Beloved for his tenure as As the World Turns’ Luke Snyder, one-half of the uber-popular (and groundbreaking) Luke/Noah coupling, actor Van Hansis has been tapped to join the cast of General Hospital and succeed Ryan Barnes in the role of Lucas Jones.
Van Hansis Coming To GH
Per TVInsider, Hansis will make his return to daytime on October 4th. During an in-depth chat with the outlet, he mused, “There are times when I want to call myself Luke, but then I know that there’s Luke [Anthony Geary] and Laura [Genie Francis], and Luke is one of the biggest soap characters in the world. So, I know I’m not that Luke, but there are weird little similarities between Luke Snyder and Lucas.
“When I got the part, I was looking up who the character was and they both have the same dad stuff going on with their birth father being kind of a dirtbag because Luke had Damian [Paolo Seganti] and Lucas has Julian [William deVry] and then adopted fathers, so there are parallels.”
Hansis is thrilled for the chance to play another LGBTQIA+ character, declaring that, “It feels great! And I love that Lucas is not the only gay character on the show. I remember when Luke and Noah kissed [on ATWT] for the first time, we had Entertainment Tonight come. And I get it, but it’s great that we’re in a place where it’s so casual, just like how it is in life.
“There are gay people in life so there should be gay people on soaps and queer people and trans people and all of that. So, the fact that it’s so ingrained and it’s not like ‘the gay character’ or ‘the gay storyline’ feels really nice.”
And he also appreciates the opportunity to act opposite fellow Oakdaleian Maura West (currently GH’s Ava Jerome, formerly ATWT’s Carly Tenney):
“She didn’t know I got cast and I was coming out of a wardrobe fitting she was grabbing her wardrobe for the day. This was the day that we had scenes together and she just looked at me and it was like she saw a ghost. She was like, ‘Van?’ And she gave me a big hug and then she was like, ‘Wait, are you Lucas?!’ And I was like, ‘Yeah,’ and she screamed so loudly that the security guard came down to see because they thought somebody was getting hurt or something.
I have always loved Maura so much. Being on World Turns, my first job I ever did, watching certain actors on that show, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, these people are so good,’ and she was definitely one of them. I think I had more scenes with her that day [on GH] that we shot together than I ever had with her on As The World Turns. I was always watching her from afar. So then getting to actually work with her — she’s my aunt — is really, really something.”
In summing up his gratitude at the chance to come back to soaps, Hansis demurred, “I’ve been in this industry long enough that I know there are no guarantees, but I didn’t know if I’d ever be back on a soap. But now that I am, I’m super excited to be here. I’m really just making sure that I’m taking it in and enjoying being a part of something really, really cool. I’m old enough now that I’m like, ‘It’s okay to be proud of yourself and be grateful for the opportunity.’ I’ll try to do my best and get the most out of it.”
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