PEGGY SIROTA
That exciting return Executive Producer Frank Valentini teased earlier this month at the Daytime Emmys? It is, indeed, a biggie: It’s fan fave Jonathan Jackson, the show’s original Lucky Spencer, who is set to reprise the role of Laura and Luke’s son later this summer. (And no, not just for a day….) Deadline was the first to report the news.
In a video uploaded to X (formerly Twitter) after the announcement of his return was made, Jackson said, “Hey, everyone, I just wanted to let you know that I will be returning to General Hospital this summer as Lucky Spencer,” and added that he was “super-excited” and eager “to dig in and see what’s going on in Port Charles. Excited to see Genie Francis [Laura], obviously, and so many others. I just wanted to say thank you to all of the fans over the years. Your persistence and love has, you know, certainly played a part in all of this. So I just wanted to say thank you and also to [Executive Producer] Frank Valentini and everybody at ABC for welcoming back. Super-excited. So, just sending much love and I guess I’ll be seeing you all fairly soon.”
The five-time Daytime Emmy-winning actor was only 11 years old when he first landed the role of Lucky in 1993. He recalled to Digest in 2023, “There were a few auditions, and Mark Teschner, the casting director, I remember feeling his support and encouragement in the process.” At his screen test opposite Anthony Geary (ex-Luke), which required doing the scene multiple times, Jackson said that Geary “looked at me and said, ‘They wouldn’t be spending this much time with you if they weren’t really interested.’ That was kind of, I think, his way of giving me a little wink of encouragement and letting me know, ‘This is going well.’ ”
Jackson quickly developed an ardent fan base in the critical role. He told Digest, “As soon as I started airing, almost everywhere I would go with my family, into restaurants and airports, people were recognizing me: ‘That’s Luke and Laura’s son!’ So, pretty quickly, I realized, ‘Okay, this means something to a lot to people.’ ”
As Jackson and Lucky both got older, the actor was entrusted with yet more mature material, and a pivotal turning point occurred when a teenaged Lucky was paired with Elizabeth in the wake of her rape. Jackson mused to Digest, “The whole journey with General Hospital was so much learning and growth and experimenting with my craft and that just felt like another step in that direction. I’d never dealt with that theme and that trauma of this girl being raped and having to walk through it with those characters for quite a long time. But it was one of my favorite storylines because of how ultimately beautiful it was.”
ABC
Crush Groove: Lucky’s first romantic pairing, opposite Rebecca Herbst’s Elizabeth, was a hit with fans.
The actor earned Daytime Emmys as Outstanding Younger Actor in 1995, 1998 and 1999. He departed GH in 1999, after which the role was recast, first with Jacob Young, then with Greg Vaughan (Eric, Days of Our Lives). Then, in a surprise move, the show announced in 2009 that Jackson had inked a deal to return. Jackson described his 2019-11 comeback to Digest as “a unique experience. I just can’t really think of any other scenario where that would be possible. To play a character at a very young age through formative years — I think I was around 17 or 18 when I left, and I was 28 when I came back to the show 10 years later and picked up that character.”
During that stint, Jackson picked up two more Daytime Emmys, this time as Outstanding Supporting Actor.
Jackson’s last visit to the show occurred in 2015, when he was part of the exit arc for Geary, who had opted to retire.
In addition to his work on GH, Jackson had a long run on the prime-time ABC series Nashville, among many other credits in TV and film.
For a year-by-year recap of Lucky’s life in Port Charles (whether played by Jackson or not), click here.
