Emma Samms is opening up about her return to General Hospital as fan-favorite Holly Sutton following her battle with long Covid.
The performer who first joined the soap in 1982 as a love interest to Anthony Geary‘s Luke Spencer is making a comeback in her villainous role, which sees her do good and bad. In an interview with Variety, Samms said, “It’s the perfect part in that regard… it’s so fun, and really interesting. It’s that depth, all those different colors that Holly has to her character.”
While details around Holly’s return to Port Charles remain mysterious for now, it has been confirmed that she’ll play a part in Jonathan Jackson‘s return as Luke’s son, Lucky Spencer. This marks the first time that Samms and Jackson will act together despite their link through Geary’s Luke.
ABC / Courtesy Everett Collection
“It’s such a gift that Frank [Valentini] has given me, working with Jonathan, who is obviously a very, very good actor,” Samms told the outlet. “That’s undisputed — but he’s also really nice. And we have a very similar way of approaching the work, and we realized that that is because we were both trained by Tony Geary.”
Regarding what fans can anticipate from Holly’s return, Samms said there’s “going to be some interesting twists with Holly coming back to town.”
While Samms has appeared on and off throughout the years, she’s struggled with long Covid for the past few years and wasn’t been able to leave London for a while because of it. “I’ve been like this now for four and a half years nearly, and it’s baffling to not just the people who have it, but it’s baffling to the doctors,” she revealed. “They are some very smart people who are investigating and studying it and doing research, but all they keep finding is more and more damage that Covid has done to people’s bodies.”
Among the damage Samms has experienced is myocarditis, “which has scarred my heart,” the performer revealed. “The consequences of Covid — I think we still have only just scratched the surface, and it’s terrifying to me that people think we are no longer in a pandemic. Because they so desperately want it to not affect them, they sort of pretend that it has gone, and it so hasn’t.”
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“If it wasn’t for the fact that people at General Hospital are so understanding of it and accommodating, I would not be able to work like I do,” Samms added. “When I’m back in the U.K., and anytime I’m not on the set, I have to lie down, I have to put my feet up. I have something called postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, so if I stand too long, I keel over. So the only cure, or the only thing that makes you feel a bit better, is to lie down flat.”
The accommodations General Hospital has made for Samms’ return include providing her with scenes that allow her to sit down, putting her in a dressing room close to the elevator, and other things she revealed, “mean I can do the job.”
Don’t miss Samms’ return as Holly as she appears on General Hospital with Jonathan Jackson, and let us know what you hope to see from the character’s return to Port Charles in the comments section, below.
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