With “One Life to Live” heading back into production for a 30-minute web version of the soap, the fate of John McBain, Todd Manning and Starr Manning (who currently reside in Port Charles, on ABC’s “General Hospital”) has been put up in the air.
Prospect Park – the company reviving “OLTL” and “All My Children” online — confirmed that via its licensing deal with ABC, they own the characters, but they said in a statement, they are interested in sharing.
“Prospect Park understands that ‘General Hospital’ has featured Llanview transplants Michael Easton (John) and Kristen Alderson (Starr) among others while we arranged production of the new version of ‘One Life to Live.’ These characters, who we own under our agreement, are obviously essential to our production efforts, and a large reason we licensed the program,” Prospect Park said in a statement. “We also understand that legions of ‘General Hospital’ fans have grown to love these actors and characters in a short time. So even though we are paying ABC millions of dollars to license the shows, we have been, and continue to be willing to equally share the characters with ‘General Hospital’ and ABC. It’s a win-win for the actors, the shows and fans, who love all of the shows and storylines. We hope to work out these agreements with ABC and the actors.”
ABC said in a statement the network is hoping to find ways to keep Easton, Alderson and Roger Howarth, who plays Todd Manning, on “GH.”
“‘General Hospital’ is excited about Michael Easton, Kristen Alderson and Roger Howarth staying on the show and we are exploring ways to allow that to happen,” the network told Access in a statement on Sunday.
On Monday, there was no clear answer as to what will happen with the three characters that helped bring over viewers to “GH.”
On his Facebook page, Easton told fans, “I’ve been informed, that due to some ongoing legal this and that, I cannot be at “General Hospital” after February 8th.”
Meanwhile Alderson, who grew up playing Starr on “OLTL” said she had no new news regarding her character’s future.
“Thank you for all of your sweet responses to the recent madness. Nothing yet to report! Praying for positive answers,” she Tweeted late last week.
“General Hospital” airs weekdays on ABC. “OLTL” returns this Spring, with episodes airing on Hulu, Hulu Plus and iTunes.
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