Keeping Track: Tristan Rogers

(thanks to Renee for this!)

 Keeping Track: Will Tristan Rogers return as Robert? Scorpio Rising

ABC fans were thrilled when presumed dead favorites Brenda Barrett, Maria Santos and Anna Devane all came back from that great soap in the sky. But it's not just characters of the fairer sex that viewers want to see resurrected. General Hospital devotees have long hoped that Tristan Rogers, who burst onto the Port Charles scen in 1980, will someday reprise his role as debonair secret agent Robert Scorpio.

Rogers ended his successful run on the soap in 1992, then returned briefly in some dream sequences three years later so that the character could comfort daughter Robin, who was dealing with boyfriend Stone's death and her HIV-positive diagnosis. In 1997, Rogers made a short-lived return to daytime as private eye Hunter Jones on The Bold and the Beautiful. "it was supposed to be a six- month stint,' he says of his B&B run, which instead only lasted for approximately eight weeks. "They knew the only had me for a short time because I was going to Canada to do a series for Showtime called FAST TRACK. I literally went up there the day after I finished B&B." Rogers did more than play a role on the cable program: He'd also been involved in the development of the race-car-themed drama.

"Gloria" Days

Ironically, Rogers, one of GH's most memorable leading men, was set to have a mere two-day stay in Port Charles way back when. However, the character (broung on as part of the infamous Ice Princess storyline) was an instant hit with viewers. "It was one of those classic stories of being in the right place at the right time," recalls Rogers. "I could have just as easily been somewhere else the day it needed to be cast."

The actor won the part even though his audition failed to impress Gloria Monty, the show's legendary former executive producer.  Chuckling, Rogers remembers, "Gloria said, `He did a horrible reading, but I liked him. I just liked him."

Rather than move on to his next adventure, Scorpio remained on in Port Charles after the Cassadines' icy scheme to rule the world had been defrosted. Scorpio became Luke's best friend and was paired with many of his buddy's former leading ladies. "I got everyone's castoffs," laughs Rogers. "The only one that they ever deliberately brought on for me was Finola [Hughes, now Anna on All My Children].

An equally successful match was the pairing of Robert and Holly (played by Emma Samms). Scorpio wed a pregnant Holly after her boyfriend, Luke, was presumed dead in an avalanche. In no time at all, viewers embraced the paring of the Aussie and the English lady. "The show never intended for that to happen," says Rogers of the Robert/Holly duo.

However, the chemistry between the actors was impossible to ignore. "We had a lot of fun [working together]," he recalls. "I've always said that if actors are having fun, then the audience is, too."

Will it happen?

As for a possible return to the ABC soap lineup in the future, Rogers shares, "My management gets calls on this every three weeks from members of the media."

Since it's been revealed that both Anna and Faison survived the boat explosion that presumably took not only their lives but Robert's, "The press asks, `Where is Tristan in the equation?" On the topic of returning on a contract basis, Rogers states, "There has never been any approach from [ABC] on my return. And I haven't approached them."

What would it take for it to happen? "I've said in the past, `Call me up and let's get a dialogue going," the Australian native offers. "I wouldn't want to unilaterally agree to come back. I'd want to sit down [with the producers and writers] and talk about it first.

Rogers feels the fans would want to know where Scorpio has been all these years, and he'd prefer to avoid the cliché of the character having been away due to amnesia," Roger notes. "There's a way to [explain his absence], but I'm not going to say what that is until somebody makes that call. Until then, it remains in the realm of "What if?"

In addition to his B&B stint, Rogers has done occasional episodic work for such programs as Family Law, VIP and Batman Beyond. "I'm dabbling behind the camera, too," the performer says. "I've been doing some writing. My friend Randy Goodwin [for UPN series ABBY] and I have been pitching. There's a possibility of doing something with UPN or CBS, so you'll se my name out there in some form or another.

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