In 2008, General Hospital put out a casting call for an actor to play "Dante," the son of characters Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) and Olivia Falconeri (Lisa Lo Cicero).

[3][5][6][7] In November 2011, rumors began to surface that Parsons was considering exiting the series,[8] which was effectively confirmed little over a month later following a tweet from co-star Julie Marie Berman.

Holly had told Ethan she had taught him all she knew and he should seek out master con-artist Luke Spencer, in America.

Only then does Tracy admit Ethan may be Lulu's brother and she doctored the DNA results in order to get Holly's son to leave town.

On June 5, 2009, Ethan was revealed to be conspiring and romantically involved with Rebecca Shaw, a newly arrived lookalike of the deceased Emily Quartermaine.

Kristina, who appears to have a crush on Ethan, compliments his singing karaoke at the "nonwedding" party for Maxie Jones and Damian Spinelli.

He walks her to Robin Scorpio's and then arrives at the Quartermaine mansion, where he celebrates with Luke, Lulu, Tracy, Monica, Edward, Alice and Rebecca.

He took Mike Corbin to the hospital after finding him beaten in an alley, tried to comfort Elizabeth after Lulu verbally attacks her at the hospital, went to baby cousin Josslyn Jacks's christening with his family and enjoyed the ceremony, and comforted his sister Lulu after her boyfriend Dante Falconeri is shot.

Johnny Zacchara, who has been trying to take down Sonny Corinthos' organization from the inside, prompts Ethan with an offer to be his sidekick in exchange for a 50/50 split of the profits.

Lucky, in an attempt to keep Ethan safe, threatens to arrest him for an expired visa and have him deported back to Australia.

She shows up at the Haunted Star all dressed up trying to get Ethan's attention, He forcefully gets through to her by grabbing and bruising her arm, to leave him alone.

On June 16, 2010, it proved to make Ethan a bit jealous, although he tried to hide it, and he has tried convincing Kristina it is not a good idea.

Ethan stands at the nurse's hub with Maya Ward when Kristina Davis runs into the lobby yelling.

As Kristina stands outside Johnny's hospital room (after he was shot by Sonny), Ethan finds her and reminds her it is not her fault and everyone has their good and bad parts of life.

In February 2011, Ethan is called to Kelly's by his father Luke Spencer as he is going to Sonny's wedding but has no one to help at the diner.

At the reception, Ethan tells Kristina he doesn't remember much about his own wedding to Maya in Las Vegas since they were drunk and married by accident.

Ethan shielded Kristina, Molly and Morgan from the bomb blast and made the decision to take the children back to Alexis' lake house.

Upon their return to Port Charles, Ethan texts Lulu about his nuptials and asks her to 'break the news to Edward since he has a soft spot for her.

Ethan's mixed signals towards Kristina for several months only compounded the problem, especially when he made his marriage to Maya seem like it was simply a business arrangement.

After a few days of fun in the sun and a humorous mix-up in the divorce officiator's office, her parents escorted the two back to Port Charles.

After the kiss, Kristina informs Ethan she still has romantic feelings for him, but their conversation is interrupted by Alexis and Molly coming home.

Throughout all of this, Ethan himself has shown on numerous occasions he could also be developing feelings for her, albeit conflicted, through the actions which he has taken in Kristina's honor, i.e. protecting her with an intensity that eventually caused Johnny to urge him to admit he likes her.

Shortly after, at Luke's request, Ethan decides to leave town and "disappear for a while" to keep the lie believable for Robert's sake.

Then Robert and Holly quickly leave town in pursuit of "their" son, Ethan, and his supposed captor, Helena Cassadine.

Helena causes Ethan to be found by Luke and Laura on the Haunted Star in the Atlantic Ocean as a distraction for the couple during the search for their daughter Lulu.

Ethan shows up in Monte Carlo surprising Olivia Quartermaine (Lisa LoCicero) and Robert Scorpio (Tristan Rogers).

After talking with Olivia, he punches Robert in the face to get the attention of management so that they could go into the back where they think Holly Sutton-Scorpio (Emma Samms) may be being held captive.

[1] In March 2009 Soaps In Depth magazine credited Parsons with "taking the show by storm" and dubbed Ethan "one of daytime's most riveting young characters.

"[21] Controversy surrounded the actor and the character when it was revealed Ethan was a product of an affair between Luke Spencer and Holly Sutton.

"[22] Charlie Mason and Richard Simms from Soaps She Knows called the 2023 recasting of Ethan the "Most Pointless Recast" in American soap operas of that year, commenting that they had "barely gotten a glimpse of General Hospital's new Ethan — let alone adjusted to him suddenly being blond — when Holly and Luke's son left on a new adventure".