General Hospital spoilers: stage being set for a big return that turns Carly and Willow from enemies to allies?

General Hospital’s Willow (Katelyn MacMullen) certainly isn’t winning any popularity contests in Port Charles (or among General Hospital viewers at home) after her latest stunts.

Not only was she caught sleeping with Michael’s (Chad Duell) uncle Drew (Cameron Mathison), but as Michael hoped to fight for his marriage, she allowed Nina (Cynthia Watros) to interfere and spark a custody war. Then as Willow feigned outrage being served divorce paperwork and found comfort with Drew in bed again, Michael was unexpectedly caught in an explosion in Sonny’s (Maurice Benard) apartment.

Topping this all off, in the General Hospital episode that aired on January 10, Willow used the newfound knowledge that she’s Michael’s medical proxy to keep Sonny and Carly (Laura Wright) away from Michael until they return her kids (who Carly got temporary custody of thanks to Diane [Carolyn Hennesy]). It’s a bold move from Willow and likely will only further antagonize Carly, which may prove very dangerous.

In light of Michael’s dire condition, we predicted that Carly would soon be on a warpath of revenge, out to destroy Willow and Drew in some capacity. While Josslyn’s (Eden McCoy) verbal takedown of her sister-in-law provided must-watch daytime television, we think Carly’s pending fury may be much worse. Beyond eviscerating words, we think Carly may gain conservatorship for Michael’s business affairs, which could prove to be bad news for Drew if he hoped to regain control of Aurora and for Nina as Carly could become her boss.

Should calmer heads not prevail, and a custody war erupts between Willow and Carly, things will likely get downright ugly. They would have effectively gone from being quite close, with Willow even looking at Carly as a mother figure and friend at one point, to being sworn enemies. And while Willow thinks she has the chops to spar against Carly with Nina and Drew in her corner, Willow has no idea just how vengeful the vintage Carly can be. However, as the saying goes, “Experience is the best teacher.”

Allow us to toss out a theory. We can't help but think there’s a chance that Willow and Carly go at it for weeks, completely oblivious to the fact that they could be setting the stage for a big return to Port Charles — Nelle (Chloe Lanier).

To give a little backstory, Nelle was raised as the adoptive sister of Carly years ago but was introduced to the General Hospital canvas as Josslyn’s organ donor. However, as that storyline unfolded, it was shown Nelle was resentful of Carly for abandoning her with their adoptive father Frank, and for Frank illegally selling Nelle’s organ to Jax (Ingo Rademacher) for Josslyn. Nelle went all out to get revenge on Carly, including seducing Michael and conceiving Wylie.

As everyone came to the realization that Nelle was deranged and dangerous, things took a nasty turn as Michael sought full custody of their son, even partnering with Willow to make that happen. Then in a last-ditch attempt at revenge, Nelle and Carly had a showdown which resulted in Nelle falling off a cliff into a river, and her body being “found” in Pennsylvania. Nina found out shortly thereafter that Nelle was her daughter, and Willow officially adopted Wiley.

Having said all of this, yes, Nelle is allegedly dead. However, it’s the soap world, so we understandably have a bit of suspicion that she’s truly gone. She could have faked her death to escape the hot water she was in, or she could have grown tired of fighting against the Corinthos/Quartermaine/Spencer machine via Michael and left town thinking her son would be safe until she could formulate a plan to get Wylie back.

Additionally, to make her death seem official, it’s possible she got help from Brad (Parry Shen) or Julian (William deVry) to make that happen. It’s worth noting, that on The Young and the Restless’ Diane (Susan Walters) faked her death for years before “coming back to life.”

If we happen to be right about Nelle returning, a custody war between Carly and Willow is the perfect time for the character to pop back up. She could throw her hat in the custody ring for Wylie, arguing she’s the birth mother and Willow was only allowed to adopt him because she was presumed dead. With the right attorney, Nelle may have a legitimate claim, which would terrify both Carly and Willow. In fact, the two women may have to call a truce to make sure Nelle is kept far away from Wylie.

Nelle being alive is also an interesting thought, as many General Hospital fans enjoyed watching her unique brand of chaos on the show. Plus, Nelle being back could offer the soap a less murderous villain, which we’d argue General Hospital could use given all the characters that have been murdered off the show lately. And how fun would it be to see Nina stuck in the middle between the twin daughters she didn’t get the opportunity to raise?

To be clear, there’s been no official word from the powers that be that Nelle is returning to the show dead or alive. However, it’s quite the intriguing concept.

New episodes of General Hospital air on weekdays on ABC. If you miss an episode, you can catch up on Hulu.