original stint on Shorty<\/a>, Lukas also formed a tight friendship with the actors who played his on-screen triplets \u2013 Luke Patrick, who starred as Frank, and Lucy Lovegrove, who was Sass \u2013 and the three have stayed close.<\/p>\n![\"Lukas]()
Lukas Whiting with Craig Parker and Michael Galvin. Photo \/ Woman’s Day<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got on like a house on fire, so yeah, we speak a lot,\u201d he tells Woman\u2019s Day. \u201cWe\u2019ve helped each other with audition tapes and all that fun stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if his fellow triplets are also making a comeback, Lukas can\u2019t confirm or deny.<\/p>\n
All he\u2019ll say is, \u201cYou\u2019ll have to stay tuned on that one. This season is called Reunion for a reason, so take that as you will, but you\u2019ll see some familiar faces.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Lukas, returning to Shorty has also been an opportunity to reflect on just how much both he and Finn have changed since they first arrived in Ferndale.<\/p>\n
Then, Finn was an ambitious young guy whose ego got the better of him.<\/p>\n
![\"Lukas]()
Lukas is back to Shorty with a different attitude. Photo \/ Woman’s Day<\/p>\n
\u201cHe left his relationship with Esther in quite a bad place and the stuff with Dad was not in a good spot either. Since then, he\u2019s had time away and matured massively as a surgeon but also as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n
The same can be said for Lukas, who first joined the show as a young actor under pressure to prove himself.<\/p>\n
After a decade of work and life experience, he\u2019s back with a different attitude. <\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely felt a lot more mature coming back into the role and much more calm.\u201d<\/p>\n
While acting has been \u201chot and cold\u201d since he left Shorty, Lukas has built up some impressive credits, including the acclaimed Aussie comedy Frayed and the Disney adventure series Nautilus. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was pumped to get a couple of episodes on Nautilus, playing quite a similar role to Finn but in 1800s England. It was lots of fun to play around with that role and do some stuff on a bigger scale.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lukas has taken a day job in the tech industry, giving him stability while he explores other creative outlets, like directing. <\/p>\n
\u201cI directed an episode of a friend\u2019s web series a couple of months ago, which was great fun. I really enjoy being able to bring together the technical worlds and the actors\u2019 world.\u201d<\/p>\n
And though Finn once seemed to be following in his father\u2019s philandering footsteps and was dubbed Ferndale\u2019s \u201cDr Love 2.0\u201d, these days, Lukas is happily settled in Oz with his partner Casey, 31.<\/p>\n
![\"Lukas]()
Lukas and partner Casey. Photo \/ Woman’s Day<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s the best,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m a very lucky guy. She\u2019s stunning and a great partner.\u201d<\/p>\n
Casey works in government education and is a welcome contrast to his acting life. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s very settling and calming, something I probably needed in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Casey accompanied Lukas to New Zealand for filming, so he could introduce her to the places and people that shaped him. They rode scooters around Waiheke Island, attended his cousin\u2019s wedding in Akaroa and visited his real dad\u2019s South Island hometown of Waimea, where Lukas still has family.<\/p>\n
They also took on an important mission \u2013 finding Auckland\u2019s best pie. <\/p>\n
Lukas smiles, \u201cI\u2019m a firm believer that New Zealand has the superior meat pie to Australia. We don\u2019t do the funky flavours you guys do well. I had fish pies, I had a h\u0101ng\u012b pie\u2026 You put some weird stuff in there and I love it!\u201d<\/p>\n
Lukas says the trip back to Aotearoa gave him a chance to reconnect with a part of his life he\u2019d left behind. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a fun ride being back, reigniting relationships and friendships, and making some new friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shortland Street screens 7pm Monday to Wednesday on TVNZ 2 and TVNZ+.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lukas Whiting, Ngahuia Piripi and Michael Galvin. Photo \/ Woman’s Day Lukas reveals reuniting with Michael, 59, was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620811,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[74,15408,4995,380,156,2109,293,305555,1446,49154,111,139,69,90,1527,13382,130125,5411,2737,5424,109519,102],"class_list":["post-620810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-after","tag-almost","tag-away","tag-decade","tag-entertainment","tag-family","tag-his","tag-lukas","tag-making","tag-meant","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-return","tag-returning","tag-reuniting","tag-shortland","tag-star","tag-street","tag-whiting","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}