If there’s one thing General Hospital fans have been told over and over, it’s that Sonny can’t leave the mob. Why? Because to do so would

put everyone in his orbit in grave danger. And yet it’s beginning to look as if the Teflon don is about to fine an emergency off-ramp where

life in the fast lane is concerned.

In the episode which aired on Monday, December 30 (and is recapped here), Sonny found himself having a discussion with Alexis about the future of their daughter, Kristina. She explained that his decision to give Kristina control of Charlie’s could put her on the radar of those looking to bring him down. It might be rivals or even Feds suspicious of the pub being used as a money-laundering front.

“It’s not like I can ask you to leave the mob, right?” Alexis asked, half jokingly, as he exited. The look on Sonny’s face was… unreadable? Interesting, to say the least. Then, by episode’s end, Sonny was clutching his chest and collapsing after having had a seeming heart attack.

Clearly, something big is going down with Port Charles’ reigning “good mobster,” right? Now, a TV Insider interview with headwriters Chris Van Etten and Elizabeth Korte has us wondering if maybe, just maybe, a career change is in the works for Sonny.

According to the scribes, Sonny “is hit with an existential crisis that has him re-examining his personal and professional lives.” As a result, he’ll make what they call “a big decision” about his future… one which “will impact everyone on the canvas.”

Could the show really be going there, or is this yet another tease? Let’s not forget that there have been numerous times over the past several decades when it’s appeared that the writers were ready to move Sonny from “coffee importer” to… well, actual coffee importer.

During a 2017 storyline in which it looked as if Sonny might give up his life of crime, portrayer Maurice Benard told Soap Opera Digest that doing so wasn’t “feasible unless you do it like a character study and you do it for a long period of time.”