Since taking over the “General Hospital” role of Jack Brennan from Charles Mesure earlier this year, Chris McKenna has been knee-deep in WSB business. The Port Charles bureau chief may be up to his eyeballs in spy stuff, but he has still found time to fall in love with Carly Spencer. He has also managed to secretly turn Josslyn Jacks, her daughter, into a full-fledged WSB agent.
Chris McKenna recently chatted with Woman’s World, and said of playing the WSB head, “If I’m doing it right, you should not know where he’s coming from, what he’s thinking or what his plans are, because you can’t become the head of the WSB if everyone sees you coming.”
Chris McKenna Loves the Depth of Brennan
ABCThe actor, who first got his start on “One Life to Live” over 30 years ago, is thrilled.
“More and more is slowly getting revealed about this guy, which has been cool to read. We’re starting to see different sides of him and starting to see cracks in his armor. He’s a guy who can’t let his heart get in the way, and he’s fallen in love against his will—perhaps at risk to his career and his health.”
McKenna continues, “It’s no longer a two-dimensional character or a sexy leading man. This is a complex human I get to play—and I get to plumb all the depths, now that I’m going to be sticking around. It’s my first chance since I was a preteen to spend time with a role. At this age, with much more experience under my belt, I’m excited to create a character I can be proud of and love—and hopefully people come to love, even if you love to hate him!”
A big reason the timing was right for McKenna’s soapy return is that his son, Spencer, just celebrated his first birthday.
“I waited a long time to have my first kid and start this family, and I don’t want to miss a minute of it,” he explains. “Now, I work 15 minutes from my home, I love what I’m doing and I have so much time off that I can spend as a dad. I feel fortunate.”
Brennan Really Does Love Carly
ABC
While love is something that Jack Brennan has never allowed himself to entertain until now, Chris McKenna says that his feelings for Carly are very real.
“Just being around her gives him some sort of peace,” he says. “It helps with the pressure of having to make decisions where lives are in the balance. She is the only respite he gets, so he’s becoming more and more dependent on her—which is gonna suck when things come to a head!”
As it turns out, “General Hospital” has wanted to pair the actor with Laura Wright, who plays Carly, for quite some time.
“GH has reached out to me many times about pairing me with Laura, but it never happened, so when it came up again, I rolled my eyes… and then I didn’t have a bumpy road taking over on Valentine’s Day, right after the first kiss! I knew it was going to be a challenge, but it was exactly what I wanted, right now, so I’m glad it all worked out the way it did.”
How do you feel about Chris McKenna’s portrayal of Brennan? How about his romance with Carly? What do you think that she’s going to do when she finds out that he recruited her daughter into the WSB?
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GH’s Chris McKenna Loves the Complexity of Jack Brennan