Nathan Dean Reveals the 'Fun' Way He and Alexa Havins Navigated Their First Day as ‘General Hospital' Siblings
Nathan Dean is set to return to General Hospital as Ethan Lovett on April 17, 2026, the show confirmed. Ahead of his return, the actor opened up about filming his first scenes back, including working with his new on-screen sister.
In an interview with TV Insider's Stephanie Sloane, Dean discussed his return to the long-running soap and explained his professional name change from Nathan Parsons to Nathan Dean.
Speaking about his first scenes back, Dean shared, "My very first scenes are with Lulu, and there's a new actress playing her," he said, referencing Alexa Havins.
Havins recently took over the role of Lulu Spencer, previously played by Emme Rylan and Julie Marie Berman, both of whom Dean previously worked with. Ethan and Lulu are half-siblings through their father, Luke Spencer (Anthony Geary).
Praising his new scene partner, Dean spoke highly of her sharing, "She's awesome."
He elaborated on building their on-screen dynamic, adding, "We hadn't ever had communication, so she was sort of curious about what Ethan and Lulu's dynamic was, so it was very fun to rekindle that."
Dean added that revisiting the characters' history helped ease his return, "It was good for me to rehash it a little bit, because it's like, ‘Oh yeah, I remember this happened.' It was a good way to ease back into it," he said.
Dean originally portrayed Ethan from January 30, 2009 to March 7, 2012. He later returned for several short story arcs, including the show's 50th anniversary in 2013 and Anthony Geary's exit in 2015. His most recent appearance came in 2020.
Since stepping away from General Hospital, Dean has appeared in multiple television series including The Originals, True Blood, Rosewood, Once Upon a Time, and most recently Roswell, New Mexico.
For his work on General Hospital, Dean earned a nomination for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series at the Daytime Emmy Awards in 2012.
General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC with episodes streaming weeknights on Hulu.
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This story was originally published April 16, 2026 at 8:55 PM.