Spencer Cassadine (Nicolas Bechtel)


 * Spencer redirects here. For the other uses of the name, see Spencer (disambiguation)

Prince Spencer Stefan Niklosovich Cassadine is a fictional character on the ABC daytime soap opera General Hospital. He is the son of Prince Nikolas Cassadine and the late, Courtney Matthews.

He was also conceived during an affair that his parents had while they were both married to other people:
 * Nikolas to Emily Quartermaine, who acted as his mother until her death in 2007.
 * Courtney to Jasper Jacks, who was believed to be his father for the first few months of his life.

Spencer is seen as a miracle child because his mother, Courtney was told that she was infertile due to a miscarriage.

Casting
Twins Nicholas and Caden Laughlin portrayed Spencer in 2006.

Twins Nathan and Spencer Casamassima portrayed Spencer from October 2006-07.

Lance Doven portrayed Spencer for a couple of episodes in 2008.

Rami Yousef portrayed Spencer for one episode in 2008.

Child actor, Davin Ransom, is most notable in the role, portraying Spencer from 2009-11.

He is currently being portrayed by Nicolas Bechtel, who debuted on May 16, 2013.

Bechtel is also currently playing Lewie Diaz on 's,.

Due to his busy schedule shooting for Stuck in the Middle, Bechtel hasn't been seen on GH since October 19, 2015, but he'll be back on set on May 5, shooting episodes set to air on June 1 and 2.

Background
Courtney Matthews first finds out she's pregnant soon after divorcing her husband, Jasper "Jax" Jacks. She and her current boyfriend, Nikolas Cassadine, are overjoyed as Courtney thought she was infertile.

Jax finds out, though, and demands a paternity test be done. It comes back saying that Jax is the father. Courtney and Nikolas still decide that they will fight to keep the baby with them once it is born.

Nikolas's grandmother, Helena Cassadine, also finds out about Courtney's baby. Trying for years to control the Cassadine empire through Nikolas, Helena finally sees the means to gain access to the Cassadine money by taking Courtney's baby to raise as the Cassadine heir.

Courtney decides to leave town to give herself some space to think. Helena kidnaps her just as she gets out, but Courtney eventually overpowers her and escapes. With the help of her father, Mike Corbin, Courtney goes into hiding.

Through his father's marriage, he gained Hayden Barnes as a stepmother.

Through his uncle Sonny's marriage, he gained Carly Corinthos-Jacks as an aunt.

Storylines
In Febuary 2006, Port Charles is hit by a deadly encephalitis plague. Both Nikolas and Courtney contract the virus. They end up getting engaged, but due to the virus the baby is at risk so Courtney decides that she wants to have a C-section no matter what the risk is for her. Courtney tells the doctors to save her unborn baby, as she fought to keep him alive. On February 20, 2006, she gives birth to a severely premature baby boy via C-section, and doctors are able to keep him breathing. Jax and Nikolas, who have recovered from the virus, keep an eye on the baby for Courtney. Courtney tells Jax she wants to name the baby John, after Jax's father. Overwhelmed with guilt, Jax confesses to Courtney that Nikolas is the baby's biological father, and that he had the test changed so that it would look like he was the father. Courtney tries to tell Nikolas this, but by the time he arrives, Courtney is severely weakened and dies without telling Nikolas the truth.
 * -|2006-09=

Baby John, as he is called, is able to fight despite being premature. He is infected by the virus, but luckily, he recovers. While he is in the hospital, Nikolas visits John to fulfill Courtney's wish of wanting to take care of her baby with him. Unfortunately, Jax keeps him away by ordering doctors not to allow Nikolas to see him, then getting a restraining order placed against Nikolas to make sure he stays away from John. When John recovers and leaves the hospital, Jax raises him with the help of Carly Corinthos, Courtney's best friend who he is now dating. The doctor who initially switched the DNA tests retires, and leaves behind the actual results. Meanwhile, Nikolas has another DNA test run on John, which Carly tampers with so Nikolas won't find out the truth. In June 2006, Jax holds a baptism for Courtney's son, naming him John Michael Jacks, after his father and Courtney's, and naming Carly the godmother. Dr. Robin Scorpio finds the results of the original paternity test, and realizes what Carly did to Nikolas' test. She tells Nikolas the truth at John's baptism. Nikolas doesn't believe her. Jax, however, intercedes and tells Nikolas that he is John's father, and that he tampered with the test to keep John and Courtney safe from Helena.

