Michael Corinthos will return to General Hospital on Friday, May 23, but with a new face. Rory Gibson, who played Noah Newman on The Young and the Restless) from 2021-2023, has stepped into the role last played by Daytime Emmy-winner Chad Duell, who exited in January after a 15-year run.
“We are excited to welcome Rory to our show,” says a spokesperson.
Gibson reports that his path to the ABC soap was a protracted process. “I originally sent in a tape for Vaughn [Bryce Durfee],” he reveals. “I came in and did a chemistry read with Eden [McCoy, Josslyn Jacks], then I had a nice little chat with Frank [Valentini, executive producer] afterwards, and I could kind of see the wheels turning as we were talking.”
Sure enough, Gibson got a callback a few days later, but for a different role. “It was super, super top secret,” he relays. “I came in and screen-tested for that with Kate Mansi [Kristina Corinthos] and Katey MacMullen [Willow Tait], and it went well. They were super warm and welcoming. A couple weeks went by, and they brought me in for another screen test with Steve Burton [Jason Morgan] and Laura Wright [Carly Spencer]. About a week after that, they locked me in, and it’s been a nice little journey ever since.”
Disney/Christine Bartolucci
While Port Charles was unfamiliar territory for him, the soap itself wasn’t. “My family watched General Hospital religiously when I was growing up,” Gibson explains. ‘My grandma and my mom were diehard fans, which made it kind of a trip when I came in for the screen test, especially with Steve, because I just remember seeing Steve’s face when I was a little kid on my mom’s television.”
So, when Gibson secured the job, his relatives were understandably ecstatic. “I called my grandma first, and she was just shouting, hollering, screaming,” he reports. “Right when I got off the phone, I could just hear her yell out to my uncle in the background, ‘He’s Michael Corinthos!’ So, they were very, very excited.”
Before he reported to work, Gibson familiarized himself with Michael’s complicated past and family connections but didn’t delve too deep into the archives. “You don’t want to necessarily copy anything that anyone’s done before, and I know Chad really owned this role and he did incredible, incredible work, so I tried to stay away from watching too many old episodes and was more looking things up online,” Gibson notes. “And then the show sent me a huge summary of who he was, so that was extremely helpful. Outside of that, it was honestly just endless phone calls with my friend, Jenna, who is a diehard fan, just asking her everything about the character that she could possibly think of. So, I got a pretty in-depth summary of who Michael was and where he might be in his life right now, considering all the traumatic things that led up to the point of me getting there.’
Disney/Christine Bartolucci)
As for where Michael is upon his return to town, Gibson offers, “He is at a huge crossroads in his life. He has a thirst for vengeance and justice because it’s no secret what Drew [Quartermaine, Cameron Mathison] put him through. I think he’s at a place where he so badly wants to have a calm and peaceful life, especially after everything he’s gone through, but I don’t necessarily see that happening for him.”
Gibson says his first day went smoothly, and the cast and crew have helped him find his way in the role. “When I first came on, our casting director Mark Teschner, who is a gem of a man, really took me under his wing and showed me around and introduced me to people and made sure that I was comfortable and had everything that I needed,” he shares. “As far as the cast, Katey MacMullen and Sofia Mattsson [Sasha Gilmore] have both been unbelievably kind. They’re two of the sweetest, loveliest people anyone would ever have the joy of meeting, and they’ve really shown me the ropes.”
He has also enjoyed getting to know his other costars. ‘It’s been pretty incredible,” Gibson raves. “Maurice [Benard, Sonny Corinthos] plays such an intense, intimidating guy on the show, and then behind the scenes, he’s such a jokester and so lighthearted and fun and easy to be around. Same goes for Steve [Burton] and Laura [Wright]. I cannot speak highly enough of how unbelievably great this cast is. Everyone’s so lovely; we’re exchanging numbers already and talking about like going on little hangs. It’s been a wonderful time.”
The only bump in the road so far has been a social media entry that drew unintended attention. Gibson admits he was surprised when he posted what he thought was an innocuous photo from his dressing room that led eagle-eyed fans to figure out he had been cast on the soap. “You see a brown door and a blank wall,” he muses. “And then I started getting flooded with DMs of, ‘You’re at GH! You’re at GH,’ and I was like, ‘What is going on? How do all these people know?’ I had a brief second of being like, ‘Oh, gosh, I hope I’m not in trouble. I thought this was pretty low-key.’ So since then, I made sure not to post anything.”
While speculation that he was the show’s new Michael played out online, Gibson kept things under wraps. “When you’re jumping in as a recast, especially filling in for someone who’s done it for so long and did such a great job, it can be kind of an intimidating thing to do,” he concedes. “It’s not my first time doing it because I jumped into Noah over at Y&R after Robert [Adamson, who also filled in as Michael on GH] had played it for quite a while, too. So, it’s been a really nice kind of quiet reception. Everyone has been really cool thus far.”
Disney/Christine Bartolucci
Looking back on his time in Genoa City, Gibson feels nothing but gratitude. “Oh, I loved it, I really did,” he raves. “Everyone became like family. I still spend quite a lot of time with a lot of my cast members over there. Josh Morrow [Nick Newman, Y&R], his son Crew [Morrow, Will Spencer, The Bold and the Beautiful], and I go to a movie, like, once a month. He feels like a second dad for me. We’ve become very, very close. And then Cait Fairbanks [Tessa Porter] is one of my best friends in the world. We hang all the time, so I love everyone over there. I had a wonderful time, but I am very excited for this change of scenery and change of pace.”
With his first episode about to air, Gibson is excited for what’s next. “I loved playing Noah, but I do feel a really strong connection to this character of Michael,” he concludes. “I feel like he has a lot more at stake and with the storylines that he’s woven into; there’s so much suspense and so much consequence behind all of them. It’s terribly, terribly exciting to play and challenging to play, so I’m feeling very fulfilled in this new role. It’s been very intense, but I’m loving every second of it.”
General Hospital, Weekdays, ABC, Check local listings