Nathan West (General Hospital)

Casting and creation In November 2013, the producers released a casting call for a contract role. In late December 2013, head writer Ron Carlivati announced on Twitter that model turned actor Ryan Paevey had joined the cast in the contract role of Detective Nathan West. The December 30th edition of Soap Opera Digest revealed that Paevey's first scenes were with Kirsten Storms, who played Maxie Jones. ABC Soaps In Depth confirmed the character's full name to be Nathan West. Paevey made his debut as a contract cast member. Though he was originally slated to appear on December 27, Paevey's first air date was pushed back to December 30, due to news coverage. During an interview with AfterBuzz TV, Paevey revealed that the rather unconventional casting process started when he was just lounging around with his close friends and management team and one of his managers suggested that Paevey should meet with casting director Mark Teschner. Paevey revealed that when he first auditioned for the show, "there was no part. They just wanted some young blood on the show." The producers had the actor come in to read dummy sides quite a few times. He was brought back to audition again for executive producer Frank Valentini and other people from the network. Of his casting, Paevey said, "This is my first series regular role, the first time I have a dressing room with my name on the door. I'm not an ego guy, but by the same token, I also kind of wanted to my best to fit in quickly." In August 2025, it was announced Paevey was returning to General Hospital in an undisclosed role. The following month, it was announced he would reprise the role of Nathan beginning with the September 19 episode. In March 2026, it was revealed that Paevey was in fact portraying Nathan's twin, Cassius Faison posing as Nathan. Characterization {{quote box The initial casting notice described the character as a "Caucasian" in his "late 20s" who is "handsome, sexy" and "dynamic." The character was further described as a "rich, privileged, charming badboy." Ron Carlivati described Nathan as a "hard-nosed, buttoned-down, practical guy." Soap Opera Digest described Nathan as a "hard-driving cop character." Paevey immediately rejected the notion that Nathan could have a dark side because of his genetics – "I don't think he's the type" Paevey insisted. According to Paevey, Nathan is not "morally ambiguous." He doesn't have some deep dark sketchy past that he is trying to live down. Nathan is "straight and he's clear. My gut tells me that," Paevey said. Introduction (2014) Not attaching Nathan to a specific love interest immediately allows for the writers to slowly integrate him into the canvas. In 2014, legendary actress Donna Mills, known for her portrayal of Abby Cunningham on the prime time soap, Knots Landing was cast in the role of Madeline Reeves—Nathan's mother. It is revealed that Madeline raised Nathan to believe Silas was guilty and he is working on her behalf to lock Silas up for Nina's condition. Despite acting to avenge his sister, Nathan tolerates Madeline's disdain for his career choice because she thinks it is "below them." Madeline is forced to come clean after learning that Nathan and Britt nearly slept together. Soaps In Depth said Nathan is in a "rock and hard place" with mothers like Obrecht and Madeline. Nathan must come to terms with the fact that "the murderer he thought to be his mother is actually his aunt. And the murderer he believed to be just another nutjob is actually his biological mother!" According to Paevey, Nathan is immediately put off by the revelation of his connection to Obrecht due to her less than stellar reputation and he is reluctant to have anything to do with her. While she is genuinely interested in building a relationship, he is not. Though Paevey expected Nathan to eventually bond with Obrecht, Ron Carlivati insisted it would take much more than the information for Nathan to come to see Liesl as his mother especially because of his feelings towards Madeline. For Nathan, his relationship with Nina has always been "sacrosanct" and he is that one good thing in her life which makes him vulnerable to her schemes. When Madeline is released from prison, Nathan tries to give her the benefit of the doubt because her actions don't negate the good she did in raising him. As for his feelings toward Obrecht, Nathan recognizes she isn't "all-bad." However, Carol Baroom from SoapHub said the Faison theory "doesn't make sense" because there would have been no reason for Obrecht to give Nathan up—she would have raised him with Faison and Britt. Faison as Nathan's father would also contradict Obrecht's prior disappointment with being unable to give him a male heir. Baroom also suggested that Obrecht feels it would hurt Faison to know she had another man's child. In June 2014, when Thaao Penghlis announced that he would reprise his role as Victor Cassadine, Daytime Confidential speculated that Victor could turn out to be Nathan's father. During an interview in July 2014, Ryan Paevey guessed that his character would turn out to be a member of the famous, yet infamous Cassadine family. Then head writer Ron Carlivati revealed that there was much more to Victor and Obrecht's relationship than expected. Though she viewed Victor as the more "feasible" candidate for Nathan's father, Carol Baroom immediately questioned Obrecht's motives for hiding Nathan from Victor and vice versa. In March 2015, Janette Smith of Soap Opera Spy recognized that Obrecht "fears for the safety of Nathan if his father is ever revealed" and proposed yet another potential candidate as Nathan's father. Based on Obrecht going to such extreme lengths to keep Nathan from questioning his paternity, Smith speculated that Nathan's father could actually be the never before seen Valentin Cassadine—a character that was slated to be introduced in 2009, but the story was terminated before it hit airwaves. Even the notoriously evil Helena Cassadine (Constance Towers) who had wreaked havoc on Port Charles for years was visibly terrified of Valentin when the character was first mentioned in 2009 as he was supposed to be more much more lethal than any of the other Cassadines. Relationships played Levi, who does his best to isolate Maxie from her loved ones, putting him at odds with Nathan. Nathan's only significant romance within the series to date is his relationship with Maxie Jones (Kirsten Storms). Ron Carlivati recalled during an interview with Soap Opera Digest, "When we saw Ryan [Paevey, Nathan] we thought, 'Oh, wow, he'd be really great for Maxie.'" Unlike Levi, Nathan is supportive of any decision Maxie makes on her own—but they struggle to recognize how right they are each other. But it Nathan's willingness to break the law for Maxie by committing perjury that allows for fans to root for the couple. Though there seems to be more to the story than Nathan is willing to admit, according to Ryan Paevey, it is Nathan's honest nature that forces him to come clean. Nathan "recognizes how glaringly out of character" the consistent lying is. Though he has some encouragement from Griffin Munro (Matt Cohen), Paevey insisted that Nathan would've eventually came clean on his own—but confiding in the doctor-priest helped hasten his decision. Despite the lie, Nathan fears that "knowing all these things is going to make [Maxie] view him as someone that she doesn't want to be with." Nathan doesn't have any cards left to play once he comes clean. He confesses and hopes "their feelings are strong enough to carry them through this." == Storylines ==