General Hospital Exclusive: Ryan Paevey Reveals Why Cassius Refuses to Give Up Lulu — Or Life as ‘Nathan’
When Nathan’s twin, Cassius, surfaced on General Hospital last year and assumed his brother’s identity, he was very much a man with a plan. What was not part of that plan was falling for Lulu (Alexa Havins) — and on the April 24 episode, when Britt (Kelly Thiebaud) implored her brother to break up with Lulu before the truth comes out and wrecks her life, Cassius made it clear he has no intention of letting her go. Soap Opera Digest got the inside scoop from Cassius’s portrayer, Ryan Paevey, about his high-risk gamble to hold on to Lulu and the life he’s building with her as “Nathan.”
Double Trouble
As Cassius settled into Port Charles and the role of “Nathan,” he had no intention of making a love connection as part of his act. “For him, I think the love he feels for Lulu — the affinity, the affection — did come out of left field,” muses Paevey. “I don’t think he was expecting it, and he surprised himself with how quickly it took root.”
But that doesn’t mean his feelings aren’t genuine. Insists the actor, “Whatever nefarious reasons he may have had for coming to Port Charles, I do think that the care that you see between Cassius and Lulu is legitimate and strong.” Albeit rather inconvenient, because as Cassius is painfully aware, the only way he can maintain his relationship with Lulu is to ensure she keeps believing that he’s somebody else. Sighs Paevey, “He’s just trying to navigate that the same way he’s navigating everything else in this world.”
Cassius’s entire relationship with Lulu may be built on a lie, but Paevey believes that Cassius can justify duping the woman he claims to love on the grounds that it’s a necessary evil. “I don’t think that Cassius is a bad guy,” he says. “I think that Cassius has his own sense of morality. Cassius is made of the same stuff that Nathan was made of, you know? He has just spent a lot more time surrounded by the other side of the moral spectrum. Cassius is kind of like the wounded twin, so to speak. The affection that he’s felt since he’s gotten to Port Charles, I don’t know that Cassius has ever experienced any of that before. While it was a surprise, it was a really pleasant surprise, and I think it quickly became additional motivation to make sure that the truth doesn’t come out.”
And a powerful motivation at that. “I think that Cassius, as a person, needs the affection [he’s receiving as ‘Nathan’],” declares the GH star. “It has become something that is very valuable to him.”
So even though Britt warned him that learning the truth will break Lulu, Cassius is going to do things his way. “He knows that if the secret gets out, he will lose her,” declares Paevey. “He really loves her, but she only loves him because she thinks he’s Nathan. So he is going to keep playing the part of Nathan as long as possible.”
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