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Angie and Jesse are about to be reunited and it feels so right.

One of daytime’s most memorable couples from the 1980s is returning to ABC’s “All My Children.”

Wait a minute. Didn’t Jesse die on camera?

“I’m the same character, but it’s a whole new experience,” said actor Darnell Williams. “They had to figure out a way to bring him back to life. The word is that apparently he never died. He had to fake his death in order to secure the safety of his family.”

In their ’80s heyday, the duo was dubbed daytime’s first African-American supercouple. Two decades later, network soaps have few contract players of color.

“I think it has moved a thousand steps backwards,” said actress Debbi Morgan (Angie). “It just amazes me that here we are in 2008 and we have so little representation on daytime. I don’t understand it and I think it’s shameful.”

Williams, who has coached some of the actors on the soap since 2001, said the lack of diversity is one of the reasons they were approached to return to the series.

“I think ‘All My Children’ kind of shot themselves in the foot by allowing the canvas to become so nondiversified,” he said. “And they found themselves sort of chasing their tails trying to figure out how to fix it . . . They came up with the idea, ‘Well, why not bring this core couple back that had such an appeal to such a broad audience?’ ”

Morgan said it took her only about 30 seconds to accept the soap’s offer to reprise her role.

“I can’t remember a time in my career where I felt so welcomed,” Morgan said. “It was like a homecoming. There were members of the crew that were here 20 years ago. It was just so heartfelt, it made me cry. I couldn’t believe it. I’ve played the character for so long, it’s like stepping into a pair of old shoes, as they say.”

Since ABC announced the duo’s return last month, the response from fans has astonished both actors.

“The amount of people that are interested still is kind of overwhelming,” Williams said. “The first thing they usually say, ‘I’m going to call my mother and my sisters and my brother right away and tell them that “All My Children” is back on the block.’ ”

Both actors have signed on for four years. Morgan reprises the role she began playing in 1982 tomorrow at 1 p.m. on WCVB (Ch. 5). Dr. Angie Hubbard Foster, now an infectious disease specialist, is called to Pine Valley to treat patients suffering from a mysterious ailment. On Jan. 25, Williams, who began playing Jesse in 1981, makes his first appearance.

Morgan and Williams, who refer to each other as family, have remained close friends since departing the series. They worked together on the ABC soaps “Loving” and “The City” (where Darnell played Jesse look-alike Jacob). Last year, they toured in the play “U Got Me Bent and Twisted.” But they don’t want their off-screen rapport to make it onscreen any time soon.

“I hope it’s going to be a while until everything reconciles,” Williams said. “I hope they take it at a decent pace to where the audience will believe it. If they go too quickly and make us a happily ever couple, that gets kind of boring. But I have faith that they are going to do the right thing.”

Morgan has made it clear to producers that she doesn’t want Angie in any preposterous story lines.

“Soaps have changed a lot since I was on, and so many of the stories are so over the top and crazy to me,” she said. “The kind of actress that I am, I couldn’t play all that hokey kind of stuff. So I would really like to see the shows return to more real-life drama that’s akin to what goes on with people in their everyday life. I think when you can hit at that human core, it’s going to make a big.

Glad she is speaking up!