“I’m very grateful that I got to experience that again,” Lipton said of his upcoming guest arc on ‘General Hospital’

William Lipton is back in Port Charles for the holidays!

General Hospital fans will be seeing a familiar face in a number of upcoming episodes with the return of Lipton’s character Cameron Webber, sources close to production confirm to PEOPLE. The 21-year-old actor, who was on the popular soap opera from 2018 until 2023, opened up to TV Insider about appearing on the show for the holidays.

“I was scrolling through my phone and I got a text from two of my favorite people on the planet, Mark Teschner [casting director] and Frank Valentini [executive producer], asking if I had any time later in the year to come back and say hi to my GH family,” Lipton told the outlet. “Obviously, I was super stoked to receive that message, and I was happy that they were willing to work with me and my kind of insane schedule to make it happen.”

After spending so many years on the General Hospital set, he said going back was “so nostalgic.”

“I mean, from the beginning of my sophomore year of high school to my sophomore year of college, my life was coming to Prospect Studios,” he explained. “It was just a really special feeling seeing all the people that I would see at the front gate, who gave me a big hug when I came back. My ID still works, which was a shock.”

“General Hospital has been there during some immense moments in my life and has oftentimes been those immense, incredibly important moments in my life, and just to be able to relive that, walk through the halls, see all the friendly faces, and catch up with all the amazing people, I’m very grateful that I got to experience that again,” he added.

Lipton said it was like he never left, noting that he “wasn’t super nervous” to step back into the role at first. Once the cameras started rolling, though, he admitted the nerves snuck in.

“I came up to the stage to shoot feeling very confident,” he said. “I was like, ‘Okay, cool. We’re back in the groove,’ and then as soon as rehearsal was done and we’re ready to shoot, I was like, ‘Oh, geez.’ My heart kind of dropped. I was like, ‘Okay, this is how they do it. I forgot about that.’ It’s just constant filming and there’s no time to be left behind. You have to be on it.”

Lipton also shared what it was like to see his old castmates again, saying he was able to reconnect with Eden McCoy, Becky Herbst and Maurice Benard. Although his stint on the show isn’t for long, he said getting the chance to remember the role General Hospital played in his career pulled at his heartstrings.

“I really tried to make sure that I let everyone know what an incredible, positive impact General Hospital has had on my life,” he said. “It is giving me my fondest memories and the fact that they were not just willing to have me back, but excited to have me back, meant a great deal to me and to my family. I have so much love for those people and I’m getting a little choked up, but they’re the best.”

He continued: “I’ve really enjoyed my experience there and the fact that I got to continue it, even for just a little appearance, warms my heart so much.”