General Hospital’s Ryan Paevey Promises To ‘Stir The Pot’ With His Return to Port Charles
The highly anticipated return of Ryan Paevey to General Hospital is slated to take place on Friday, September 19, marking the actor’s first appearance in Port Charles since the character he played from 2013-18, Det. Nathan West, died in the line of duty after his biological father, Cesar Faison, shot him. Now, in a new interview with TV Insider, Paevey is speaking out about how his comeback came about.
The Long Way Home
Paevey — who became a regular fixture in movies for Hallmark after his GH departure — reported that his return was set in motion when he was contacted by text by Frank Valentini, GH’s executive producer. In the message, Valentini shared that the show was batting around storyline ideas for several characters connected to Nathan, and he was “wondering if I might be willing to come back so they could make some of that arc a little bit richer.”
The outreach came at a time when Paevey was taking a self-imposed hiatus from show business, living in San Diego to take care of his mother, who was ill, surfing, making jewelry and staying off of social media. In other words, a return to GH hadn’t been on his radar. However, it was an idea he embraced. “I’m grateful to still have an opportunity here,” the actor told the publication.
Thus far, Paevey says, being back in the Port Charles mix has been “really nostalgic and really cool,” particularly because of how many friends he has in the building, both behind the scenes and in front of the camera. On his very first day, he shared, “I bumped into Fin [Finola Hughes, Anna] and Dominic [Zamprogna, Dante] in the hall, which was rad, because it was like a little mini-PCPD reunion.” He also reunited with a very familiar prop. “I went upstairs, and the first thing I saw was the coffin I was in the last time I was there.”
Life Goes On?
Ah yes — the coffin. Nathan died what appeared to be a pretty definitive death, one that would be challenging to reverse even by soap standards, and was memorialized at an open casket funeral that ended with the spirit of Georgie Jones, his late sister-in-law, escorting him to the afterlife. Of course, stranger things can happen — and have. After all, the character’s sister, Britt Westbourne, popped up alive in July after she took her last breath on camera after being attacked by Heather Webber’s poison hook a few years back.
The show is not definitively confirming whether Paevey is, indeed, playing Nathan, proving that a talent for cheating death runs in the family, but the actor did disclose that he will be working with Kelly Thiebaud (Britt). “Our storylines will absolutely overlap,” he declared, praising his on-screen sister as “a super-cool human being.” He also revealed that he’s gotten to spend time with Gary James Fuller, who plays James, Nathan’s son, whose birth Nathan and wife Maxie Jones (Kirsten Storms) were happily expecting when Nathan was tragically killed.
And while he won’t be working opposite Storms, who is on an extended leave from the show while a comatose Maxie is receiving critical medical care in Boston, Paevey remains grateful for the enduring popularity of “Naxie.” He called fans’ devotion to the love story “surreal as hell,” adding, “It’s sort of validating that you went to work, you did your best, and it worked out.”
As for what fans can expect from the storyline that kicks off when Paevey makes his first on-air appearance tomorrow, he teased that it would be “wildly different” from his previous stint, stating, “We’re going to stir the pot. I wouldn’t come back for something vanilla. It’s going to be a blast.”
Are you rooting for Paevey to be playing Nathan — and if he’s not, who do you think he is returning as? Share your reactions and theories in the comments below!
Conversation
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