General Hospital sees the rumor mill is churning and I’ve got some scoop about possible backstage intrigue related to Jonathan Jackson’s fate as Lucky Spencer on the ABC soap and how it might also tie into Rebecca Herbst who plays Elizabeth Webber. We’re going to talk about the possibility of Lucky and Elizabeth maybe exiting.
General Hospital Rumors: Jonathan Jackson’s Possible Exit as Lucky Spencer
All right. So, this rumor comes from a source I don’t have a lot of info on. I’m not going to give them a lot of sunshine and oxygen because I don’t know them. They’ve been around a few years doing GH podcast. I don’t know their track record for reliability on scoops. I just want to say that right up front.
But at the same time, this chatter about Jonathan Jackson seems plausible and it aligns to a lot of known information about his new time and tenure on General Hospital. We’re going to get into the rumor and then I’m going to tell you why I think this could have legs.
And to be clear, I’m not trying to upset anybody, not trying to upset fans, but I’m a journalist and my job is to report news and that includes rumors. We were one of the first ones talking about Kelly Monaco’s exit rumors and it turned out true. So, I’m doing what I do. Don’t shoot the messenger.
Three-Part Rumor: Jackson’s Departure, Valentini’s Plea, and Herbst’s Fate
Let’s get into it. First thing to know, this rumor has three parts that are kind of tied in together. So, part one, it spilled on this GH podcast that Jonathan Jackson supposedly decided he’s going to leave General Hospital around August or September of this year. If you don’t remember, he came back as Lucky Spencer August 23rd, 2024. And Jonathan Jackson’s exit rumor saying August or September makes sense if he only signed on for a one-year stint to bring back Lucky.
And can I just say, I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since Jonathan Jackson came back. It feels like he’s only been back a couple of months. So, the first part of the rumor that Jonathan Jackson could be leaving in 3 to 4 months, that’s plausible, but just to be clear, not confirmed, but the timing lines up. Year to year, one year, that makes sense.
General Hospital: Rumor Part Two – Johnathon Out?
So, the second part of this three-part rumor is that supposedly showrunner Frank Valentini is trying to get Jonathan Jackson to stay on as Lucky until February. Now, for the timing of part two, that would equate to a sixmonth extension for Jonathan Jackson if he signed a one-year deal. Six-month term extensions are fairly common in the soap world. So, again, plausible, not probable, not guaranteed, plausible.
Here’s part three of the rumor. The allegation is that Jonathan Jackson’s decision to stay or go could be tied into Becky Herbst’s fate on General Hospital and her long-running role as Elizabeth Webber. Now, I will say part three of this Jonathan Jackson rumor is particularly concerning and unfortunately not necessarily surprising given how the ABC soap has done Becky in the past and not in a good way.
Rebecca’s History with General Hospital: Contract Negotiations and Fan Outrage
You know, she’s been on General Hospital as Elizabeth Webber for almost 30 years. She has a huge and loyal fan base as a longtime legacy character. But several times over the last 10 plus years, the powers that be have, you know, left her hanging and not necessarily, if talk can be believed, had not treated her well during contract negotiations and have even fired her.
If you don’t remember, the powers that be fired Rebecca in early 2011. Fired. In case you don’t know that. And the Liz actress did an interview after that talking about how she was utterly blindsided when they called her into a meeting and said, “We’re writing you out.” That sparked fan uproar and outrage.
And guess what? Four weeks later, the showrunner at the time, who’s long gone, rehired Becky. And then five years later, it was like a bad flashback to the same plot, Daytime Confidential, spilled in March 2016 that GH was putting Becky through the ringer on her contract negotiations and was thinking about letting her go again. And again, fan outrage surged after that report. and Frank Valentini reportedly backed down because Becky wound up with a new multi-year contract..
Potential Exit Strategy: Lucky and Elizabeth’s Future on GH
So, those two pieces of history make part three of the Jonathan Jackson rumor very problematic for me. If Frank’s trying to keep Jonathan Jackson around till February, it could be to set up a March exit for Liz because we know Becky Herbst’s renewal period is in March. It’s in early early in the year, like in the January to March range. So, something could happen like Lucky and Elizabeth they head off on an adventure, she retires as a nurse, Aiden Spencer (Colin Cassidy) is off to college.
I mean, it would work. I don’t like the idea of it. And there’s some debate about whether Jonathan Jackson really is on a one-year contract. When they brought him back to play Lucky he said it was a long-term gig with no timeline ever publicly confirmed. So Jonathan Jackson may think that one year is a long-term soap gig compared to say a multi-month arc as Lucky which I would consider short-term or a guest arc. So the language is very open to interpretation.
There’s somebody on soap social media insisting that Jonathan signed a three-year deal. They don’t really have any credibility that I’ve seen and a long-term contract has not been confirmed by any source that I consider credible. So, we just simply don’t know how long he came on initially. Sometimes GH will say they signed a long-term deal. I think they did it when Steve Burton came back as Jason Morgan, but with Liz’s return, it was non-specific. Jonathan Jackson never said either way. And just to be clear, this is a rumor, not a spoiler.
Liz’s Hesitation: Exploring the Future of Lucky and Elizabeth’s Relationship
So, this comes hot on the heels of Lucky proposing to Liz. She said no. We’re left hanging on why. As of the time I taped this video, she had not explained herself to Lucky. We don’t know if Liz’s answer is no or just not right now.
And it seems pretty quick to me, kind of out of the blue for Lucky to propose to Liz especially since he’s been lying about her rack and covering for Kristina Corinthos-Davis (Kate Mansi). I’m personally torn on whether I even want a long-term Liz and Lucky reunion. I liked her better with Nikolas Cassadine (Adam Huss) or Jason Morgan (Steve Burton). You know, she and Lucky struggled in the past.
I don’t always like the way he treated her or the way that Lucky spoke to Liz. If you don’t recall, Lucky and Liz were married twice before. Both times ended in divorce. So, that could be why she’s hesitant to say yes to the proposal. And again, this Jonathan Jackson/Rebecca Herbst thing is only a rumor.
The timing makes it plausible, but people that start fake rumors, if they do their research, you know, they can spread something around that seems plausible. So, at this point, I’ll say it’s nothing to get worked up about, but it is something to keep an eye on. That’s what I will say.
Concerns for Becky Backstage Politics and Screen Time
I’m neither here nor there on whether Jonathan Jackson is staying a year or three. For me, he can stay or go. I don’t love any of his storylines. Lucky’s romance with Liz has been mostly offscreen and to me not particularly passionate and his defense of Kristina is really icky to me because it meant he was lying to Liz’s face for a good long while. I have a much stronger opinion about Rebecca’s future on GH.
I’ll say that the soap I think has done her wrong a couple of times in the past and not just about her contract. At the GH fan weekend in 2023 at Graceland, both Kelly Monaco and Rebecca Herpst got fan questions about why they didn’t have more episodes, more screen time, more storylines, especially given how long they’d been on the soap.
That was October 2023, and neither could really answer that because they don’t control it. And they both continued to be back burnered until a year later, October 2024, when Kelly Monaco was written out for good as they killed Sam McCall off for no good reason. So, lots of rumors about backstage politics swirled around her exit. So, I just hope this same regime isn’t plotting against Rebecca again. That’s why this rumor really bothers me. We’ll see how it goes. And if I hear anything related to her or Jonathan Jackson’s contract status, I will let you know.