABC and Prospect Park has been settled, characters from AMC and One Life to Live are once again able to appear in Port Charles (an example being Hillary Smith's recent appearance as Nora Buchanan). That means it's entirely possible that Alex will appear and may even hold the key to Anna's mysterious past with Valentin (James Patrick Stuart). Viewers will have to stay tuned to find out!
How do you feel about the possibility of Alex Devane coming to GH? Did you watch AMC when the character came to Pine Valley? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
