Jonathan Jackson reveals the reason he returned to General Hospital

General Hospital's Lucky Spencer is coming home. However, his mother has to find him first so she can bring him back to Port Charles and hopefully save his sister's life.

Jonathan Jackson talks his General Hospital return

On August 25, Jonathan Jackson, who first started playing Lucky in 1993, returned to the role that made him famous. After nearly a decade away from the Port Charles scene, Jackson opened up to Entertainment Tonight about one big reason he decided to reprise Lucky.

While Jackson admitted that Tony Geary, who played Luke off and on from 1978 until 2015 is still "with me in every scene I do," it was Genie Francis' presence that helped him make a decision about his GH status.

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"I feel the same way about Genie, as well," Jackson said, referencing his admiration for Geary. "Her being here was a huge part in wanting to come back."

When Jackson first began playing Lucky, he was only eleven years old and didn't quite understand the impact of playing Luke and Laura's son. After all, they are soaps' most famous couple, and their 1981 wedding made television ratings history.

"When I started in 1993, Luke and Laura were first coming back and I kinda spent my whole teenage years grappling with that and not kind of understanding how big a thing their wedding was," Jackson told ET. "Working with Tony and Genie, they protected me, mentored me, so I never really saw them in that light. I just have an incredible debt of love to them. I hope that whatever I do now...I always hope that I can make them proud."

Lucky's last appearance

When fans last saw Lucky, he had just found Elizabeth's presumed-dead son, Jake, on Cassadine Island and brought him home to his mother. Jackson had taped a handful of episodes to see Geary off the show, so he only reunited with Francis briefly. During Jackson's last extended stay from 2009 to 2011, Francis was not a part of the GH cast.

Now, Laura is embarking on a desperate search for her son in the hopes that he can donate part of his liver to a dying Lulu. Laura just has to rescue him from a precarious situation in Somalia first. Since Laura just saved the world during a trip to Greenland last year, this should be a piece of cake for daytime's first adventure heroine.

Catch all-new episodes of General Hospital weekdays on ABC and Hulu.