Five-time Daytime Emmy winner Jonathan Jackson will return to General Hospital as Lucky Spencer on Friday, August 23. The actor, who made his debut in 1993 as the offspring of soap’s most famous duo, Luke Spencer (Anthony Geary) and Laura Collins (Genie Francis), and has visited a handful of times over the years, opens up about to TV Insider about his Port Charles comeback.
Jonathan Jackson: Well, it was one of those things that almost happened a few other times over the last however many years. I remember talking to Frank [Valentini, executive producer] right around the time Nashville [where he played Avery Barkley] was beginning [in 2012] and we were trying to figure out a way to have it work out. And then we circled around again, right around the pandemic, and it just never quite made sense for any of us. This time around, thankfully it all lined up, and I was excited.
It’s very interesting, that process. I’ve had to approach it more than once throughout my life after really significant gaps. In 2015, when I came back, it was just for two days, for Tony’s [Geary] exit from the show. That felt like a blur, so I guess it’s been since 2011 since I’ve been a regular. I mean, that’s a long time, and the first time I left [in 1999], there was a decade gap before I came back. I think I was around 28 years old and that felt more disorienting and a little bit strange, and I think it was just because I left the show when I was 17. You’re just a very different person in some ways when you’re 28 as opposed to 17. And so finding the role as an adult, coming back with Lucky being a cop and all that, it just felt different. I felt like I needed to establish something quite different than when I was a teenager. This doesn’t feel as difficult for some reason. It felt pretty seamless, actually. And I think that the four episodes I did in 2015 helped as well, just to have that anchoring moment with Tony, especially. So, I expected it to feel more odd but it felt very seamless.
I hope I get a chance to work with a lot of people that I’ve never worked with or maybe I worked with in a very small way years ago. Working with Genie [Francis] was a big personal incentive to come back, because when I was there in 2010, 2011, Genie wasn’t on the show and I always kind of felt like I missed out on working with her as an adult, so I’m very excited about that, obviously.
It’s a real gift. There are certain people that you might work with more than once on a film — I got to work with Treat Williams on more than one film and that was a real blessing — but that’s very different than coming back after 10 years and then another 10 years and getting to work with the same people and the same characters and have that history. It’s an amazing thing and it’s fun for me to not just do the work, but get to connect with people and just see where they are in life.
It was like, “Let’s get to work.” I have a great deal of respect for the show and for everyone involved, and nowadays to see the amount of pages that the show as a whole is accomplishing on a daily basis is just mind-boggling. So, I’m just very focused and I want to try to do the best work that I can. In terms of the feeling with the character, the writing was great, which helps a lot as an actor. When the writing is good, it just makes everything easier.
I was a bit blown away, to be honest, by the response. I mean, throughout the years there have been people saying, “Please come back to GH,” but I wasn’t expecting the degree of response that we had, so that was really encouraging.
Well, as an actor and as an artist, my time at General Hospital was really the formation of all of that for me. Starting at 11, being under the care and mentorship of Tony and Genie was really one of the greatest gifts of my life. At that age, you’re a sponge and I really couldn’t imagine a better situation to be in to be able to learn. Both Tony and Genie have a great love for the craft and they passed that on to me, always working to make the scenes better and to push ourselves. I’ve said this to Tony, and it’s true: He’s with me in every scene that I do, in any project that I do. With Genie, she gave me so much incredible advice, but there’s also just this kind of visceral, emotional openness that she passed on to me that I feel like she’s with me in every project I do as well. And then in my personal life, that’s where I met my wife [Lisa Vultaggio, ex-Hannah Scott]. When we went back in 2010, our kids [Caleb and Adora] were kind of young and now we’re back again and my kids are older. So, there’s so much history there and great friendships with people. I’m just really grateful.
Well, he’s been away for almost a decade, so I would say that+ the reasons for him being away and what he’s been up to are revealed. He hasn’t just been sitting in an apartment writing his novel. He’s been up to stuff.
When I came back in 2015, that was just for a few episodes for Tony’s exit and this is not that. This is back in a substantial, real way, which I’m excited about.
The actor was only 11 years old when he made his GH debut in 1993 as Luke and Laura’s son, a role that would go on to win him five Daytime Emmys. He quickly learned how big a deal it was to portray the offspring of the legendary supercouple, telling Soap Opera Digest in 2023, “As soon as I started airing, almost everywhere I would go with my family, into restaurants and airports, people were recognizing me: ‘That’s Luke and Laura’s son!’ So, pretty quickly, I realized, ‘Okay, this means something to a lot to people.’ ”
Jackson’s first stint in Port Charles lasted from 1993-99. After two other actors took on the role — first Jacob Young, then Greg Vaughan (Eric, Days of Our Lives) — Jackson returned in 2009. He remained until 2011, and made a brief return in 2015 in tandem with the retirement of his on-screen father. (For a year-by-year recap of Lucky’s life in Port Charles (whether played by Jackson or not), click here.)