Jax gives John back to Nikolas, who, though upset over Jax's manipulations, resolves himself to be a good father. He is also able to heal his relationship with ex-wife Emily Quartermaine, who divorced Nikolas when she found out he and Courtney were having an affair. Nikolas decides to rename John so that he will stop thinking about the time his son was kept away from him. John is renamed Spencer after Nikolas' brother and sister, Lucky and Lulu Spencer. Emily is named Spencer's godmother. Nikolas hires Colleen McHenry as a nanny to Spencer. She becomes obsessed with Nikolas and falls in love with him, but Nikolas is falling back in love with Emily, who is also becoming a part of Spencer's life. Nikolas fires Colleen after finding out that all the fathers she previously worked for ended up dead.

Unfortunately, that doesn't stop Colleen. She kidnaps Spencer right before the Christmas manger in 2006, and Nikolas and Emily go after her. They find Colleen, but Spencer has already been taken by Helena, who followed Colleen, wanting Spencer to herself. Nikolas and Emily follow Helena to St. Petersburg and ambush her at a cathedral, where she is trying to baptize Spencer under a different name. She holds a knife to Spencer, threatening to kill him unless Nikolas lets her go. Fortunately, Nikolas and Emily reverse the tables and manage to get Spencer back, while Helena escapes in January 2007. Nikolas and Emily baptize him at the cathedral as Spencer Alexi Nikolayovich Cassadine. Nikolas and Emily, back together, raise Spencer with help from Spencer's extended family. Nikolas proposes to Emily on October 31, 2007, who promises to help him raise Spencer, but Emily is killed that same night by the Text Message Killer, Diego Alcazar.

Nikolas goes into a depression, not looking after Spencer. He finds out he has a tumor in his brain, which is making him see Emily in hallucinations. Initially, he won't let go of her, but she tells him to let go of her for the sake of Spencer, so that he has a father. Nikolas agrees, and has the tumor removed. Spencer is shown rapidly aged later on when Nikolas is dating Nadine Crowell, a nurse who helped him get treated for the tumor. Nikolas and Nadine break up, and Nikolas starts seeing Rebecca Shaw, who is later revealed to be Emily's twin sister. After he introduces Spencer to Rebecca, he tells Rebecca that he doesn't want Spencer to get to know someone, only to have them disappear from his life, which is why he held off introducing them. Lucky later tells Nikolas that he doesn't spend enough time with his son, worrying about Rebecca more and leaving Spencer with a nanny. Nikolas later breaks up with Rebecca, unable to shake his feelings for Elizabeth Webber.

Elizabeth finds out she is pregnant in February 2010, and both Nikolas and she believe the baby is his. When he tells Elizabeth he wants to start a relationship with her and raise their child together, Elizabeth refuses and reprimands him for leaving Spencer with his nanny often and not spending enough time with him. Nikolas resolves to be a better father to Spencer, spending more time with him than before and bringing Elizabeth's sons, Cameron and Jake, over to Wyndemere to play with Spencer. Elizabeth eventually agrees to let Nikolas be a part of the new baby's life, and becomes more comfortable around him and Spencer.
 * -|2010-15=

Jake and Cameron are brought over to Wyndemere by Elizabeth to play with Spencer. During their get-together, Elizabeth goes into labor. Nikolas takes her to the hospital, where she gives birth to Aiden Cassadine. When Cameron and Jake come to meet Aiden, Spencer is not with them, and Nikolas tells Elizabeth it's because he has a cold. About a year later, Elizabeth finds out that Aiden is actually Lucky's son, and tells Nikolas, who refuses to believe it. He decides to leave town with Spencer and Aiden. He changes his mind, though, and gives Aiden back to Lucky & Elizabeth. He and Spencer leave Port Charles, though, to start a new phase of their life.

