General Hospital comings and goings: Jonathan Jackson back on-screen August 23

After nine years away from General Hospital, fan-favorite Jonathan Jackson's Lucky Spencer finally airs on the August 23 episode.

General Hospital's Lucky finally returns

News of Jackson's long-awaited return broke in June, and fans have anxiously waited to see how Lucky would be worked back into the canvas. With Lulu's life on the line due to liver failure, her brother might want to make his way back to Port Charles. Teasers for Friday's show hint that Laura and Elizabeth discuss Lulu's situation. Will that prompt a conversation about Lucky?

Jackson explained in the August 26 to September 7 print edition of TV Guide (via Soap Opera Network) that the opportunity to work with Genie Francis again is one of the things that prompted him to make his GH return.

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"Working with Genie was a big personal incentive to come back,” Jackson told TV Guide. “When I was there in 2010, 2011, Genie wasn’t on the show and I always felt like I missed out a little bit with working with her as an adult, so I’m very excited about that.

While Jackson didn't give too much away about his story, he did drop a hint about Lucky and his current demeanor. "He’s been up to stuff. In some ways, I would say he’s the most like Luke that he’s ever been," Jackson said.

As longtime fans know, Luke was a complicated character who lived much of his life as a rogue and a cynic. Is that the Lucky his loved ones can expect?

Expect Lucky to stick around

The last time we saw Lucky, he had just found Elizabeth's presumed-dead son, Jake, alive and well on Cassadine Island. He brought Jake home and took off once again to Africa, leaving his own young son, Aiden, behind. Aiden has grown up without his dad around full-time, and fans are interested in seeing the dynamic between Lucky and his son now that Aiden is a teen.

Jackson also stressed that this return will be different. In 2015, he was only back for a handful of episodes, but that's not the case now. "When I came back in 2015, that was just for a few episodes,” Jackson said. “This is not that. This is back in a substantial, real way, which I’m excited about."