Jonathan Jackson at arrivals for NASHVILLE Panel at the 30th Annual Paleyfest, Saban Theatre, Los Angeles, CA March 9, 2013. Photo By: Emiley Schweich/Everett Collection
Credit: Emiley Schweich/Courtesy of the Everett Collection

Could General Hospital fans be about to get, ahem, Lucky? The character’s original (and longest) portrayer Jonathan Jackson suggested that it wasn’t out of the question when he recently taped an episode of Dishing With Digest.

“When I left in 1999,” the five-time Emmy winner said, “I always had it in my mind to come back periodically, so I’m always open to that.

“I’ve never really been of the mentality of closing that door,” he added.

Already, the actor has returned to the role of Luke and Laura’s son twice, for a two-year run from 2009-11 and again for a visit in 2015 to facilitate the retirement of on-screen father and off-screen mentor Anthony Geary. But even if the show was ready to welcome Jackson home to Port Charles — and he was ready to come home — there would be a new kink in the works: He now lives in Ireland with wife Lisa Vultaggio (ex-Hannah) and their three children.

“It is a strange thing,” he muses, “that Lucky left for Ireland, and I’ve ended up living here.”

That obstacle probably wouldn’t be insurmountable for a vagabond like Jackson, who’s lived in Washington, L.A., Nashville and now abroad. But a taller hurdle remains: the workload. When he originally left the soap, he told the podcast, it was in part to tackle other roles but also in part to relieve the exhaustion of trying to finish high school while taping the soap. In 2011, “it was a combination of the amount of work and the type of work…

“It was a bit relentless the dramatic situations that were happening,” he added. “I remember in the ’90s — I could be wrong — it seemed as though you’d have a three-month story of massive intensity, then it would shift and you’d have a bit of time to recover from the immensity of it.”

More: General Hospital’s Laura, her life and times [PHOTOS]

Not so in the 2000s. It was, he recalled, all intense, all the time. He’d actually wanted to re-sign back then but had been just too depleted to do so.

While we wait — and hope — that the show and Jackson can come up with a scenario that would make it possible for him to reprise his beloved role, check out a photo gallery of other characters we want to see back in Port Charles. At least a couple of folks on our wish list are already back in the mix!