‘General Hospital’ star Avery Pohl abruptly exits after character is presumed dead in shocking cliffhanger

“General Hospital” has lost another cast member.

Avery Pohl — who played Esme Prince — has exited the long-running ABC soap opera after her character presumably died on the Jan. 31 episode.

Her departure was confirmed to Soap Opera Digest on Thursday.

“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 in a statement.

The episode showed Nicholas Alexander Chavez’s character, Spencer, die alongside Esme after she stabbed him with a drug injection on a yacht in Paris.

Pohl played Chavez’s love interest — and eventual deranged ex.

Esme was jealous of his newfound relationship with Trina (Tabyana Ali) and she turned homicidal.

As Spencer and his ex were fighting, both fell into the ocean and drowned.

Pohl joined the soap in August 2021 and appeared in more than 200 episodes. She took to Instagram at the time to express her joy over her life-changing casting.

“Look out everyone … Esme Prince has officially made it to Port Charles!! I swear my face is ECSTATIC under my mask,” she captioned a photo.

“So thrilled to join @generalhospitalabc and work with this AMAZING cast and crew. Special thank you to Frank Valentini, Mark Teschner and all of the producers, writers, and directors. So honored to get to work with such kind and hard working people … One final thank you to @jaykgallagher Tony Martinez and everyone at @kmrtalent for their hard work and support over the years!”

Pohl and Ali may have played enemies on “General Hospital,” but they are best friends in real life.

Ali told “Soap Opera Digest” that she will miss working with Pohl on set every day.

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

She added that she chats and hangs out with Pohl “frequently.”

“The day that Avery left was a very tearful day. We all gave her hugs and flowers and gifts. It was a bittersweet thing.”