General Hospital Comings & Goings: Andrew Hawkes Debuts as WSB Director Ross Cullum — Sidwell’s Accomplice!

The identity of Sidwell’s (Carlo Rota) mysterious accomplice was revealed on the Wednesday, January 14 episode of General Hospital: His name is Ross Cullum, and in addition to being up to no good with Sidwell, he’s Jack Brennan’s (Chris McKenna) boss at the WSB!

Both Sides Now

The new character is being played by Andrew Hawkes, a native of Houston, TX, a veteran of stage and screen whose prime-time credits include Chicago PD, Community, CSI, Dexter, ER, NCIS and The Rookie. He is also an accomplished voice-over actor who appears in multiple installments of the popular video game series Call of Duty: Black Ops. His role on GH is not technically his daytime debut, as in 2014, he made a one-day appearance on Young and Restless, playing a thief.

As Port Charles watchers know, Sidwell and his partner have been working to complete deceased supervillain Cesar Faison’s final project, which somehow involves cold fusion. Faison’s daughter, Britt Westbourne (Kelly Thiebaud), is being forced to work to bring the project to fruition, while another member of the research team, Professor Henry Dalton (Daniel Goddard), was recently shot dead in cold blood by Sidwell. And that’s not where the sinister conduct ends, as Sidwell is also holding Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) hostage in the bowels of Wyndemere.

That Sidwell’s partner is embedded deep in the WSB and has cover as one of the good guys adds considerable intrigue — and danger for Anna — to the unfolding tale. In his deut episode, Cullum and Sidwell discussed their plans to relocate Anna away from the grounds of Wyndemere, where a new lab has been erected for Britt’s research to continue.

Cullum’s arrival in town is also going to complicate the odds of a romantic reunion between Britt and Jason Morgan (Steve Burton), the show’s head writers, Elizabeth Korte and Chris Van Etten, revealed in their preview of what’s in store for the show in 2026. In teasing the upcoming action, they noted that Jason and Britt’s courtship “faces an immediate obstacle in the form of Sidwell’s partner-in-crime.”

Speaking with TV Insider about his new role, Hawkes described Cullum as a “quietly ruthless, dangerous, single-minded character.” The actor auditioned opposite Laura Wright (Carly), and enthused, “Everybody has been awfully kind and sweet to me,” including his fellow on-screen WSB agent. “Chris McKenna is my boy,” Hawkes said. “We’re adversarial in the show but he’s such a good guy.” He also played the actor who brings Sidwell to life. “Carlo [Rota], of course, is fantastic and so much fun to work with.”

Having recently begun watching the show, Hawkes is quickly becoming a fan of actors outside of his own storyline. “I love the stuff between Sonny [Maurice Benard] and Rocco [Finn Carr],” he confided. “I told Maurice, ‘You are the coolest grandfather; that’s the grandfather you want.'”