In a General Hospital Exclusive, Marcus Coloma Gets Real About a Port Charles Return: ‘I’ve Thought About It So Much’

As is so often the case in daytime, Nikolas’s latest death on General Hospital was greatly exaggerated. He was whisked away after Ava’s head bashing, nursed back to health and, in time, woken up from his coma. Granted, he’s still not back in Port Charles just yet — Nikolas is currently off-screen, trying to make sure that the Cassadine fortune doesn’t fall into Spencer’s hands — but at this point, it’s not a question of if he’ll return, but when.

Back when Nikolas “died,” Marcus Coloma was wrapping up his three-year run on General Hospital. But before he could step away from the role, he caught COVID and the brutal after-effects kept him from finishing out his run. That’s when Adam Huss stepped in to see Nikolas off and now, welcome him back.

So does that mean Coloma’s done with General Hospital for good? That’s a question, the actor shares in a recent interview with Soaps.com, that’s been coming up a lot now that Nikolas is alive and well. So far, the character hasn’t yet returned full-time, and it’s not exactly clear what that would look like. Then, too, there’s always the possibility that Coloma could come back as another character, which is something General Hospital has gleefully done a number of times over the past few years.  So, would he ever come back?

“I would,” Coloma says. “I’ve thought about it so much. And I think the bottom line is that, to me, the absolute star of General Hospital is the fans. They’ve had different actors, they’ve had different directors, different producers, but the thing that has never changed is the fans.”

The daytime alum explains that he’s met a ton of fans in his years on the show and he’s talked to them about how long they’ve watched. Shows, he notes, all go through waves where they’re sometimes better and sometimes worse. Sometimes the fans are frustrated and other times they’re thrilled.

But when he’s asked the fans if they stopped watching when the show was in what they considered a slump, “the majority say ‘No.’ And I’ve seen really big characters leave the show, for whatever reason, and the ratings don’t necessarily change. And what I’ve determined is the biggest appeal about General Hospital is the fans.”

With all that said, “If I felt like the fans were unanimously reaching for me to come back, then I would go back for the fans.” He thoroughly enjoyed his time on the ABC sudser, “And there are certain things that I absolutely love about it. But that would be the only reason that I would personally want to go back.”

Coloma admits that he’s not sure how that would happen or what form it would take, but if the fans wanted him back and the show reached out to him, he’d go back. But what if another daytime soap reached out to him first?

“I’m not the most familiar with the entire world of daytime,” Coloma admits. “My knowledge is pretty limited to General Hospital. I know a little Young & Restless, just because I’m really good friends with Michelle Stafford [Genoa City’s Phyllis and Port Charles’ original Nina]. But I haven’t necessarily seen that show.”

(He has, however, recently worked with Stafford on  2 Dicks, the Instagram series he and General Hospital’s Scotty, Kin Shriner star in, as you can see to hilarious effect in the short episode below.)

But even if Coloma’s not familiar with a show, he’d still be up for giving it a go. “To me, it’s about the vibe,” he explains. “What I’ve learned, as I’ve been in this career for a while is that even though you’re always gonna have haters, you’re always going to have fans. So as far as any other soap or any other project, I would be very inclined to say yes to almost anything.”

So whether it’s on General Hospital or any of the other sudsers, don’t be surprised if some day you turn on your TV and see Marcus Coloma back in daytime.