Fans of General Hospital will soon be seeing a new face on staff when former Days of our Lives heartthrob Jason Cook (ex-Shawn Douglas Brady) joins the cast of the ABC soap in June. According to a show insider, Cook's new role will not be a new character to viewers.
A New Jersey native, Cook joined the cast of Days of our Lives in 1999 and exited in 2006. During his tenure on the NBC soap, Cook was one half of the wildly popular young couple "Shelle," nicknamed for the juxtaposition of the character names involved in the pairing -- Shawn and Belle. In a twist that appears to be more than just a coincidence, Cook's former onscreen love, Kirsten Storms (ex-Belle Black), now appears as Maxie Jones on General Hospital.
With Storms, Cook earned nominations for a special Daytime Emmy for Irresistible Combination and the Favorite Triangle in Soap Opera Digest's annual awards. Both nods came in 2005.
Are network execs hoping that lightning will strike twice? While details are sketchy, a show source tells Soap Central that Cook is set to play the role of Steven (Lars) Webber. Steven is the brother of Liz Webber, a role last played by Shaun Benson in May 2005. The show has declined to name Cook's character.
According to storyline outlines, Cook's character will be crossing paths with bad girl, turned fashionista-in-training, Maxie Jones. That could spell doom for another fan favorite pairing; Maxie and quirky private detective, Damian Spinelli.
A General Hospital rep declined to comment on the identity of Cook's new character.
In addition to his work in daytime, Cook is a former piano player and co-founded the improvisational comedy troupe Severe Head Drama. Cook also likes to work behind-the-scenes and wrote and directed the independent film Social Security Guard, a film that featured his GH soon-to-be co-star John Ingle (Edward Quartermaine)
Cook was to have started airing in early June, however, the show has pushed back his start date to late June.
