Adam Huss, who has played Nikolas in fits and starts (beginning in 2021, when he temporarily filled in for then-portrayer Marcus Coloma), is thrilled to be back once again — and in the thick of a juicy storyline as Nikolas tries to repair the various fractured relationships he left behind in Port Charles — not to mention, get acquainted with his baby boy, Ace.
Huss’s current return, which kicked off earlier this month, marked his first appearance since September 2023. “I was so ecstatic to get that phone call to come back,” the actor enthuses. “I felt like it was going to happen; I trusted that, just from my interactions the last time I was there and how it felt, but you just don’t know [for sure]. I was grateful to be there and I didn’t want to ask too much; I wanted to just trust in the process in general. Like in life, right? That’s the best way to live life, is trust that things are happening the way they’re supposed to and you’re meant to be where you’re meant to be in that moment, and as long as you put in the work, it should all keep flowing that way it’s supposed to. So I was really just trying to trust in that. But when I got the call from my manager, saying, ‘Hey, they wanna book you on these dates,’ my heart jumped. I just really resonate with Nikolas, and the more I get to step in his shoes, the more I feel him in my bones and in my body, the more I understand him.”
Watching old footage of Nikolas has further enriched Huss’s take on the character. Explains Huss, “I’ve deep-dived into the research of who who is and what Tyler Christopher,” the late actor who first introduced GH fans to Nikolas back in 1996, “created. He originated Nikolas and he was my vision of Nikolas when I was a kid and saw him on the cover of Soap Opera Digest on newsstands. And so that is my version of Nikolas [to take inspiration from], and I know it’s a lot of fans’ versions. No matter what, in any show or movie, when someone originates a character, it’s hard to replace them. So I really, really dug into his work because there’s so much there, so many different nuances and layers. It’s not just, ‘evil Nikolas.’ He’s a complicated human being and Tyler did a great job of creating a real person there with all this fun other stuff that you get to play. So, to deep-dive into all that really helped me understand him more and, and the more I get to play and create when I’m on set, the more exciting it is for me. I think you’ll get to [these additional layers] in some of these scenes coming up.” He is grateful to fans for so carefully archiving Christopher’s work. “When I get a character to play, as an actor, I write back stories — I sit there and write a whole origin story that I make it up in my head as I go along. Here, I have access to a real back story! All I need to do is search on YouTube whenever I’m interacting with [a new character] or whatever is going on, there is it is, scene upon scene upon scene! It’s amazing.”
Huss’s first task was to play out Nikolas and Ava’s first meeting since their far from lovey-dovey encounter back in February 2023, which ended with Nikolas’s seeming death after Ava clobbered him over the head. “Oh, you mean that wasn’t a love tap?” Huss teases. “It had been a year since I’d worked with Maura [West, Ava] and I had to remind myself, like, ‘Oh, wow, the last time I saw this woman, she basically left me for dead!’ I really loved the way the writers tackled that because I felt like it could have gone the way you thought it was going to go — him trying to go after her and all this stuff. And so many people thought maybe he was behind trying to hurt her. But I think Nikolas’s time in — I don’t want to say captivity, because he just left when he wanted to leave — but, you know, in recuperation, really made him think about all the people in his life and the wrongs that he [committed] and his part in it. So, you got to have that reconciliation, but along with facing what she did; he was not innocent, yet neither was she, with what she did with him and Spencer, knowing how much Spencer means to him.”
Working on the material with West was a joy. “When you get a partner like Maura, you know all that stuff is going to be there,” he declares. “All the layers, all the love — all I’ve got to do is look in her eyes if I ever doubt what I’m doing for a minute on set. I just get it all [from her]! And I think people were feeling like that. I read a lot of comments [on social media] saying that, and I’m so grateful for it. They’ll say things like, ‘Your chemistry — oh, my God, I feel everything!’ And it’s cool because I feel that in the moment, and it’s a testament to what she and I have just naturally, and then work on when we get there. Or even over the phone; she’ll call me and say, ‘Hey, by the way, can I talk to you about this moment?’ And I love that. I mean, she is an icon! And for her to welcome me in so graciously, it’s just so easy for me to be able to call her and work with her and say whatever I feel and not feel like I’m the new guy. I so appreciate that.”
CHRISTINE BARTOLUCCI/ABC
Till “Death” Do We Part: Nearly a year ago, Ava (Maura West) thought she’d accidentally killed Nikolas (Adam Huss).
