Jon Lindstrom<\/a> will return to General Hospital<\/a><\/em> as Kevin Collins on Tuesday, December 2, a year after his last appearance.<\/p>\n For the actor, who is currently playing Joey Armstrong on Beyond the Gates<\/a><\/em>, it was a matter of working out his schedule. \u201cIt\u2019s just been difficult to find the time,\u201d explains Lindstrom, who shoots the new CBS soap in Atlanta.<\/p>\n Looking back, Lindstrom says the decision to trade Port Charles for Fairmont Crest wasn\u2019t a tough one. \u201cIn all fairness to me, it had whittled down to about one or two shows a month, so Kevin had been fairly inactive for a long time,\u201d he points out. \u201cI haven\u2019t seen him have a really active story since the show Port Charles<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0or unless Ryan [Chamberlain, Kevin\u2019s twin] was around, so it was kind of a no-brainer.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, he knew taking the job on BTG<\/em> would impact his GH<\/em> appearances. \u201cWhen I called Frank [Valentini, GH\u2019s<\/em> executive producer] to tell him that I would be going to do Beyond the Gates<\/em> on Election Day 2024, he asked me, \u2018Can you do both?\u2019\u201d relays Lindstrom. \u201cI said, \u2018Well, technically, yes, because I\u2019m not under contract. The only stickler is that they\u2019re 2,000 miles apart.\u2019 So, there were just logistical problems along the way over the last year where they would reach out every now and again and ask if I was available for one episode or another episode in the middle of a week, and that\u2019s impossible for me to do from out here because Gates<\/em> takes up a lot of my time.\u201d<\/p>\n Even so, GH<\/em> found a way to make a visit work. \u201cTo their credit, they came to me and said, \u2018What if we stack a bunch of shows up over a couple of days? Will that be worth your while to make the trip out?\u2019\u201d he shares. \u201cAnd the short answer is, \u2018Yes, of course.\u2019 Besides, I think Genie [Francis, Laura Collins] is getting tired of talking to a disembodied Kevin on the phone.\u201d<\/p>\n XJ Johnson\/jpistudios.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Returning to the soap he first joined in 1993 carried emotional weight for Lindstrom. \u201cI love those people,\u201d he says. \u201cI love all of them. So many great things in my life are a direct result of my association with General Hospital<\/em>. Coming back, the beautiful thing is a lot of people don\u2019t know you\u2019re coming back, so they see you in the hallway, and they\u2019re really happy to see you. It was like, \u2018My God, Jon, how long has it been?\u2019 And then you walk on the stage, and they can\u2019t believe that they\u2019re actually seeing you, so it\u2019s great. It\u2019s like coming back to see old friends and a great reunion around it.\u201d<\/p>\n Among those reunions, reconnecting with Francis was a standout. \u201cI love working with Genie, and she and Jonathan [Frakes, her husband] have become really close friends,\u201d he notes. \u201cI hadn\u2019t seen them in over a year, so to be able to just sit down and hang out in the dressing room with Genie and catch up and talk about life and how things are, I was really excited to do that. I also ran into Maurice [Benard, Sonny Corinthos], and we had a little bit of work together. I love Mo.\u201d<\/p>\n Once back on set, slipping back into character as Kevin proved effortless. \u201cLike putting on a comfortable old suit,\u201d Lindstrom reports. \u201cIt did feel like going back to my hometown. I haven\u2019t lived in my hometown since 1978, but I still have that feeling whenever I step off the plane into the Medford, Oregon, terminal. It\u2019s like, \u2018Wow, I\u2019m home. This feels really familiar.\u2019 And it\u2019s a good feeling. They say you can\u2019t go home again. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s true.\u201d<\/p>\n Story-wise, Kevin will quickly get caught up to speed about Laura turning to Sonny for help in the wake of Professor Henry Dalton\u2019s (Daniel Goddard<\/a>) death. \u201cGenie, who never slouches, never walks through a scene, is just terrific in this story,\u201d he praises. \u201cKevin doesn\u2019t love her relationship with Sonny<\/a>, but he also understands it. Being the shrink that he is, he understands the value of human connection.\u201d<\/p>\n While Kevin\u2019s return will be impactful, Lindstrom is also energized by his work on BTG<\/em>. \u201cI\u2019m absolutely loving it,\u201d he declares. \u201cMichele Val Jean<\/a> [BTG\u2019s<\/em> creator] has written really great characters for me in the past \u2014 she wrote all the great Ryan and Kevin stuff back in the day \u2014 so when she came to me and said, \u2018Oh, by the way, I threw your name out to the network, and they approved you,\u2019 I was stunned. I haven\u2019t had a character this good, this layered, this interesting, this much fun to play since I played Ryan Chamberlain the first time around.\u201d<\/p>\n And in a twist that amuses him, Joey resembles a GH<\/em> fave. \u201cI was with Michele at the GH<\/em> Emmy party, and we were talking to Maurice, and Mo goes, \u2018So what\u2019s this character that you do?\u2019\u201d Lindstrom recalls. \u201cAnd Michele laughs and goes, \u2018He\u2019s you. He\u2019s the Sonny of the DMV.\u2019 And I said, \u2018I think Joey has a much better sense of humor than Sonny Corinthos.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Part of the thrill of being on BTG<\/em>, he adds, is working with a clean slate. \u201cOne of the reasons I really love doing this show is because it\u2019s new,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s because of that energy of everyone wanting it to work and be seen and enjoyed by a lot of people. It\u2019s hard to get a show off the ground, but that energy and focus of trying to find the rhythm of something that doesn\u2019t know its rhythm yet is hard to beat. And to have that feeling at this time of my career and my life is such a gift to me. Boy, I\u2019ll tell you, Mick Jagger<\/a> was right when he said, \u2018Do what you love, it keeps you young.\u2019 I get up every morning ready to go to work. I want to go to work. I want to be a part of this, and it\u2019s really wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n