‘General Hospital’: Réal Andrews Was an Emotional Wreck During His First Day Back as Marcus Taggert
It’s been almost a month since General Hospital viewers said goodbye to longtime character Marcus Taggert. The character’s return after many years didn’t last long at all, which was shocking to viewers.
In a new interview, Réal Andrews, who portrayed the character, talked about how he felt when he first returned to the daytime soap opera.
Alert: Spoilers below for General Hospital
Andrews had short return stint on ‘General Hospital’
After being off the show for 17 years, Andrews made a surprise return to General Hospital. In January, he began reappearing as Taggert, a police officer who had a feud with Sonny Corinthos. His other prior storylines include his relationship with Dara Jensen, his rivalry with Justus Ward, and his relationship with his sister, Gia Campbell.
Taggert’s return to the show is tied into the fact that he had some sort of connection with Jordan Ashford. It is later unveiled that criminal Cyrus Renault has a vendetta against Ashford and Taggert, who took him down years ago.
Viewers learn that Trina Robinson is the daughter of Taggert, but he soon dies not long after reuniting with her. He is shot by one of Cyrus’s henchmen after saving Trina and Cameron Webber, who were both kidnapped.
He apparently dies from a blood clot that stems from the shooting. At the time, fans were not convinced that Taggert was really dead and hoped that it was a ploy just to make it seem like he was gone for good. However, given the show’s latest direction and comments by Andrews himself, it looks like Taggert is gone for good (at least right now).
Andrews originally portrayed Taggert from 1996-1997, and then again from 1998-2003. He also showed up on General Hospital spinoff, Port Charles. Other than General Hospital, Andrews has appeared in other soap operas, including All My Children and Days of Our Lives.
The actor dishes on how his first day went
In a recent interview with Soaps in Depth, Andrews talked about how he felt during the first day he returned to the soap to film scenes.
“Emotionally, I was a wreck,” he told the publication. “I was so excited. But all of a sudden, I started to get really nervous — and I got more and more nervous as I got closer. I was like, ‘Dude, what is going on with you?’”
However, as time progressed he gelled right back into place, especially once he could to do scenes with two old screen partners.
“My first scenes were with Maurice Benard (Sonny) and Steve Burton (Jason), and then I was back in the flow,” he explained. “Some of the same crew members and cameramen are still there. It was like walking into a time warp. It was really crazy. It’s like nobody had changed — they didn’t age or anything. It was really fun and cool. Everybody was excited that I was back, and that felt good, too.”
General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC.
