General Hospital Star Behind Henry Dalton Reveals The Other Role He Almost Landed
Daniel Goddard almost came to Port Charles as someone else. Before becoming General Hospital’s Henry Dalton, the experiment-happy professor with a murky agenda, the Young and the Restless alum reveals he narrowly missed a different GH role after a string of auditions and close calls that reshaped his soap path.
Daniel Goddard just rolled into General Hospital as Henry Dalton, the professor with a lab full of experiments and a few too many gray areas. But fun twist: years before Henry, Goddard almost debuted in Port Charles as someone entirely different.
The GH role he nearly got
In a new chat with Soap Opera Digest, Goddard said his path to GH actually started back in 2005. He had just moved to Hollywood, was stacking modeling gigs and TV credits like Home and Away and BeastMaster, and doing the classic daytime rounds — including meetings with longtime GH casting director Mark Teschner. The role on the table: Dr. Patrick Drake.
We all know how that turned out. Jason Thompson landed Patrick, played the smooth-talking neurosurgeon for a decade, and became a fan favorite. Goddard says he auditioned, but he could tell the puzzle piece didn’t quite fit — and he thought the show made the right call.
"Isn't that ironic? I read for the role, Jason got cast, and then I got cast over at Y&R within a couple of months of that. So, there's this bizarre kind of, like, crossover moment, where I'm like, 'That's the girl that could have been my daughter if I had been cast in the role that Jason Thompson got!'"
Translation: if he had been Patrick, he would have ended up with an on-screen daughter down the line. It’s a funny what-if that only daytime can deliver.
How it all looped back around
Missing out on Patrick turned out to be a detour, not a dead end. Within a couple of months, Goddard booked The Young and the Restless. Then, in a small-world soap moment, Thompson eventually switched over to Y&R to play Billy Abbott, and the two worked together there. No hard feelings either — Goddard says not getting Patrick was totally fine by him, and he still thinks Thompson was the perfect pick.
- 2005: Goddard auditions for GH’s Patrick Drake after moving to Hollywood and meeting with Mark Teschner.
- Shortly after: Jason Thompson is cast as Patrick; Goddard heads to The Young and the Restless within a couple of months.
- Later: Thompson leaves GH and joins Y&R as Billy Abbott, teaming up with Goddard on that show.
- Now: Goddard is back in Port Charles as Henry Dalton, the professor entangled in experiments and some sketchy business.