Another Llanview favorite is headed home. Emmy winner Roger Howarth (Todd Manning) will reprise his alter ego for One Life to Live's Internet relaunch.
Howarth's return, however, won't be permanent. The actor will appear on One Life to Live for about a month before heading back to General Hospital, according to the actor's representative. Initial published reports mistakenly stated that the actor would be returning to One Life to Live on a full-time basis.
Since One Life to Live's cancellation, Howarth has been keeping Todd Manning alive on ABC's sole remaining soap, General Hospital, thanks to a licensing agreement between ABC and Prospect Park. Prospect Park obtained the rights to One Life to Live and All My Children in 2011. When the company failed in its first attempt to transition the two soaps to the Internet, Prospect Park licensed the rights to Todd, Starr Manning, and John McBain back to ABC.
Things took a complicated twist when Prospect Park announced it was resurrecting its plans to bring back One Life to Live and All My Children. The actors moved from One Life to Live to General Hospital are now under contract to ABC, but the characters they play are owned by Prospect Park.
Confused? We've got a more thorough explanation of the dispute here.
There is no word yet on whether or not Kristen Alderson (Starr Manning) and Michael Easton (John McBain) will also be headed back to One Life to Live. It is also unclear at this time if Howarth will make additional appearances on One Life to Live in the future.
Roger Howarth originated the role of Todd Manning in December 1992. He remained with One Life to Live, off and on, through 2003. For the following seven years, Howarth played the role of Paul Ryan on As the World Turns. Howarth returned to One Life to Live in 2011. Howarth won the Outstanding Younger Actor Emmy in 1994, and has received three additional Daytime Emmy nominations.
Requests to ABC and Prospect Park for a statement were not available at post time.
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