It’s been one of the craziest General Hospital casting news weeks…here’s the biggest soap news we’ve had in awhile.
— It’s true! Golden Globe winner James Franco is joining ABC’s General Hospital. News broke last night when The Biggest Loser trainer Jillian Michaels tweeted that she’d be sharing dinner with her BFF Vanessa Marcil (ex-Brenda, GH; ex-Sam, Las Vegas, ex-Gina, 90210) and revealed that James Franco “would be doing 2 months of the show” and Vanessa would consider going back for that time to work with him. Steve Burton (Jason) confirmed that the Franco news was true. A source tells ABC Soaps in Depth that Franco wanted to take the GH role as research for an upcoming film project.
So who will he play? Fans are speculating that he could be a Cassadine. I hope the fans are right…it would suck if they used (actually wasted) him for a mob story.
Update (10/01/09 at 12:30pm): WeLoveSoaps is reporting that the recurring role will begin on November 20th.
— Some bad news/good news…General Hospital has decided to let Greg Vaughan go and in his place, they’ll be bringing back former 90s golden-boy Jonathan Jackson. Jackson originated the role of Luke and Laura’s son in 1993 and left in 1999 to try his luck in primetime and movies. Jackson’s most successful parts outside of GH were his 2002 film, Tuck Everlasting with Alexis Bledel and last year’s guest stint on Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles as Kyle Reese.
While I was a fan of the classic Lucky back in the day, it needs to be emphasized that Jackson vacated the role 10 years ago and for the producers to expect that Jackson can recapture the same magic with his co-stars (half of whom aren’t even on the show) is a stretch. They never really gave Vaughan proper credit — he has actually played the role the longest (Jacob Young portrayed the role from 2000 until 2003). Current head writer Bob Guza never really wrote well for Lucky since he was one of the good guys (a cop) and not a criminal like Sonny or Jason. So does this mean that the show will start writing proper storylines for the character?
Vaughan really shined during the drug addiction storyline and any other show would be lucky to get him. Many of his co-stars have wished him luck on twitter and the actor has thanked all his fans for their continued support. Before joining GH in 2003, Vaughan appeared had a starring role on Charmed and appeared as Diego Guittierez on The Young and the Restless. Jackson returns to the GH set today and his first airdate has been set for October 27th.
— Meanwhile, Sarah Brown (soon-to-be-ex-Claudia; ex-Carly #1) has already landed a new soap gig. The actress will join CBS’ The Bold and the Beautiful as Sandy Sommers – a surrogate for Bridget (Ashley Jones) and Nick (Jack Wagner). The role is expected to be for two years and will reunite Brown with Rick Hearst (Whip, B&B; ex-Ric, GH). Apparently Sandy will become psychotically obsessed with Nick. The role was rumored to be created for Gina Tognoni who has decided to re-join One Life to Live as Kelly. Brown begins taping for B&B today. Her last day on the GH set is on October 9th and will make her final appearance on November 5th. She’ll appear on B&B the following day. Apparently ABC was kind enough to let the actress out of her contract with them a couple of months early. I guess they felt bad for the horrible material she had to endure.
Whoa!! You need to calm down about Jonathan Jackson. This is going to be better than anyone is expecting. He is incredibly talented and besides the fact, you’re completely wrong about the whole “for the producers to expect that Jackson can recapture the same magic with his co-stars (half of whom aren’t even on the show) is a stretch”. First of all, Jonathan shared most of his scenes with Rebecca Herbst, Tyler Christopher & Tony Geary, all of whom are STILL ON THE SHOW!! Quit hating on the best thing that’s happened to the characte of Lucky in years. WWWHHHOOO!!! Jonathan Jackson is the REAL and ONLY Lucky. This is going to be one hell of an end to 2009! Thank you GH!!!!!!!!
Losing Sarah Brown is an enormous blow to gh! No other actress currently on the show has the chops to deliver performances that could ever compare to the intense powerhouse, in your face, tear up the set acting that only Brown can achieve artfully and masterfully! This is regardless of whether one believes the material she was given on gh this time around was “horrible” which is a true testiment to her talent. Personally I haven’t been able to take my eyes off of her once since the moment she walked into that bar and set her sights on Sonny early last year. Sarah you will be missed and congratulations on leaving your mark forever on Port Charles once again.
No way are you letting Greg Vaughan go. ARE YOU NUTS.