Rick Hearst Is Set to Return to General Hospital: ‘Daddy’s Home’

The actor was last seen on the show as shady attorney Ric Lansing in 2016

Rick Hearst is ready to stir up some trouble on General Hospital!

The actor, 59, is set to reprise his role as shady attorney Ric Lansing on the popular ABC soap opera.

On July 25, Hearst shared a video on Instagram announcing the news with the caption, “Very excited to announce my return to General Hospital in the role of Ric Lansing. Stay tuned. You never know what you’re gonna get with this guy.”

He teases his upcoming character arc in the clip, saying, “I’m looking forward to being able to take the story that’s going to be coming out. A lot of exciting stuff, of course, Rick tends to be in everybody’s business. All at once, and always has his own agenda.”

TV Insider reports that he will appear in episodes beginning on Aug. 19.

Hearst told the outlet that casting director Mark Teschner reached out to invite him back on the show after an eight-year break. The actor describes his return as “Daddy’s home and here to take care of his daughter and anything that entails.”

He first joined the show as the shady attorney in 2002, before going on a hiatus in 2009. He returned in 2014 for a two-year arc before leaving again. During his time on the series, he has won two Primetime Emmy Awards.

Hearst is no stranger to the soap opera genre. He also starred in Days of Our Lives, The Young and the Restless, and The Bold and the Beautiful. However, that doesn’t mean he’s been keeping up with General Hospital in his absence.

“I’ve been trying to catch up and see what’s happening and I see that there’s a situation where Kristina is being a surrogate for Molly,” he told TV Insider. “And while I don’t know what that turns into, I have a feeling there’s going to be some friction by virtue of the fact that one daughter is parented by Alexis and Sonny, and the other daughter is parented by Alexis and Ric.”

He added, “That alone is enough to create a mad amount of drama of who’s going to side with who. And it’s going to be entertaining.”

Hearst’s return to the show follows a wave of tragic losses for the cast. He shared that he will miss producer Nneka Garland and actor Tyler Christopher, who both died in 2023.

Speaking of Christopher, Hearst said that he “is not only there no longer there but no longer with us and it definitely makes you look at the beauty and the finality of life.”

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Show alum Jeff Kober opened up about the recent cast deaths in an interview with PEOPLE last month, saying, “There are a couple of hard ones, you know. It always makes me more aware of where I am and how I’m being. I want the last thing I’ve said to anyone to be something in the direction of ‘I love you and I’m grateful that you’re in my life.’ “