In 1990, Michael Easton made his soap opera debut as Days of our Lives’ Tanner Scofield, the rebellious brother of cop Brian Scofield and Spectator editor Vern Scofield. Easton lasted in the role for two years and didn’t appear on daytime again until nearly a decade later when he played Steven Clay and Caleb Morley on ABC’s Port Charles.

Easton remained with ABC soaps for the last two decades, becoming John McBain on One Life to Live before moving the character to General Hospital after OLTL was canceled. Since 2012, Easton brought three GH characters to life, including McBain. He later played Silas Clay and Hamilton Finn. The actor’s last scenes as Finn aired on June 27, 2024, and Easton is now without a soap home.

When Easton reflected on his long soap career, he told Soap Hub that he has been “the luckiest guy in daytime” while remembering his early years on DAYS and his former co-star Shannon Sturges, who played his love interest, Molly Brinker.

“DAYS was my first job, and I had no idea what I was doing,” Easton said. “I didn’t even know where to stand. Shannon was constantly saying [helpful things like], ‘Stand there.’ I have such fond memories of her being so kind to me and being such an amazing actress. I thought she’s either going to become the biggest star in the world or an amazing acting coach because she has so much to give. Her knowledge is incredible — the way she communicates.”

Is there a chance that Easton would ever return to DAYS? Ron Carlivati, who was head writer for OLTL and GH while Easton worked there, has been the head writer at DAYS, but that is changing.

“Oh, I don’t know. I just don’t think that would happen,” he said. “I know some people envision themselves and see themselves doing things. I have more of a wabi-sabi approach, which is a Japanese philosophy that takes the position that nothing is perfect. There’s beauty in that imperfection. Unless it’s in front of me, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it. That’s just a better state of mind for me to be in.”

Do you remember Michael Easton on DAYS? Would you like to see Tanner return to Salem? We want to hear from you — so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.