If you haven’t heard, Brandon Barash is parting with Days of Our Lives, and what is Days’ loss could be General Hospital’s gain.
Prior to him portraying Stefan DiMera on the Peacock series, Barash captivated many daytime TV fans as the one and only Johnny Zacchara. Like Sonny (Maurice Benard), he was a big kingpin in Port Charles who was just as charming as he was dangerous. While Sonny and Johnny never managed to become friends by any stretch of the imagination (for a time the Zacchara family were mortal enemies of Sonny), the two men actually shared some overlap in family and friends. Both Sonny and Johnny have been romantically involved with Carly (Laura Wright) and Olivia (Lisa LoCicero), and Johnny once befriended Sonny’s daughter Kristina.
Then there’s Johnny’s connection to Maxie (Kirsten Storms) and Lulu. He was good friends with the former and once dated the latter. We bring up all of these connections to reiterate the point that Johnny has plenty of ties to Port Charles that could bring him back to town.
Now let’s focus on Johnny’s connection to Lulu. With Alexa Havins set to take over the role of Lulu, presumably after she wakes up from her miracle transplant surgery thanks to Sam (Kelly Monaco), many General Hospital fans think Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) and Lulu are headed toward a reconciliation.
However, with Sam set to die due to the surgery, we don’t know if Dante will be so willing to just reunite with his ex. He’ll probably feel guilty that his current love sacrificed her life for his former love, and that guilt could present a problem for him and Lulu.
So it may prove interesting to have Johnny pop back up to further throw a wrench in the Dante and Lulu reunion. For Johnny to be another viable romantic partner for Lulu.
Some of you may be questioning how in the world Johnny may pop back up considering he was last seen in Pentonville serving a sentence for murder. Well thanks to soap magic, we know prison sentences rarely last forever for criminals, and many of them don’t serve full sentences. Heather Webber’s (Alley Mills) recent release is the perfect example. So there’s a world where he’s released early. And who knows, with Jason (Steve Burton) still reluctant to work for Brennan (Charles Mesure), perhaps Brennan could employ Johnny with the WSB. It’s worth noting, Johnny and Jason have similar skill sets.
To be clear, Barash returning to General Hospital is purely wishful thinking at this point, but we can only hope.
New episodes of General Hospital air on weekdays on ABC. If you miss an episode, you can catch up on Hulu.