Spencer returns with his great-grandmother Lesley Webber (via Nikolas and then Laura Spencer) from Italy on May 16, 2013 to most likely be present for his grandmother Laura's wedding to Scott Baldwin. On October 31, Spencer was dressed as Captain Hook for Halloween. On December 13, Spencer asks Nikolas to marry Britt as a Christmas present. Lesley takes Spencer to see his uncle Sonny, who celebrates Christmas early with his nephew. He teaches Spencer boxing at his gym. Spencer and his cousin, Cameron Spencer are fighting over who get's to be Emma Scorpio-Drake's boyfriend. They went to the stables, where they encounterd Heather Webber, who had kidnapped Carly Jacks, and was planning on killing her to cover her tracks, Heather told them she worked for Nikolas.

Spencer met his great uncle Victor, who gave him a Faberge Egg. He told Spencer that if he gives this to a girl that he loves, she will fall in love with him. Spencer went to Robins to give the Egg to Emma and he spotted Robin and Victor talking. Spencer questioned Victor about it at Wyndemere, but he convinced him not to tell anyone about what he saw. Spencer went to the park with his father, Victor, Britt Westbourne, and her son Ben. He saw Emma their and gave her the Faberge egg, and then Victor appeard, pointing to Heather's picture in the newspaper and asking them about her. After he went to find Nikolas, Franco, who had been looking for Carly, asked the children about Heather's whereabouts.

During his dad and Britt's engagement party, Emma breaks up with him so he goes to the stables to be alone but ends up hearing "Luke" talking to Julian about taking Sonny down. Britt and Nikolas later break up which upsets Spencer. Spencer attends the Nurse's Ball in May 2014 and he tries to win Emma back. In September, before Spencer goes back school he and Josslyn decide to break up Cameron and Emma because he wants Emma and Josslyn wants Cameron so they decide to pretend to date Spencer continues to pursue Emma even though she's with Cameron. He even goes so far as to skip school with her and take her to the stables.

Months later at Spencer birthday party there is a fire and Spencer is burned pretty badly. After months in the hospital, Spencer goes home but is having a hard time dealing with the prospect of having his face be disfigured. He decides not to go to the biggest event of the year because of it. When Britt surprises him, she convinces him go. When he gets there, he ends up dropping sand bags on stage during Cameron and Emma's performance. When he goes home afterwards, he is surprised to see his dead mother there but is happy to finally meet her. She helps him realize that his words hurt and that beauty is not skin deep. She also convinces him to let her take his mask off and look at his face. When the mask does come off, it turns out that the burn really isn't that bad. Later on, Courtney tells him that she has to go but that no matter where he is or what he is doing she is always there.

On July 2, (4th of July on the show), Spencer talks to his dad about ELQ. On September 9, Spencer goes back to school. On October, Spencer talks to his dad about Hayden (aka Rachel).

In January, Nikolas tells Hayden that Spencer is now friends with people who he used to call a "townie" after finding out his mother was one.
 * -|2016=

On February 29, Nikolas tells Elizabeth that when Spencer heard about Jake, he wanted to set up a Lemonade stand but it didn't go over well since it's February. So instead, he decided to sell bow ties.

Crimes Committed

 * Schemed with Britt to get her back together with Nikolas [Jul 3-Oct 8, 2014]
 * Ran away to push his dad and Britt back together [Jul 17-Aug 5, 2014]
 * Twisted Franco's arm [Aug 1, 2014]
 * Broke into his father's safe and took Jason Morgan's ring to give to Emma [Apr 2015]
 * Dropped sand bags on the stage at the Nurses' Ball during Cameron and Emma's tango [May 4, 2015]

Health and Vitals

 * Born severely premature via C-section during the encephalitis plague [Feb 2006]
 * Kidnapped by Colleen McHenry [Dec 2006]
 * Kidnapped by his great-grandmother, Helena Cassadine [Jan 2007]
 * Threatened by Luke Spencer [Feb 5, 2015]
 * Trapped in a flame-engulfed building [Feb 23-24, 2015]
 * Rendered unconscious in the fire [Feb 24, 2015]
 * Suffered from smoke inhalation in the fire [revealed Feb 25, 2015]
 * Suffered a small burn to his check in the fire [revealed Feb 25, 2015]
 * Suffered severe burns to the right side of his body in the fire [revealed Feb 25, 2015]