General Hospital Pages Dr. Lucas Jones — and Wait Until You See Who’ll Be Playing Him!
When Dr. Lucas Jones — the adoptive son of Bobbie and his dad Tony Jones — returns to General Hospital next week, he’s going to look completely different and yet, for many viewers, very familiar. That’s because the role, formerly played by Ryan Carnes, is now being taken over by Van Hansis. And Hansis, you may recall, is probably best known for having played Luke Snyder, son of Lily and adoptive dad Holden Snyder, on the much-missed As the World Turns!
As Hansis told TV Insider, his current and former soap characters have more in common than simply a similar-sounding name. “There are weird little similarities between Luke Snyder and Lucas,” he admitted. “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.”
The part may be new to Hansis, but viewers know a whole lot about the doctor whose stethoscope he’ll be donning. “I’ve had had scenes with a lot of different people,” he said, “because Lucas was born on the show, so he knows a lot of people in town. I did as much research as I could, but there were [times] where I just asked whichever actor I was working with, ‘How do I know you? Do we like each other? Am I happy about you being back with so-and-so?’ And everybody was so helpful in filling in the backstory.”
One person Hansis was thrilled to tape scenes with? His former As the World Turns co-star, Maura West (who played Carly on that soap before becoming General Hospital‘s Ava). “She didn’t know I got cast,” he shared, “and I was coming out of a wardrobe fitting as she was grabbing her wardrobe for the day. This was the day that we had scenes together and she just looked at me and it was like she saw a ghost!”
Best of all, “I think I had more scenes with her that day… than I ever had with her on As the World Turns,” he laughed. “I was always watching her from afar. So then getting to actually work with her — she’s [playing] my aunt — is really, really something.”
Hansis is also thrilled that on his new soap, “Lucas is not the only gay character.” He recalls a big deal being made out of Luke kissing his boyfriend on As the World Turns, saying, “I get it, but it’s great that we’re in a place [now] where it’s so casual, just like it is in real life.”
The big question is, of course, what brings Lucas back to town… and with whom he might become involved. Is it simply a coincidence that his ex, Brad, was just rehired at the titular facility? Viewers will recall that there is a whole lot of history there, much of it unpleasant thanks to Brad’s attempt to pass off Michael and Nelle’s son as the one he and Lucas had adopted.
No word yet on how long Hansis will be staying at General Hospital, but look for him to debut on Friday, October 4. Meanwhile, he might just find our handy-dandy guide to Who’s Who in Port Charles helpful!
