When “General Hospital” fan favorite Emma Samms re-enters the Port Charles macrocosm as Holly Sutton — as she does again this week — loyal viewers are eager to know one thing: Is she going to be a good girl or a bad girl this time around? Samms, who characterizes it herself, tells Variety with conviction: “Both.”
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“It’s the perfect part in that regard,” she says. “It’s so much fun and really interesting. It’s that depth, all those different colors that Holly has to her character.” In perhaps a small hint of an answer to the question, Samms adds that she’s now working with “a brilliant, strong, powerful, interesting villain” and that there will be “some interesting twists and turns with Holly coming back to town.”
Reps for the long-running ABC show — led by executive producer Frank Valentini — have remained characteristically mum about Holly's latest return, only teasing that she'll be working with Jonathan Jackson, who's back as Lucky Spencer after departing in 2015. Despite their longevity on the show — Samms joined the ensemble in 1982, Jackson was cast in 1993, and they've both been on and off since — they've never worked together until now.
"It's such a gift that Frank has given me, working with Jonathan, who, obviously, is a very, very good actor," Samms says. "That's undeniable — but he's also a very kind person. And we have a very similar way of approaching the work, and we realized that's because we've both been trained by Tony Geary [Luke]."