All My Children fans are still excited over the news that their favorite show has landed longtime actor Mario Van Peebles in the role of Samuel Woods.

The veteran star recently chatted with Entertainment Weekly about the gig:

Entertainment Weekly: People might not know this but you’re no stranger to daytime TV.
Mario Van Peebles: When I first started out, I did a lot of theater in New York and then I did One Life to Live with Agnes Nixon [creator of One Life and All My Children]. Her shows are pretty hip in terms of stuff that they’ve tackled. But when they approached me about this I didn’t feel that I’d do that again.

EW: What’s it been like to work with Susan Lucci?
Van Peebles: She’s really cool. She still has energy and sparkle for this. Still excited about her job. Still learning. And I think that has to do with how we age. And the fact that everything is not just a question of diet and working out, but it’s a question of intention and outlook. And she’s just got that sparkle.

EW: People have made a big deal of the fact that if your character and Erica become romantic, it would be her first interracial relationship. What do you think about that?
Van Peebles: I don't know. My mom's white. My dad's black. We've always been able to paint with all the colors in my family. So I'm not so color focused. That would be more a viewer thing. Even in the climate that we're in election-wise, I like to think that America is growing up. I like to think that we're getting past all that stuff and looking at the people. But maybe that's naive. The fact is it's an interesting dynamic.

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.