Jonathan Jackson Explains Why He’s Leaving ‘General Hospital’: ‘The Hope Was to Stay on Longer’

Stephanie Sloane June 9, 2025, 10:30 am

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Jonathan Jackson - 'General Hospital' — Disney/Ricky Middlesworth

It was never Jonathan Jackson‘s intention to leave General Hospital just nine months after returning to the role of Lucky Spencer.

“No, it wasn’t,” Jackson reveals to TV Insider. “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.”

But for Jackson, traveling between Tennessee (where he lives) and California (where the show films), ultimately proved too disruptive for his personal 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,” the husband and father of three explains. “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.”

Genie Francis, Jonathan Jackson - 'General Hospital'

Disney/Christine Bartoluccii

The actor reveals it’s a decision he arrived at only recently. “I was trying to stay in the moment as much as possible,” Jackson shares. “That’s really where my mindset was, taking it one day at a time, 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, executive producer] wasn’t so open and helpful to even get it this far. So that’s definitely something I’ve been extremely blessed by.”

Being back at the soap he first joined in 1993 at just 11 years old was especially meaningful for Jackson, as he treasures his long-standing connection to Port Charles. “It’s always kind of nostalgic when I’m away from the show for a while and I come back,” he reflects. “In some ways, it’s always a bit overwhelming, because there aren’t that many situations in life that you get to go and enter into this world where a lot has changed and a lot has stayed the same. Seeing a lot of people in the crew, people you’ve known off and on for so many years, there are just those amazing connections. And then on top of that, you have the character you’re playing that has this history, and you get to work with so many people again.”

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Reconnecting with his castmates was a high point for the five-time Daytime Emmy winner. “Working with Genie [Francis, Laura Collins] was very special because I didn’t really get to do that last time,” he says. “I loved the scenes with Maurice [Benard, Sonny Corinthos] and I absolutely loved working with Kate [Mansi, Kristina Corinthos]. That was a real highlight this time around. And [Rebecca Herbst, Elizabeth Webber] as well. When I was here in 2009 to 2011, it was more of the implosion of Lucky and Elizabeth, and it was just kind of full-on tragedy. This time, there was a lot of goodness and a lot of sweetness amidst the drama, and it was fun to be a part of that. And the response from the fans was really precious as well.”

His connection with Herbst is another aspect of the job Jackson treasures. “Becky is really one of the most talented people that I’ve worked with,” he praises. “I think Becky is an incredibly intuitive and very smart actress. I mean, she just doesn’t miss things. She’s just really an amazing performer, so it was a joy for me to get to work with her again. There is a certain kind of instinctive reality, not only when you’ve worked with people for so many years, but also when you’ve kind of grown up in the same world.

“I experienced that with Hayden Panettiere [ex-Sarah Roberts, One Life to Live; ex-Lizzie Spaulding, Guiding Light] on Nashville [where she played Juliette Barnes and he was Avery Barkley] because she grew up in the soap world, so the process of how we work was so similar, and it’s like that with Becky,” he continues. “There’s definitely a shorthand there, and sometimes if I’m making a choice that maybe isn’t super apparent on the page and wanting to experiment with taking it in a slightly different direction tonally, she’s there. She gets it instinctively, and I hope I’m the same thing for her. So that was a real blessing. I think sometimes she makes it look so easy and so natural that people aren’t necessarily aware of all the subtle things that she’s doing that are important to the character and to the scenes; the small nonverbal things going on that are really important for the story, too. And she’s just very locked into that stuff, so it makes it fun to get to work with someone who’s moving in that intuitive sphere.”

Rebecca Herbst, Jonathan Jackson - 'General Hospital'

Disney/Bahareh Ritter

As for what’s next for Jackson, who will leave Port Charles this week, “There’s some touring coming up,” he reports. “I’ll be releasing a solo album later this year. I have at least one book that’s coming out later this year as well, a book of poetry and an anthology of poems that I’ve been working on for at least 15 years now. It’s called Anthology of Longing. And then there’s another book that came out in 2014 called The Mystery of Art, but this is almost like a second installment to that concept, an exploration into the art of story and how that relates to history and faith and poetry, and all that kind of stuff. So, that one’s scheduled to come out later this year. And then next year we’re going to be going to the UK and Europe, with Nashville touring, which is going to be really exciting. So, music and books and whatever other projects come along.”

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