‘General Hospital’ (GH) spoilers confirm that GH has decided to cast As The World Turns actor Van Hansis as the new Lucas Jones.
‘General Hospital’ Spoilers: Hansis Played Luke Snyder On ATWT
Hansis portrayed the character Luke Snyder on ATWT from 2005 to 2010. He will make his return to daytime on Friday, October 4.
Actor Ryan Carnes last played Lucas. Hansis knows a thing or two about representing the LBTGQ community. His character on ATWT was gay.
On August 17, 2007, he was one-half of the first same-sex male couple to share a romantic kiss on a soap opera.
Hansis explained to TV Insider,
“I guess I have a type, huh?”
He talked about his character’s name.
“There are times I want to call myself Luke, but then I know that there’s a Luke (Anthony Geary) and Laura (Genie Francis), and Luke is one of the biggest soap characters in the world. So, I know I’m not that Luke,”
Hansis jokes.
He mentioned similarities between Luke Snyder and Lucas. One of them is that both Lucas’s and Luke’s fathers were “dirtbags.”
Luke’s birth dad was Damian Grimaldi (Paolo Seganti), and Lucas’s dad was Julian Jerome (William deVry). Then, they both had adopted fathers.
Hansis may not have been on a soap for fourteen years, but it didn’t take long for him to get reacquainted with how things work. “It’s a little bit like riding a bicycle,” he said.
“Once you get on it, you’re like, oh, yeah, I know how to do this, and I know how this works.”
He went on to say,
“I love that Lucas isn’t the only gay character on the show. It’s great that we’re in a place that’s so casual, just like how it is in life.”
‘General Hospital’ Spoilers: Lucas Is A Legacy Character
Lucas Jones is the son of Cheryl Stansbury (Jennifer Anglin) and Julian Jerome. Bobbie Spencer (Jacklyn Zeman) and Tony Jones (Brad Maule) later adopted him.
Lucas made known to his family and friends that he was gay in 2005. Bobbie had a difficult time accepting it, but Tony was immediately supportive of his son.
Lucas was a doctor at General Hospital. The character’s most notable romance on the show was with Brad Cooper (Parry Shen).
After a highly complex baby swap with Nelle Benson (Chloe Lanier), Michael Corinthos (Chad Duell) discovered that his son, Wiley Corinthos (Viron Weaver), was alive.
Once Lucas remembered Brad’s confession about the baby switch, Brad had to admit the truth to a devastated Lucas, and they broke up, ending a significant storyline on GH.
A former “Oakdalian” Hansis was thrilled to see his former As the World Turns co-star, Maura West, who played troublemaker Carly Tenney on the now-defunct soap and now plays the martini-drinking vixen Ava Jerome on GH.
“She didn’t know I got cast,”
He exclaimed.
“I was coming out of a wardrobe fitting and as she was grabbing her wardrobe for the day. This was the day we had scenes together, and she just looked at me and it was like she saw a ghost!”
It will be fun to see how Hansis puts his own stamp on Lucas.
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