Interview GH: Jonathan Jackson's New Lucky Is a Familiar Face

In an unexpected — and well-received — move, General Hospital announced at the end of September that Jonathan Jackson, the actor who originated the role of Lucky Spencer and won multiple Emmys for his work, would be returning to the role at the end of October. While fans will miss Greg Vaughan, they are welcoming back Jonathan with open arms.

The $64 million question is, how did the folks at GH lure him back? According to Jonathan: “It was pretty standard. They contacted me and said that the role of Lucky was opening up again and asked me if I would be interested in coming back. It’s something that I had thought about vaguely over the years, as people do, but it never really seemed like the right time, for various reasons.

“But this time when it came up, it was really out of the blue for me. I thought about it, talked with my family, prayed about it and just kind of tried to get a sense of whether this would be a fun adventure to step back into.”

In order to enjoy the adventure, Jonathan had some major cramming sessions ahead of him. He hadn’t been watching the show regularly since he left almost 10 years ago, so he “had to have quite a few conversations to fill some of those gaps in.”

If Jonathan had any anxiety about returning to the GH set, all fears vanished within moments of stepping into the studio. “The first day was really smooth. Seeing a lot of people I hadn’t seen in years was fun — actors, people on the crew, the hair and makeup team — so there was a lot to take in on that level. But acting-wise, I was able to sink right back into things pretty much immediately.

“It was interesting, because it was like a lot had changed and nothing had changed — all at the same time. It was really familiar, and yet it felt like a whole new experience.”

Acting alongside old friends helped smooth the transition for Jonathan. “Working with Tony (Geary, Luke Spencer) was really awesome,” he reveals. “It was a fun dynamic having that history with him, and yet it’s been about 10 years since we’ve actually worked together. And yet everything was right there. The same goes for working with Becky (Herbst, Elizabeth Webber) — I was able to settle in really quickly.”

In respect to the Lucky/Elizabeth/Nikolas love triangle, Jonathan is eager to see where it all ends up. “I am jumping into a moving stream when it comes to all of that. There is definitely a lot of tension there to work with, and it’ll be interesting to see how the whole thing plays out.”

Jonathan is eager to get back to basics as far as Lucky’s family and love life are concerned. “There’s a lot available to work with. The relationship with Luke, there’s a lot that could happen there. And I am a big fan of the love story between Lucky and Elizabeth, so there’s a lot of potential there for tapping into some of those original elements we had going.”

As far as Jonathan’s extracurricular activities go, many fans already know that he is a talented musician. His song “Elizabeth” was featured on GH. He fronts a band called Enation, whose breakout single, “Feel This,” was heavily featured on One Tree Hill.

Jonathan tells me: “We just released an EP that went into the top 10 on CD Baby, which is the biggest independent CD distribution company in the country. We are still getting the music out there for the fans. We are mixing a live album that will probably be released around Christmastime. You can go to iTunes, CD Baby or our Web site, enationmusic.com, to check out our music.”

And don't forget to check out Jonathan's return to GH on Tuesday, Oct. 27.