General Hospital: Is Mr. Brennan As Conniving As Iconic Spy Sean Donely?

When it was revealed on the December 5, 2023, episode that the new head of the World Security Bureau was a man known only as Mr. Brennan, it brought us back to the heyday of "General Hospital" and the WSB. Mr. Brennan seems to be on the villain list, as he's looking to have former super spy Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) killed, and he seeks to acquire a report she kept detailing a failed 1980s mission. Mr. Brennan has been making friends with the unsuspecting Carly Spencer (Laura Wright), knowing full well that she's the ex-wife of local mobster Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard). Brennan wants to control Sonny and use his territory for ill-gotten gains, and that reminded us of a former WSB director who also went rogue: Sean Donely (John Reilly).

Donely was leading the WSB when Anna and Robert Scorpio (Tristan Rogers) were active agents. After having saved the world, Luke Spencer (Anthony Geary) ended up on the run and asked Robert for help. Robert pointed him to Sean. They had no idea that the former director had once plotted with Cesar Faison (Anders Hove) — a member of an enemy organization called the DVX — to break up the indispensable Robert and Anna, because if they got married, they'd probably retire from the spy business. Sean had also been an illegal arms dealer in Mexico, using the alias El Patron, garnering a similarity to Brennan.

In 1985, Sean Donely went up against his best friend, Robert Scorpio. He'd gotten mixed up in a race to steal some Aztec treasure, and Robert followed clues that led him to a mountainous region in Canada. It wasn't long before Donely was upon him, and a spectacular game of cat and mouse ensued. As he chased Robert, the two exchanged gunfire.

Robert escaped in an aerial tramway, but Sean jumped on top of it and entered. Out of breath, the two continue to fight in a vicious hand-to-hand melee inside the tram, beating each other senseless. During the struggle, the controls were struck, causing it to stop and the doors to open. Eventually, Donely got the upper hand and jumped on top of Robert as his head dangled out of the open door. With no recourse, Scorpio used a Pancrase move — slapping both of Donely's ears — causing his foe to release him, but simultaneously knocking himself out of the tram! Horrified that Robert certainly plummeted to his death, Donely screamed, "Scorpio!!" which echoed across the canyon.

While Donely re-engaged the tram to continue on its journey, we saw that Robert wasn't dead at all, because he'd managed to land on one of the aerial lift pylons that supported the tram's cables.

On "General Hospital," Robert Scorpio managed to head off Sean Donely before he could sell the treasure to memorable mobster Mr. Wu (Aki Aleong). Sean would eventually redeem himself and even become police commissioner. But Brennan is much more conniving and malicious than Donely ever was. As the director of the WSB, he's using the intelligence agency's power to facilitate the selling of illegal arms. We also know that he was part of the botched mission that's described in the report he's seeking.

A WSB agent named Jameson Forsyth (who was on that ill-fated operation) was tasked with liquidating Anna Devane and retrieving the report, however, Brennan's subordinate, Roman Hume (Mark Engelhardt), had Forsyth killed after failing the mission. On the December 11, 2023, episode, Brennan expressed his dismay at Hume's actions, because now the report — which Forsyth stole from Anna — is in the wind. Brennan also stated that Anna is the only one in Port Charles who would recognize him, however, on the December 7 episode, he was at Kelly's diner but quickly absconded when he saw Robert.

Sean and Robert were friends, but we don't know the relationship Brennan has with either Anna or Robert except that he worked with her. Donely may have achieved redemption, but because Brennan had no trouble ordering Anna's death, he may be a true villain with no possible absolution.