Cameron Mathison’s Character Drew Is Shot in Intense Cliffhanger

Drew Cain’s (Cameron Mathison) actions finally caught up with him on General Hospital.

On the Sept. 2 episode of the soap opera, Drew was shot in the back at his house. Unbeknownst to him, Kai (Jens Austin Astrup) and Trina (Tabyana Ali) were also inside the home to look for evidence against the congressman.

After arriving home and pouring himself a drink, Drew looked at Willow’s engagement ring and a framed photo of the pair. “It’s all gonna work out, Willow, you’ll see,” he said.

As he finished the drink, Drew found himself in harm’s way when he was shot in the back and collapsed to the ground. With a shadowy figure standing above him, he was shot again and his eyes closed as he lay on the ground.

While it is unclear if Drew survived the attack, the congressman has no shortage of enemies.

Over the last few months, Drew has left the citizens of Port Charles reeling after blackmailing Portia (Brook Kerr), using his position as a congressman to spearhead the destruction of the Quartermaine family crypt and begin an insurance fraud investigation against Stella (Vernee Johnson).

Mathison, 56, admitted his character’s villain turn was leading to the shocking moment.

“Obviously, everybody hates me like crazy, but at the same time, they had to do that for the last four or five months,” he explained in an interview with Soap Opera Digest published Tuesday, Sept. 2. “They can’t just have people not like me. They have to have people want to kill me!” 

He continued: “And in order to have multiple people want to kill you, you’ve got to be pretty despicable — and they’ve done a really good job with that with Drew!”

As for the aftermath of the General Hospital shooting, Mathison compared it to another famous mystery — the”Who shot J.R.?” storyline on Dallas, in which fans clamored to find who was behind the murder attempt on villain J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) on the show’s third season finale, “A House Divided” in 1980.

“I’m super-excited about it,” he admitted. “You know, I watched Dallas back in the day, and in many ways, it’s very in line with the ‘Who Shot JR?’ story.” 

“I don’t care if you are the punching bag for all of Port Charles, you’re still the center of the story and that feels really cool,” he added. “I’m like, ‘Bring it on! Let me be the punching bag! I got this — and I’m gonna punch right back!’”

As for the filming of the episode, Mathison said he was fully committed to Drew’s fate.

“It’s not every day that you get to take a gunshot on camera, and I really wanted to get that right and fall hard,” he added. “And then, from the audience perspective, I knew, ‘The viewers are gonna love this!’ They all want to shoot Drew! Everybody wants Drew shot and dead. So I wanted to make sure that I gave them my all.”

Despite relishing in the character’s villain era, Mathison shared that it is a far cry from who he is as a person.

“I’ve trusted the process and now, it’s become weirdly therapeutic,” he told Soap Opera Digest. “I try to be a really nice human and a good, solid person in my life and I’ve gone through a lot of big life challenges in a very short stretch of time,” which include announcing his split from wife Vanessa Mathison after 22 years of marriage in January 2024 and one year later, losing his house in the Southern California wildfires. 

“I go to work and get to be such a jerk — it’s almost like my little fantasy escape,” he added. “I don’t know if it’s good for my psyche or not, but I’ve really leaned into it!”

“Every time I read a script, I’m like, ‘Oh, my god, Drew, are you kidding me?!,’ And them I’m like, ‘Yup! Let’s go. Let’s just dive in!’ I like to just really let it fester and have it come out and it’s been interesting and it’s been challenging. It’s been very exploratory for me … and also weirdly easy. The more I gave into it and really trusted the process and the writers — I don’t change anything, and I don’t ask to change anything, I just kind of go in and do it — it’s just become easier and easier. That’s maybe a little bit scary, but also really fun!”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC (check local listings).