The Big Challenge GH Faces Bringing Back Steve Burton Again

Bringing Steve Burton back to General Hospital is wild, wonderful, and everything fans of the show have been waiting for since Jason Morgan was left for dead in a collapsed tunnel beneath Cassadine island in 2021.

Steve Burton: The Return Take 2

However, this isn’t the first time Burton is set to resurface in a blaze of glory. (Find out his thoughts about his latest return here.) And his last comeback was so spectacular that the bar’s been set inordinately high. It’s going to be a major challenge to repeat the razzle-dazzle, to replicate the intensity and scope of the intricate story scripted by former head writers Jean Passante and Shelly Altman, let alone come close to matching it.

Fabulous First Time

Viewers, of course, remember how wonderful Burton’s 2017 return was. The late Billy Miller was playing “Jason” at the time, unaware that he was actually his twin, Drew, and that his memories had been erased and replaced with those of his brother. Drew’s whole world was upended when Jason, who’d been drugged and held captive in an overseas clinic for five years, finally escaped, returned to Port Charles, and triumphantly reclaimed his life.

Every step of the carefully crafted plot was riveting – from Jason discovering Sam (Kelly Monaco) had moved on to the couple finally coming face-to-face for the first time in five years. There was his tense guns-drawn first meeting with Sonny (Maurice Benard), and his emotional reunions with his best friend, Carly (Laura Wright), and his sons, Danny and Jake. Each moment was more compelling than the next.

Where Is the Love Story?

It’s going to be difficult for GH to rescript all of the above with different beats and twists. Then there’s the fact that there’s no big romantic reunion waiting for Jason and GH viewers this time around. In 2017, the big payoff was soulmates Jason and Sam finally finding their way back together, and it played out beautifully for several long months until they finally united.

In 2024, Jason will return to find his last fling, Britt (Kelly Thiebaud), has died. Meanwhile, for some inexplicable reason, the show’s writers destroyed the character’s longtime connections to both Elizabeth (Rebecca Herbst) and Sam, when they had both women wash their hands of him years ago. Still, it’s a soap, so Jason and Sam could suddenly find themselves drawn together again. And of course there’s still the Carly (Laura Wright) of it all — since she’s now with his twin brother, Drew (Cameron Mathison). Yet, no matter what happens, Jason’s 2017 GH comeback is going to be a hard act to follow.

General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC. For an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.

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