Jon Lindstrom is officially back on General Hospital as Kevin Collins on Tuesday, December 2, 2025 — almost exactly a year since his last on-screen appearance — and he’s doing it while still playing Joey Armstrong on CBS Daytime’s Beyond the Gates. In a new conversation pegged to his return, Lindstrom calls slipping into Kevin “like putting on a comfortable old suit,” and confirms he’ll share scenes with Maurice Benard’s Sonny Corinthos. He also details the calendar math, the 2,000-mile commute between Atlanta and Los Angeles, and why GH “stacked a bunch of shows up over a couple of days” to make this visit happen.
Lindstrom first joined GH as Kevin in 1993, and he underscores the emotional pull of walking back into Port Charles now: “I love those people. I love all of them… It’s like coming back to see old friends and a great reunion around it.” The timing aligns with Laura’s most chaotic moment in office — Genie Francis’s Laura Collins just won re-election as Mayor of Port Charles and is reeling from the fallout of Professor Henry Dalton’s death, a plotline that also entangles Sonny. Kevin, the psychiatrist, “doesn’t love her relationship with Sonny” but “understands the value of human connection.”
So why the year-long absence? Lindstrom is candid: “It’s just been difficult to find the time,” because Beyond the Gates shoots in Atlanta while GH films in Los Angeles — “they’re 2,000 miles apart.” When he told executive producer Frank Valentini on Election Day 2024 that he was doing BTG, the first question was, “Can you do both?” The compromise: GH would cluster taping — “stack a bunch of shows up over a couple of days” — so he could fly in, work, and fly back.
There’s also a storytelling reason he felt okay stepping away. “In all fairness to me, it had whittled down to about one or two shows a month, so Kevin had been fairly inactive for a long time. I haven’t seen him have a really active story since the show Port Charles, or unless Ryan [Chamberlain] was around, so it was kind of a no-brainer.” With Laura and Sonny in crisis — and the late Professor Henry Dalton (played by Daniel Goddard) looming over December episodes — a compact Kevin run makes dramatic sense.
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Who’s In the Room: Characters, Actors, and Where They Stand
- Kevin Collins (Jon Lindstrom) — Port Charles psychiatrist returning on December 2, 2025; married to Laura Collins. “Like putting on a comfortable old suit” to play him again.
- Laura Collins (Genie Francis) — Newly re-elected Mayor of Port Charles; dealing with the aftermath of Professor Henry Dalton’s death.
- Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) — Will share scenes with Kevin as Laura seeks help; Kevin “doesn’t love” the connection but understands it.
- Professor Henry Dalton (Daniel Goddard) — Deceased; his death intensifies December GH storylines around Laura and Sonny.
- Ryan Chamberlain — Kevin’s twin and long-time menace; fan speculation always asks if “Kevin” could be Ryan.
- Joey Armstrong (Jon Lindstrom) — Villain on CBS’s Beyond the Gates, filmed in Atlanta; the reason the GH/BTG logistics are so tricky.
How GH Made the Return Work (and Why BTG Matters)
The actor spells out the logistics: GH is in Los Angeles; Beyond the Gates is in Atlanta; and he’s “not under contract,” which meant he could technically do both — in theory. In practice, “there were just logistical problems along the way” when GH asked for single-day pop-ins. The solution, as Lindstrom recalls, was simple: “What if we stack a bunch of shows up over a couple of days? Will that be worth your while to make the trip out?” It was. He adds, jokingly, that Genie Francis “is getting tired of talking to a disembodied Kevin on the phone.”
BTG’s creative pull also factored in. Creator Michele Val Jean “wrote all the great Ryan and Kevin stuff back in the day,” and when she told him, “I threw your name out to the network, and they approved you,” he was “stunned.” He laughs that Maurice Benard once asked what Joey is like, and Val Jean quipped, “He’s the Sonny of the DMV.” Lindstrom can’t resist the punchline: “I think Joey has a much better sense of humor than Sonny Corinthos.”
Backstage Vibes: Friends, Flights, and a Mick Jagger Mantra
The return doubled as a reunion. “I love working with Genie,” Lindstrom says, noting that she and her husband Jonathan Frakes are “really close friends.” He hadn’t seen them “in over a year,” so catching up in her dressing room felt like home. That word comes up a lot. Landing in Medford, Oregon, where he grew up, still triggers the same feeling: “Wow, I’m home.” And if there’s a motto for this late-career double duty, it’s a line he cites from Mick Jagger: “Do what you love, it keeps you young.”
What Kevin’s December 2 Return Signals for GH
With Laura freshly re-elected and Sonny embedded in the Dalton fallout, Kevin can do what Kevin does best: parse motives and pressure points. The “stacked” shooting plan implies more than a single corridor chat; it suggests a short run of concentrated scenes that meaningfully touch Laura’s mayoral crisis and Sonny’s choices. If the show leans into Kevin-as-mirror — for Laura’s duty vs. family and for Sonny’s power vs. protection — Port Charles could get a rare dose of clinical clarity amid its mob-municipal storm.
Beyond December 2: Will Jon Lindstrom Keep Bouncing Between Sets?
Lindstrom is game, schedule-permitting: “I’ll do GH anytime. I just don’t know if we can work it out. I’m busier than I’ve ever been, and I thought I’d be retired by now!” He’s also juggling a new book, Hollywood Payback, due April 14, 2026, and hosting a pilot called The Bible on Trial. For now, he’ll keep “getting up every morning ready to go to work,” grateful for both gigs.
When and Where to Watch
Jon Lindstrom returns as Kevin Collins on Tuesday, December 2, 2025. General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC.
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