General Hospital brings back soap vet Rick Hearst
Sonny is about to get more family in Port Charles as Rick Hearst is making his General Hospital return as Ric Lansing after eight years away.
Hearst, who played Sonny's half-brother Ric off and on from 2002 to 2016, will be back on the GH scene the week of August 19 as part of Molly and Kristina's surrogate story.
Ric's marriage to Alexis produced Molly, but he hasn't been around much for his daughter over the last eight years. However, he is ready to run to her rescue now.
The last time Ric was involved with a major story was in 2016 when he married Nina for her money then tried to gaslight her into thinking she was going crazy again. It turned out Ric was having an affair with Nina's mother, Madeline. He became a suspect in Silas Clay's murder, but Madeline ended up being the culprit.
When Hearst got the call from GH casting director Mark Teschner, he was surprised because it had been a long time since he'd brought Ric to life.
"It’s been very much on my periphery and not in my consciousness for eight years," he told TV Insider. "The last time I was there was 2016."
Since agreeing to return, Hearst has been catching up with what he's missed in Molly's life.
"I’ve been trying to catch up and see what’s happening and I see that there’s a situation where Kristina is being a surrogate for Molly,” he said. “And while I don’t know what that turns into, I have a feeling there’s going to be some friction by virtue of the fact that one daughter is parented by Alexis and Sonny, and the other daughter is parented by Alexis and Ric. That alone is enough to create a mad amount of drama of who’s going to side with who. And it’s going to be entertaining."
Rick Hearst takes to Instagram to discuss GH return
Hearst also took to Instagram to post a short video about his return.
"I'm looking forward to the story," he said. "As you know, Ric tends to be in everybody's business all at once. He always has his own agenda. There will be a lot of great and exciting story points for you guys to follow."
Hearst got his soap start on Days of our Lives as Scott Banning in 1989 and later went on to play Alan-Michael Spaulding on Guiding Light from 1990 to 1996, where he won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Younger Actor in 1991. He also took home Daytime Emmys for playing Ric in the Supporting Actor category in 2004 and 2007. Hearst's other soap credits include Matt Clark on The Young and the Restless and Whipple "Whip" Jones III on The Bold and the Beautiful.
