Quick Take
with Lynn Herring (Lucy, GH)
■ When Lucy “died”, what did you know about the future? Did you know her true fate and the true identity of her assailant? “Yeah, I didn’t. It was so good. Frank [Valentini, executive producer] just came and said, ‘Hey, Lucy gets shot,’ and I went, ‘What?! This can’t be good!’ And he goes, ‘No, no, she doesn’t die, but there’s a lot that goes on,’ and that’s all he told me. So when the stunt guy came to explain how I’m going take these hits, they didn’t tell me right away that it was rubber bullets. And then they said, ‘You have to fall in the water,’ and I thought, ‘Okay, this is looking dark. It’s a little bit intense,’ because I wasn’t sure [Lucy lived]. They had Finola [Hughes, Anna, pull the trigger] in the hat with the drone footage and the cameras, but it was so ambiguous that it was very easy to play that this is my last [scene]. They kept it just interesting enough for us because even Finola wasn’t sure exactly how this was gonna come out and we didn’t know about going on the run or hiding or anything. So it was very serious that day. And I thought, ‘Boy, this could go any which way; I’m not sure what we’re going for here,’ but that helped me play falling in the water and really taking the hit. And then when Frank ended up saying, ‘You guys, it’s gonna be great, you’re kind of on the run and you’re hiding,’ I just didn’t realize how long I was hiding. In the back of my mind, I had a little thing like, ‘Uh-oh, am I hiding until the Nurses’ Ball?’ It kind of scared me because I thought, ‘This is an interesting way to have folks pull together for the Nurses’ Ball with Lucy in trouble.’ And then it came to fruition that they came up with this amazing way that we were hiding, and playing the dynamic of Valentin and Anna is hilarious for the three of us.”
What did you think of the twist that the shooter was Holly? “I thought it was great because I didn’t understand how they were going to pay that off. I didn’t remember that she had a son and I didn’t remember the connection with Victor at all, so I thought it was great, and especially to bring back another character that the audience loved — they love Emma [Samms, Holly], so that worked out so great, to have it be her.”
Were you as anxious as the audience was for Lucy’s return? “Yes! Emphatic yes, because I was missing out. I was seeing some of the stories that were so good and because she was off the canvas, it was really hard. I was anxious to get back to play it out. I really was.”
What was your first day back like after having been gone for several months? “It was wonderful, I was so glad to see everybody and then they played it just so well with the reveal and them just being so disgusted that they have to be my babysitter. It’s so good that they mixed the drama and the reality of the situation that yes, she’s not dead but then the comedy of, ‘Oh, my God. She’s not dead.’ ”
It was so inspired to have her don her librarian get-up again to sneak into the Metro Court. “The writers came up with such a nice nod to the past and the scenes were so fun. I was just thrilled by that!”