Good-Bye For Now: Emma Samms and Tristan Rogers have wrapped their current arc as GH’s Holly and Robert.
After an eventful return trip to General Hospital as Holly that kicked off in September, actress Emma Samms is once again saying good-bye to Port Charles. In the November 12 episode, Holly departed the canvas — but she wasn’t alone. In a romantic twist, she was joined by longtime on-again, off-again love Robert Scorpio, played by Tristan Rogers. (While their Casablanca-inspired exit had something of a permanent feel to it, Soap Opera Digest has learned that the show does have plans for the characters to reappear in the new year.)
Better Together
Holly’s latest visit saw a major shakeup in her character’s lore, as it was revealed that Sasha Gilmore was the secret daughter of Holly and Robert. It was a twist Samms embraced, saying, “For me as Emma, purely selfishly, it gives me a great excuse to keep coming back to Port Charles! It does fit with the sort of model of, ‘Holly show up in town, causes all kinds of trouble,’ you know? I mean, it’s what she’s there for, story-wise, and she’s definitely done it this time!”
Indeed — but it was trouble that she got into off camera that ultimately propelled Holly back out of town. Sums up Samms, “She’s in danger. She’s been let down. And I think this is an important point: Her whole connection with Sidwell was that she was trying to earn enough money to pay back an awful debt that she got into when she was working for the WSB. They didn’t back her up when she got into trouble, so they’ve turned their backs on her even though she was working with them when this happened. So they’ve left her in a terrible position, which is that not only would her life be in danger if she can’t pay back this crime syndicate, but so would the lives of her family. That was her motivation for trying to get Sidwell’s diamonds. And she even talked about paying off the syndicate, getting enough money to set up Sasha for life, set up Ethan and retire! Holly was talking about retiring, and settling somewhere in Italy. In fact, I feel some of the best scenes I did the whole time I was there was with Finola [Hughes, Anna]. We have done more scenes together this time, Anna and Holly, and our last set of scenes were just a real treat because she is just so good, we have so much fun when we’re working together and a huge laugh — but the scenes, talking about both Anna and Holly’s affection for Robert, were very emotional. I was just so thrilled that despite the insane work pace and the amount of words that we all have to learn, we can still get some sincere moments in there. And that was one of them, for sure.”
The last thing Holly was expecting was for Robert to decide to accompany her on her next adventure. “She’d made it perfectly clear that she still very much loves him,” Samms notes. “She also acknowledged that he and she both know who Holly is, and that’s not necessarily compatible with settling down somewhere and not being on the move and not getting out and traveling and doing all the things that her life has always brought to her. Everybody knows that; Robert and Holly both know that about Holly.”
But just when it seemed like Robert and Holly would never be able to make it work, the show came through with a classic happily-ever-after (or at least however long “ever after” lasts in soaps!). “First, she just thinks he’s come to say good-bye,” Samms recounts. “And she is happy about that. That, to her, is already a plus, though she can’t understand how he figured out where she was leaving from, and how she was leaving. And then when she finds out that he plans to go with her, I think she’s really blown away!”
Which perfectly describes how Samms herself felt about what GH scripted for the duo. She declares, “I’ll tell you what it is: It’s Frank [Valentini, executive producer] and the team honoring Robert and Holly. I mean, really, they have. I think that they’ve done everything they can to acknowledge that relationship and how successful it has been, and I’m enormously grateful.”
She hopes fans enjoy the twist. “I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we did it justice for the fans who are so enormously supportive,” she says of portraying the scenes opposite Rogers. “Everyone has always wanted [a happy ending] for them, and that absolutely fits the bill.”
To the Robert/Holly diehards, Samms says, “I feel like we are honoring Robert and Holly, but we’re also honoring all the people who have embraced Robert and Holly, who have invested in Robert and Holly and, and who are so vocal and so enthusiastic — and sometimes, so demanding [laughs]! And I think that’s what it takes for the powers-that-be to realize [a couple’s importance]. So, the Robert and Holly fans have done their job. We couldn’t have asked for more enthusiastic, long-term support. And so they should know that all of their input has been heard and listened to and hopefully, when they see those scenes, they’ll realize, ‘This is for them.’ ”
Til We Meet Again
The actress, who has been vocal about her ongoing health struggles with Long Covid, says that upon wrapping up her Port Charles duties and heading home to England, “I cleared the books because I knew I was going to be exhausted. That’s the one good thing about Long Covid: you can pretty much predict how you’re going to react to things. So, [being so tired] was no surprise. I was ready for it, Simon [McCoy, her husband] was ready for it. Everybody in my family was like, ‘Just rest up and let us know when it’s good for us to come see you.’ It’s just part of the deal.”
But she’d do it all again in a heartbeat. “I loved it, I absolutely loved it,” she smiles of this latest GH arc. “I had an incredibly good experience. All of the people there — the camera people, the wardrobe people, the hair and makeup people — just made it feel so comfortable for me to be there. I know there is no other acting job that would be even vaguely close to feeling as comfortable as that, and it is such a privilege for them to let me have my life here in England, and yet keep coming back. That takes some convoluted story points, to be able to make that happen, and the fact that they are willing to do that is an absolute joy for me. I feel that I am the luckiest actress in the world, to have somehow ended up in this position. There are so many things about that job that just suit me down to the ground, and to have found a way, in my 60s, to still be doing something that feels better, even, than it ever has before … I just feel really, really blessed.”
Disney/Christine Bartolucci
