General Hospital Comings & Goings: Chris McKenna Exiting as Jack Brennan

General Hospital is saying good-bye to Chris McKenna, who has played Jack Brennan since February 2025. Chris McKenna is exiting the soap, with Brennan purportedly set to be killed off. WSB Chief Jack Brennan was originally played by Charles Mesure, who debuted on December 1st 2023. Mesure chose to leave General Hospital and he aired for the final time on January 30th 2025, just as Brennan’s romance with Carly Spencer (Laura Wright) was heating up.

Chris McKenna made his Port Charles debut the following week, having known Wright for so long helped him jump right into the storyline. It was jarring to the fans, the timing of the way Chris McKenna came in, but McKenna and Wright have known each other for decades and it was a really special thing as soon as they started working together. The first thing McKenna and Wright had to shoot was the Valentine’s Day episode and they immediately had to go right into the heavy romance.

That could have been a challenge, but it was so much fun and Wright made it great. Chris McKenna began his stint on General Hospital as a recurring player, but in August 2025, he confirmed on X that he had signed a contract with the show. The overwhelming support from fans helped make it happen.

Even as Chris McKenna inked a deal with the show, Brennan and Spencer’s relationship was hitting the skids.

When Spencer discovered that Brennan had secretly recruited her daughter, Josslyn (Eden McCoy), as a WSB agent, she began plotting against him with the help of Valentin Cassadine (James Patrick Stuart), leading to a dramatic showdown this past spring in which Brennan learned that Spencer had been playing him for months and sleeping with his enemy, Valentin. After Brennan’s split from Spencer, surviving both a bout of locked-in syndrome courtesy of Nina Reeves (Cynthia Watros), and an attempt on his life by corrupt WSB Director Ross Cullum (Andrew Hawkes), things seemed to be looking up for Brennan as he fell into a surprise sexual entanglement with Nina. However, it now appears as though the Brennan/Reeves honeymoon period will soon be coming to an end.

Chris McKenna’s exit from General Hospital comes 26 years after he began his soap career at the age of 12, playing Joey Buchanan on ABC’s One Life to Live from 1990-93. In 2014, Chris McKenna returned to daytime to portray cop/murderer Mark Harding on CBS’s The Young and the Restless. After that gig ended in 2015, Chris McKenna played the short-term role of Dr. Hayden on The Bold and the Beautiful as Dr. Hayden.

News of Chris McKenna’s departure comes amid a rash of cast changes at the show. In July, Ryan Paevey (Cassius Faison) and Andrew Hawkes (Cullum) wrapped their runs, the show wrote out Maxie Jones, the long-running character played by Kirsten Storms (Maxie Jones), along with Maxie’s love interest, Damian Spinelli (Bradford Anderson), and Nathan Dean aired for the final time as Ethan Lovett. Meanwhile, General Hospital introduced several new cast members, including Dean Geyer as Tristan Roberts and Kelly Kruger as Serena Baldwin.

Chris McKenna is an American actor.

Born October 18th 1977, Chris McKenna is best known for his roles in a number of television series. Chris McKenna is known to daytime television audiences for his portrayal of Joey Buchanan on ABC’s daytime soap opera One Life to Live from 1990 to 1993. Chris McKenna is also known for playing the lead role in the 2003 film King of the Ants, a role which earned him critical acclaim.

On October 22nd 2000, Chris McKenna played Greg, a college jock who wants to join the Phi Iota Gamma fraternity in the television drama Touched by an Angel on CBS.

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