General Hospital

Brad Maule Speaks Out On His General Hospital Return

Published by

Diane Brounstein

5 years ago

As previously reported, fan-favorite Brad Maule is coming back to General Hospital as Dr. Tony Jones. The character died on-screen in 2006, but he’s returning to lend support to his son, Lucas.

Paging Dr. Tony Jones

News of Maule’s return first leaked out on social media last month. The actor recently spoke out on reprising his character, but it’s not clear whether Tony’s back from the dead or if he’ll be a figment of Lucas’s (Ryan Carnes) imagination.

Our guess is the latter, but one thing’s for sure — Lucas sure needs his adopted dad to talk to since his biological pop, Julian (William deVry), keeps letting him down.

Even though Carnes first played Lucas back when Tony was still alive, Maule tells TV Insider that this is the first time the two have acted together. “It was wonderful working with him,” Maule says of sharing screen-time with Carnes. “I couldn’t have worked with a kinder person. That’s just the way it was.

“He was professional, he knew his lines, and he was great working with me in that he knew it was a new day for me. There’s all kinds of ways that actors can work and Ryan does it in one of the best ways.”

Before Tony died during the encephalitis outbreak, he and Lucas shared a touching scene in which Tony let his son know that he loved and accepted him.

“That was a really good scene,” Brad Maule recalls of when Tony warned his son that people could be small-minded and hate what they don’t understand. Tony told Lucas to never let anyone think less of him for being gay.

“I remember [that scene] being 10 pages long!” Maule says, noting that gay characters on soaps weren’t as prevalent then as they are today. “[That scene] was ahead of its time. I felt great about it. Sometimes the writing on GH sort of matches up where you are in your head and in your life.

“I felt, ‘I’m going out but at least I’m saying something. Good!” You know what else is good? Maule will be seen back on screen soon! General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC. Check local listings for air times.