Jonathan Jackson left fans stunned last week when it was confirmed that he is leaving General Hospital again, under a year after returning to the ABC sudser. Now, the actor is explaining the reasons behind his unexpected exit.
Jackson shares with TV Insider that it was not his intention to leave so soon.
“No, it wasn’t,” said Jackson. “It was more of a real, sincere attempt from myself and from General Hospital to make it work for a longer period of time. The hope was to be able to stay on longer.”
It turns out that an experiment to travel between his home in Tennesse and California, where GH films, became too disruptive to his life. “There was always that possibility because it was a bit of an experiment on my part to see if I could make it work with the family dynamic,” revealed Jackson, who is married with three children. “There were moments where I thought, ‘I think I can find this balance with the family and time back and forth,’ and then you just have to pray about it and try to do what you feel is right. We gave it our best shot, but we weren’t able to keep it going.”
He told the publication he “was trying to stay in the moment as much as possible.”
“That’s really where my mindset was, taking it one day at a time,” he shared, “but also one month at a time, and just seeing how it was feeling. I have to say that none of this would have happened at all if Frank [Valentini, EP] wasn’t so open and helpful to even get it this far. So that’s definitely something I’ve been extremely blessed by.”
In the recent episode which confirmed his pending exit, Jackson’s Lucky Spencer announced he would be leaving Port Charles after Liz (Rebecca Herbst) turned down his surprise marriage proposal. Explaining that her life is in Port Charles, she realized that he could never be happy there. Admitting that Port Charles was “not his home anymore,” he told Liz he would be leaving. “I know it’s sudden,” he explained. “But being here, knowing that we can’t be together, it just hurts too much.”
Jackson originated the role of Lucky in 1993; he’s the beloved son of super-couple Luke and Laura Spencer (Anthony Geary and Genie Francis). Jackson played the part on and off until 2011, when he left to star as Avery Barkley in ABC’s Nashville for six seasons. Jackson returned to the ABC sudser last summer after nearly 10 years.
“We were so glad Jonathan was able to reprise the role of Lucky, even if was for a limited time,” General Hospital executive producer Frank Valentini said in a statement to media outlets. “We wish him nothing but the best, and the door is always open for Jonathan to return.”
