General Hospital spoilers: Ric Lansing returns to stir things up for Molly, Alexis and Sonny?

Call this the year of comebacks for General Hospital , as another familiar face is set to return. Actor Rick Hearst is returning as Ric Lansing after an eight-year hiatus, beginning the week of August 19.

For those who have been paying close attention to General Hospital casting announcements as of late, Ric Lansing’s return comes after previous news broke that both Morgan (Bryan Craig) and Lucky (Jonathan Jackson) are also back on the soap’s canvas. Longtime fans may be celebrating with these big returns as they naturally bring up feelings of nostalgia and may answer many questions about what these characters have been doing away from Port Charles (although, Morgan’s appearance will be incredibly brief and he’s believed to be still dead).

Zeroing back in on Ric Lansing’s homecoming, Hearst hinted with TV Insider that Ric’s return is tied to the brewing tensions surrounding the surrogacy pregnancy involving Molly (Kristen Vaganos), TJ (Tajh Bellow) and Kristina (Kate Mansi). He stated of his return story arc, "Daddy’s home and here to take care of his daughter and anything that entails."

Hearst went on to share:

"I have a feeling there’s going to be some friction by virtue of the fact that one daughter is parented by Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) and Sonny, and the other daughter is parented by Alexis and Ric. That alone is enough to create a mad amount of drama of who’s going to side with who. And it’s going to be entertaining."

With those words, it’s becoming clearer that our suspicions that a custody war is brewing between Molly and Kristina will turn out to be more fact than fiction. Since Alexis likely doesn't want to take sides in this, as both women are her children, it makes sense that Ric will show up in time to offer support to his daughter and perhaps some legal counsel. After all, Ric is an attorney who would probably be happy to take on a custody case for his daughter.

Of course, Ric inserting himself is bound to cause a ripple effect across Port Charles. Let’s take Sonny for example. The two are half-brothers and have an incredibly rocky relationship. The kingpin probably won’t be happy to see his brother in town and possibly going up against his daughter in a custody battle. Considering Sonny is still unaware that Ava (Maura West) had his bipolar medication switched with placebos, and because his reactions lately have become increasingly erratic and volatile, Sonny seeing Ric again under these circumstances could make for quite the explosive scene.

However, given Sonny is in a custody battle of his own with Ava at the moment, he may want to keep his temper under control. The last thing Sonny wants is for Ava to recruit his brother as a witness in her case against him.

We can also deduce that Carly (Laura Wright) and Jason (Steve Burton) won’t be happy to see Ric themselves. The bestie duo has never liked Ric, always unable to trust him and his intentions. Carly and Jason will probably keep their guards up around him.

Lastly, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention Elizabeth (Rebecca Herbst). It’s remarkable that she finds herself single just as both Rick and Lucky are headed to town. Is their romance brewing in her future with an old flame?

New episodes of General Hospital air on weekdays on ABC. If you miss an episode, you can catch up on Hulu .