After having been gone for over 25 years, Rena Sofer shocked and delighted her fans that she’d be bringing Lois back to General Hospital. And with Ned running around thinking he was rocker Eddie Maine, it made perfect sense to revisit the epic love story that was such a huge part of General Hospital in the ‘90s.

It wouldn’t be quite the same, of course, but then, few things are. Though Sofer had run into executive producer Frank Valentini a few years back and he’d mentioned how great it would be for her to bring Lois back to General Hospital, Sofer was busy, at the time, over on Bold & Beautiful. But that’s not the only reason she hadn’t returned in decades.

Because coming back even before she was playing Quinn just wasn’t an option for her, Sofer explained on Soap Opera Digest’s podcast. The timing just wasn’t right to give her a story that she could do.

“If I came back to the show 10, 15 years ago, people were gonna want to see Lois and Ned be together again,” she said. And that’s something she couldn’t do then and can’t do now. “I was married to Wally Kurth, who plays Ned, and we’re both remarried — although I’m divorced, but gonna be married to the same man,” Sanford Bookstaver.

Kurth, of course, has been with his wife Debra Yuhasz for 20 years. And though he and Sofer share a daughter, Rosabel, and get along wonderfully, they’ve long since moved on from their marriage.

“I don’t know how Wally feels about this,” Sofer admitted, “but that would be pretty cruel to our spouses. I just don’t think that that’s OK. I wouldn’t be OK with it. I would never ask my husband to be OK with me doing love scenes with my ex-husband. I just think that’s wrong in every sense of the word.”

So her stipulation for coming back was to keep Ned and Lois apart — at least romantically — and Sofer made that clear to Valentini when he reached out to her. And his response? Perfect!

“He goes, ‘Oh, no, no, no, no,’” Sofer shared. “‘He’s happily married. He just doesn’t know who his wife is. And we need you to help him figure out that he needs to be with the one that he’s supposed to be with.’ And that’s when I was like, ‘That’s great. That’s a great story.’”

So for those longtime fans out there who may be hoping for some sparks to fan up between Ned and Lois, that’s just not the direction this story will head. “I understand we’re actors,” Sofer made clear, “but it’s beside that.”

She’s just thrilled to be back. Plus, she gets to have “really fun scenes with Lisa LoCicero who Lois grew up with.” Like Kurth and Sofer’s marriage, Ned and Lois’ romance is in the past. They’ve all moved on, and that’s the way it should stay. Lois is there to help him find his way back to Olivia and “help her be with the man that she loves.”

Hey, when the timing is right, it’s right! We’re just glad that the stars all aligned to bring Lois back on our screens once again.