Thanks to a recent article in a soap opera publication, the Internet is once again abuzz with talk that Eva LaRue Callahan (ex-Maria Santos) will return to All My Children in the near future.
The chatter began when Soap Opera Digest reported that sources close to Callahan claim that AMC has extended an offer to the actress to return to Pine Valley. The magazine also interviewed LaRue's husband, John Callahan (Edmund Grey), but the actor was tightlipped about the rumors.
LaRue's "imminent" return to All My Children has been fodder for tabloids and soap magazines alike for the past four years. There's been speculation ever since LaRue's exit in 1997 that her character would cheat death and make a return trip to Pine Valley. Maria's dramatic exit came in August 1997 when the wreckage of plane in which she was trapped fell off of a cliff and into the ocean.
LaRue's departure from AMC was supposed to facilitate her desire to branch out into film and primetime television work. Her first post-AMC venture, a sitcom called Head Over Heels, was panned by critics and subsequently canceled a few episodes into its run. LaRue also appeared in the telemovie, Ice and the feature film Little Pieces. But perhaps her biggest achievement since leaving AMC came just last month. The Callahans welcomed their first child, daughter Kaya McKenna Callahan, on Thursday, December 6 and weighed in at 7 lbs. 1 oz and is 21 inches long.
Several factors figure into the LaRue return rumors. The first was that LaRue would have obviously not wanted to return to AMC while pregnant. Now some signal that it is only a matter of time before LaRue might be ready to return to acting. The second factor is Edmund and Brooke's burgeoning on-screen romance. What better soap opera technique than to bring back Edmund's supposedly dead wife just as he is declaring his love for another woman?
An AMC spokesperson declined to comment on the casting rumors.
