There’s a new actor playing John “Jagger” Cates on General Hospital and original star Antonio Sabato Jr. is sharing his thoughts on the recasting.
Antonio starred on the soap opera series from 1992 to 1995 and he has never returned. He later appeared on The Bold and the Beautiful for a couple years in the 2000s.
Almost 30 years later, General Hospital decided to bring back the iconic character with a new actor.
Keep reading to find out more…
In an Instagram video, Antonio told fans, “I’m being bombarded with a lot of questions about this General Hospital thing. You need to know the truth from me and you need to know the only truth about what’s going on.”
Antonio continued, “At the beginning of my career, I started on a character that I truly, truly adore, that I created with Wendy Riche, the executive producer, and an amazing team of writers at General Hospital back in 1992. I was on General Hospital from 92 to 94, playing a character by the name of John ‘Jagger’ Cates. I’ve been asked by the fans, by millions all over the world, not just in America and in North America, but all over the world, about coming back to General Hospital for 30 years. Now, like I said, I’m doing very well. I’m not begging to go back on the show. This is not about that. I have many careers. I’m still acting very well. I have a movie coming out. I have a lot of things coming out that I’m very proud of.”
“I’ve never been asked to come back on General Hospital for 30 years. The producers at General Hospital, ABC, and Disney, they know where to find me. They know where I am. The fans always ask me every single day, ‘Are you going back to General Hospital?’” he added (via MichaelFairmanTV.com).
Adam J. Harrington as Jagger
Adam J. Harrington is the new actor playing Jagger, who now just goes by John.
“So now, they started a new character by the name of John. They don’t even call him ‘Jagger’. They call him ‘John’ because they know that the character’s only been played by me ’cause it’s part of who I am. It’s my life. It’s a character that is really a big part of my soul, that I dedicated my life, and that’s why it turned out to be great. I gave everything I have to that character and I would still do. So, the truth and the fact of the matter is, people say, well, ‘you ruined your career because you voted for this, or political, or this and that.’ I shouldn’t be hired on my political views. I should be hired on my merit, on my acting abilities,” Antonio said.
He added, “So, this is on them hiring a new person, which is fine. They could do whatever they want. But for all the fans around the world to speculate, or to say, ‘I ruined my career and all this stuff,’ no, that’s not it. So now you know the truth. I’m gonna leave this out there for you to see.”
There have been a lot of changes to the General Hospital cast recently.