Nikolas Cassadine is alive and ready to shake things up in Port Charles, and General Hospital shared a sweet message on Instagram from the new actor who has stepped into the role. Many viewers were hoping that actor Tyler Christopher would return as Nik, but the show decided to recast him instead. Now, everybody is talking about actor Marcus Coloma taking over this core Cassadine role.
The 41-year-old actor may be new to soap operas , but he’s popped up in a wide range of entertainment gigs previously to landing this role as Nikolas on General Hospital . In the Instagram post shared on the show’s page, Coloma teased that the writers have come up with some fantastic stuff for him already. Marcus praised his co-stars and voiced gratitude for the fans. Based on some of the comments on Instagram, it looks as if the GH cast is pretty happy to have him on board.
Ingo Rademacher (Jasper Jacks) joked that Coloma forgot to thank him personally in his message. In addition, Laura Wright (Carly Corinthos) and Kirsten Storms (Maxie Jones) welcomed him to the General Hospital family.
While the General Hospital cast seems anxious to welcome Coloma with open arms, the reactions from the viewers have been a bit more mixed.
So far, it looks as if the initial viewer complaints have fallen into two main buckets. Many General Hospital fans are disappointed that the show didn’t bring Christopher back as Nikolas. Several actors have played the handsome Cassadine heir over the years, but Tyler is the one most people associate with the role. It isn’t known for certain why GH didn’t tap him for this return, but one way or another, viewers will need to get used to Coloma as their new Nik.
The other chief complaint appears to be that Coloma looks too young in their minds to play this Cassadine character. Marcus does seem to look young, especially in the brief initial scenes that have been shown.
However, he is actually 41-years-old. Tyler’s real age is 46, so there’s not that much of a difference there. The character of Nikolas has been written as someone who would have been about 38 at the time of his presumed death three years ago, so Coloma fits well, in that respect.
Will fans give Coloma a fair shot at winning them over? Ever since Nik was shot and presumed dead, General Hospital fans have speculated that he would return. After months of hints, it is finally happening, and there should be no shortage of ways the writers can use this to generate chaos across Port Charles.
So far, General Hospital spoilers haven’t shared too much about what comes next with Nikolas’ return. Ava will struggle at Shadybrook as she tries to cope with this shocker, and viewers are anxious to see more of the partnership involving Nik, Jax, and Hayden.
Marcus does have his work cut out for him in winning over the General Hospital fans. However, this shouldn’t be an entirely impossible challenge. Current cast members like Wright, Storms, and Emme Rylan (Lulu Spencer) were also recasts at one point, and now, fans find it hard to imagine anybody else in the role.
Whether or not Marcus Coloma can eventually claim the same will take some time, but it looks like a fair number of General Hospital fans are anxious to see what he’s got in store for them.