General Hospital is bringing back Lucas Jones for the second time this year, but Ryan Carnes won't be in the role. Instead, former As the World Turns star Van Hansis has been cast, according to TV Insider.
Van Hansis joins the General Hospital cast
Hansis, who played Luke Snyder on ATWT from 2005 to 2010, will bring Carly's brother Lucas to life on October 4. The character was last seen in January when Lucas returned to Port Charles for his mother's funeral. GH said goodbye to Lucas' mom, Bobbie, and actress Jacklyn Zeman in poignant memorial episodes.
Hansis has already noted the similarities between his ATWT alter ego and his new character.
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"I guess I have a type, huh?” Hansis said, acknowledging that his last soap character and his new one have the same name. "There are times when I want to call myself Luke, but then I know that there’s Luke and Laura and Luke is one of the biggest soap characters in the world. So, I know I’m not that Luke, but there are weird little similarities between Luke Snyder and Lucas. When I got the part, I was looking up who the character was and they both have the same dad stuff going on with their birth father being kind of a dirtbag because Luke had Damian and Lucas has Julian and then adopted fathers, so there are parallels."
Hansis was also happy to reunite with former ATWT co-star Maura West, who played Carly Tenney on the now-defunct CBS soap and now plays Ava Jerome on GH.
Since his ATWT stint ended, Hansis has appeared in such TV series as Eastsiders, FBI, and Ms. Guidance, per IMDb.
Will GH resurrect Lucas and Brad?
With Lucas' ex-husband, Brad Cooper, back on the scene, does that mean the former spouses might reunite? Lucas left Brad and eventually left town when he learned that Brad kept the truth about the baby they adopted from him. The newborn died shortly after Brad brought him home, so Brad passed Michael and Nelle's son off as his and Lucas' baby.
Lucas has spent the last few years away from Port Charles while Brad paid for his crime in Pentonville. Brad is now a hospital lab tech again. If Lucas gets his old job back at GH, he and Brady are sure to run into one another. Will a reunion be far behind?
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