Michael Easton To Exit General Hospital

Michael Easton has announced he is exiting ABC daytime soap General Hospital.

The actor plays John McBain in the long-running medical saga but he originally played the character in fellow ABC soap One Life to Live. He joined the soap in 2003 and remained with the cast, on/off, until its finale in January 2012. In March of 2012 he joined General Hospital, along with several other OLTL actors, reprising his role.

As One Life to Live is heading back to life thanks to Prospect Park all kind of complications are rearing their heads with regards to General Hospital. That’s because under it’s deal with ABC Prospect Parks owns the rights to all OLTL characters including those now in General Hospital. It’s for this reason that Michael Easton is exiting General Hospital; the actor told followers on Facebook “I’ve been informed that, due to some ongoing legal this and that, I cannot be at General Hospital after February 8th”

Easton’s exit from G.H doesn’t necessarily mean that he’ll be returning to OLTL and it’s unclear how long he’ll be absent from the medical soap for. If OLTL does decide to bring the character of John McBain back to Llanview it doesn’t mean Easton will be playing him as Prospect Park’s deal with ABC only includes characters not actors! So its more than a little bit complicated.

Aside from playing McBain actor Michael Easton will be known to soap viewers for his roles of Tanner Schofield on Days of our Lives and Michael Morley/Caleb Morley in Port Charles; the spin-off from General Hospital.