On General Hospital, Lucas Jones is reeling from the brutal murder of his lover, Marco Rios — and off camera, his portrayer, Van Hansis, has had to say good-bye to his leading man, Adrian Anchondo. Soap Opera Digest chatted with Hansis about his own reaction to the storyline shocker, his sadness over his co-star’s exit, and the juicy drama for Lucas that Marco’s death will spark.
Man of the Hour
Hansis, who is based in New York and commutes West to work on GH, had just touched down in Los Angeles to resume filming after the show’s holiday break when he got the news about Anchondo’s imminent departure. The actor recalls, “It was January 2, I believe, and Adrian texted me to let me know. I just happened to get it when I landed, and I was really, really sad. I was heartbroken — and I was really sad for him, obviously, because nobody wants that [kind of news]. I wished he had more time to show different layers of the character because even on soaps, when we’re working so much, a year isn’t a long time, and he’s such a talented actor.”
As a seasoned daytime vet — he spent five years as Luke Snyder on As the World Turns before joining GH as Lucas in 2024 — Hansis says he “totally” understood the show’s decision to sacrifice Marco in order to milk the dramatic consequences stemming from his demise, and was even expecting a death in his storyline sphere. “I had an inkling when Marco and moved to Wyndermere that someone was going,” he confides. “I didn’t know if it was Lucas, I didn’t know if it was Marco, I didn’t know if it was Sidwell [Carlo Rota], I didn’t know if it was Pascal [Marc Forget], but I was like, ‘Someone living in that mansion is not gonna see too many more mornings!’”
When the time came for Anchondo to film Marco’s last stand, his performance greatly impressed Hansis. “I was in the makeup room sitting on the couch with Kelly Thiebaud [Britt], running lines because we were up after his death scene,” he shares, “and we could see it on the monitor [that shows the feed from the studio floor]. Adrian was just incredible when Marco is lying on the ground, dying and there’s blood everywhere and you just see these tears going down his face. Not only was it visceral and scary and all that stuff, it was heartbreaking! He had no lines, yet everybody in the makeup room just stopped what they were doing to watch. He was so locked in and it was gorgeous. I told him, ‘I know you didn’t even say anything, but next year, definitely put that on your Emmy reel!’ He was so, so good. It’s so sad that he left, but I honestly think that he’s leaving in a blaze of glory.”
Death Becomes Him
Lucas and Marco shared their final scenes in Lucas’s office, when Marco handed off the vials of Britt’s medication (“I remember that we got a direction to make the moment sweeter; the director was like, ‘This is the last time we see you guys together’”). The next time Lucas saw Marco, he was dead. Sighs Hansis, “There was so much emotion happening there because it wasn’t just Lucas saying good-bye to Marco, it was me saying good-bye to Adrian as my scene partner, and I think sometimes the character’s feelings can get muddled in with the actor’s feelings, you know?”
Arriving on set to film the scenes, Hansis recognized that they were a landmark moment for his character. “Lucas fell so hard and so quick for Marco,” he muses. “And I think that Lucas is such an idealist that he really, truly thought everything was gonna be okay. He really, truly had no doubt in his mind that this would all work out and they would have their hero’s journey, and that didn’t happen. There’s the sadness of losing Marco, but then also him realizing how much he played a part in the death of the man he loves by, in his eyes, forcing Marco to help him [procure the medication]. It’s not just that he’s gone; it’s that maybe he would still be here if Lucas didn’t do X or Y or Z, and that is devastating for him.”
Regarding his own performance, Hansis says, “Crying over the dead character — we see that in all sorts of media, not just soap operas, and I just wanted it to be as real and as honest as possible. I’ve been around the block, so I think I’m pretty good at knowing when stuff I’m doing is working and when it’s not, and I felt like I was able to connect to what I wanted to connect to.”