DEATH GRIP

As Brando Becomes The First Casualty Of GH's Hook-Wielding Killer, Johnny Wactor Says Good-Bye To Port Charles.

- Mara Levinsky

Soap Opera Digest: How did you get the news that you would be leaving the show?

Johnny Wactor: I found out on Friday, July 29th that I was not going to be renewed for the end of my contract. That day, I was flying to New York to shoot a movie that I was producing. My manager told me to call him and he was like, "Hey, this is what's happened." I was like, "Oh, okay. Well, I wasn't expecting that today, but I'm about to hop on a plane. I'll deal with it when I get back. Later, I read the scripts and it was like, "Okay, they killed me off." The following week, I wrapped my movie on Tuesday, flew back [to L.A.] Wednesday morning, got tested for Covid at GH on Wednesday, and then I filmed 60 pages on Thursday and 55 pages on Friday and that was my last six episodes of GH.

Digest: With a compressed timeline like that, I imagine you had to do some compartmentalizing just to get through everything.

Wactor: Definitely. I didn't really have time to process it. Acting in and producing a small-budget movie, all my energy had to go into making the thing happen, and then when it was like, "You're dying on the day you get back, I was like, "Well, I just have to fold whatever emotions this is causing into my movie, and when I get back, I'll keep doing what I do, which is come to work and do my best. These are just the circumstances in my life and the circumstances in the story."

Digest: Did you get emotional shooting your last scenes, or when you had to clear out your dressing room?