It’s Official: Jonathan Jackson Is Leaving General Hospital
Just shy of a year after his most recent return as Lucky Spencer, Jonathan Jackson is leaving General Hospital again. “We were so glad Jonathan was able to reprise the role of Lucky, even if it was for a limited time,” GH Executive Producer Frank Valentini said in a statement. “We wish him nothing but the best, and the door is always open for Jonathan to return.” TV Insider was the first to confirm the news.
Back in June 2024, news first broke that the Daytime Emmy-winning actor would be reprising his role for a substantial visit. He officially returned to the airwaves with the episode that aired on August 23, but his current run will be coming to a close next week. His imminent departure was strongly hinted at in the June 5 air show, in which Lucky decided to leave Port Charles after Elizabeth turned down his latest marriage proposal. (For a full recap of the Liz/Lucky action in the episode, click here.)
Jackson made his entrance onto the GH scene back in 1991, when the then-11-year-old was cast as Lucky, the son of iconic daytime supercouple Luke and Laura Spencer. Before his first exit in 1999, the actor earned three Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Younger Actor and became particularly popular among fans for his work as a leading man to Rebecca Herbst (Elizabeth). He then went on to find success in films like Tuck Everlasting and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, as well as television series like Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
In 2009, Jackson returned to GH to reclaim the role of Lucky, which following his departure had been played by two different actors, Jacob Young and Greg Vaughan. During that multiyear stint, the actor racked up two more Daytime Emmy wins, this time in the Supporting Actor category. Following his 2011 departure, he was cast as Avery Barkley in the ABC primetime drama Nashville, where he was able to display his own musical talents on the series. (In addition to his acting career, Jackson also heads up the band Enation, which includes his brother, Richard, on drums.)
Jackson returned again to GH in July 2015 for a few episodes so that Lucky could be part of the storyline that ushered TV dad Anthony Geary (Luke) off the canvas when the actor retired. His current stint on the soap was a lengthier visit that saw Lucky reconnect with his mother, Laura, and his sister, Lulu, who had recently emerged from a coma. “Getting to work with Genie [Francis, Laura] again has been absolutely amazing,” Jackson told Soap Opera Digest back in October 2024. “Just seeing her again was wonderful. It was such a joy. The idea and the thought of getting to work with Genie again was a huge part of the inspiration and the drive to come back to the show.”
Jackson also reunited with Herbst as Lucky’s first and possibly future love, Elizabeth Webber. “In the scenes, there’s the familiarity and the awkwardness of the situation, of him not really being there for the last decade,” the actor explained to Digest of the characters’ first interaction in Port Charles. “ And those levels were fun to play. It’s just an interesting dynamic that we go through in life, where you might have a kind of rapport with someone that is just natural and it clicks into place very quickly, and that can exist on one level while all this unresolved tension exists simultaneously, and having all those layers kind of happening at the same time!”
Liz and Lucky’s relationship seemed to be going well, but when he popped the question, she gently declined to marry him again, citing his inability to settle down in one place for very long. Sure enough, Lucky is now once again on his way out of Port Charles, though as Valentini has said, he’s always welcome to come home again.
Let us know your thoughts about Jackson’s latest run, and if you’d like to see Lucky come back again, in the comments below!
