General Hospital: Alexa Havins on Lulu Mourning Luke in ‘Bittersweet’ Anthony Geary Tribute Episode (Excl)
While Lulu Spencer was in her four-year coma on General Hospital, her father, Port Charles icon Luke Spencer, passed away. Following the real-life death of his Daytime Emmy-winning portrayer, Anthony Geary, the show is paying homage to both actor and character in a special episode airing on Friday, February 20 — and Lulu is at the center of the action as the daughter who didn’t get the chance to say a proper good-bye to her beloved dad. Soap Opera Digest got the inside scoop from her portrayer, Alexa Havins, about the emotional hour of GH and the unique challenge it posed to her, since she had never actually worked with Geary.
History Channel
Lulu emerged from her coma in 2024, two years after Luke’s demise was scripted, with Havins assuming the role of Luke and Laura’s (Genie Francis) headstrong daughter from Emme Rylan (2013-20), who herself had succeeded Daytime Emmy winner Julie Marie Berman (2005-13). While recasts are commonplace in daytime, “They’re not normalized for me as a person,” says Havins, who admits to putting “insane pressure” on herself to do justice to the script she was handed. “I am so incredibly humbled to be included in this farewell and walk down memory lane for this massive legacy character,” she explains. “When I first heard about [Lulu’s importance to the episode], I was very surprised. And then fear set in! I was so nervous and scared because I’m not the Lulu that worked with him and has all that beautiful history with him.”
Fortunately, her live-in cheerleader/line-running partner, husband Justin Bruening (ex-Jamie Martin, All My Children), was able to talk her down. “Justin was like, ‘What are you doing? Why are you so nervous? Just calm down and breathe and focus on the lines.’ That helped me realize that the best thing I could do was step back and focus on the work and do my best to execute it for the fans.”
Once on set, she was further bolstered and inspired by the heartfelt work of her co-stars. “I was working with Jane Elliot [Tracy] and I could just see her visceral reaction when we did our first scene together; I saw her true grief for the loss of her friend,” Havins recalls. “I said, ‘Jane, I just want to honor your friend.’ And I never ask to do another take, but on this day, I was like, ‘Can we do that again? Can I have one more stab at it?’ And [Executive Producer] Frank Valentini was so gracious — he was like, ‘Of course! You can always do it again when it’s something this important.'”
Havins was impressed by the “great care” taken with the episode across the board. “It’s a very interesting script, a really smart script,” she praises. “It’s like the audience is grieving through Lulu’s eyes, and it’s a journey down memory lane. Our producer, Michelle Henry, did such a gorgeous job pulling all these phenomenal flashbacks that I got to see and hear — they had clips from the show [playing] to the studio floor as I’m acting, and for me, even not knowing him, I couldn’t help but be affected. It was a really interesting experience and I think it’s going to be a really bittersweet treat for the audience that loved Tony and the audience that fell in love with Luke Spencer. It’s a really nice tip of the hat and salute to the character.”
Hurts So Good
Within the episode, which also features Luke-adjacent players like Laura, Sonny (Maurice Benard) and Carly (Laura Wright), “Tracy takes Lulu on a journey of grief and remembrance,” Havins reports. “Because Lulu was in a coma when her father died, to her, the grief is fresh, and I was drawing the parallel that the audience’s grief is fresh for Anthony Geary, the man. I was looking around at the other actors realizing, ‘Your character has had time to grieve Luke.’ So they were coming at this from a different angle of loss; it was more remembrance and celebration, while I had to take Lulu through those stages of grief, because we didn’t really play that when I started on the show — we didn’t really dig into the grief of Lulu losing the father that she loves so much.
“Jane’s character is kind of my guide in this,” she continues, “and Lulu is along for the ride. It’s got so much heart. And then I have beautiful scenes with Genie [Francis] — those were the ones I was really nervous about. But they were so satisfying. Filming this felt to me like it was a true memorial. [The other actors, who all knew Geary] were feeling really real things, and so was our crew. The crew was in tears; they came up to us and they were like, ‘I was sobbing!'”
Havins appreciated getting to see the flashbacks used in the episode, which she feels gave her a greater understanding of Luke. “I love that he’s such a flawed character,” she says. “I love that he’s this broken human that’s still so lovable.” And she learned new things about Lulu, too. Muses the actress, “I have more insight now into who she is and what makes Lulu tick and why she does some of the things that she does. There’s a reason for who she is, if you look at her life and how her childhood was, you know, a little outside of the box.” In Luke and Laura, she concludes, “She’s got two very distinct parents that have poured into her. She’s got such a big heart, but she’s a little bit impulsive and brash and speaks before she thinks.”
But above all, she developed an even deeper appreciation for Geary’s singular talent. “I was backstage, right behind the set, and I watched the clip of Tony in his final episode when he was leaving the show, and Luke was on the dock and walked into the mist,” she recalls. “I was just so moved by his brilliance, his simplicity, his delivery. And that’s me not knowing this gentleman [personally],” she points out. “But the audience knows him like a family member, one who came into their home for so many years.”
She predicts that for longtime viewers, “I think there are going to be a lot of emotions felt when they’re watching the episode — just that connection of someone you love and lost, and the celebration of all the really fun times. On set, you could tell everyone was very invested in making something that really honored his memory. There’s no place other than daytime where you can have so many years of getting to know someone for such a long run, and hopefully, we’ve honored that — honored him and honored the audience. It was very rewarding and fulfilling to film,” she adds. “I felt very broken, but complete, when we wrapped. There was a lot poured into it, but I think the audience is going to enjoy it.”
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