General Hospital Exclusive: What’s Next for Jack & Carly — Laura Wright, Chris McKenna Talk Fallout

Carly Spencer and Jack Brennan’s relationship officially blew up on General Hospital after Brennan barged into Carly’s bedroom and discovered she was not only harboring fugitive Valentin Cassadine — and sleeping with him — but also faced Carly’s fury over his deception involving Josslyn’s (Eden McCoy) involvement in the WSB. Soap Opera Digest spoke with Laura Wright (Carly) and Chris McKenna (Jack) about the drama sparked by the explosive confrontation.

Carly and Valentin’s Plan Derailed

Even on soaps, where dramatic breakups are a dime a dozen, Jack and Carly’s reckoning was ugly — and to hear McKenna tell it, his character won’t get over it easily. “This is going to leave a scar on Jack that’ll last forever,” says the actor.

Carly, meanwhile, is left outraged by Jack’s audacity to play the victim. “I don’t really feel that bad for Brennan,” shrugs Wright. “He is so hurt and mad, and she’s like, ‘Are you kidding me right now? This all happened because of you, Brennan! Valentin happened because of you. You lied to my face over and over again. Did you think you could destroy someone’s life and take someone’s child [Josslyn] and put them in the most dangerous [job] in the world while lying to the mother’s face and think you would have some great relationship?’ He has no damn right.”

But when her fury fades, she’s left with a whole heap of problems. “Everything has shifted now,” Wright says. “Things aren’t in her control, you know? She is very unsure of what happens now because they had a plan, and now that Brennan knows everything, that’s gone.”

Carly and Valentin therefore have a lot of regrouping to do — and that’s on top of trying to figure out the nature of their feelings for one another. According to Wright, Carly was still hung up on Jack when she first joined forces with Valentin to destroy Brennan — but what has emerged between her and her unlikely ally over the past few months is very real. “Any part of her heart that was wanting so bad to believe [in Jack], he continued to lie,” she says. “And during that time, there was someone else who continued to be there for her.”

Which on the one hand is romantic, but on the other, it could present yet more problems for Carly to become reliant upon a guy who could get swooped up by the WSB at any moment. “So much of her life has been lying and trying not to tell anyone about Valentin and that can be isolating,” the actress observes. “She’s lying to Lulu [Alexa Havins], she’s not telling Sonny [Maurice Benard] anything and hasn’t even really been around him because he would probably know that something’s up, Jason’s [Steve Burton] gone… And all this time, she’s just home with Valentin. So she’s more and more created a world for herself where he’s the center of it. And he’s a criminal! He’s a fugitive — a fugitive wanted by, like, the world [laughs]!”

While Carly clearly can’t resist continuing to fall into bed with Valentin. “She’s not thinking of anything long-term,” Wright insists. “She can’t even let herself think that. Lulu could show up at any moment, there’s the Charlotte [Bluesy Burke] issue, and Josslyn’s still in the WSB. She enjoys it when she’s in the moment with Valentin, but there’s also a whole bunch of other things going on her life that she’s trying to control, so it’s not all love and flowers!”

Breakup Leads to ‘Amazing Craziness’

Though she no longer has to lie to Jack about the fact that she’s sleeping with Valentin — or that she’s been plotting against him — Carly does now have to worry about his possible retribution. “I think fear of Brennan is something that everyone should have,” warns McKenna. “Brennan purposely cultivates that. He’s very careful to play everything close to the vest and not let people know what he’s thinking. The most common description in my scripts now is ‘on Brennan, inscrutable.’ And I wouldn’t be doing my job right if everyone wasn’t at least a little afraid of what Brennan might do!”

But McKenna doesn’t see a world where Brennan would do actual harm to Carly. “Jack couldn’t hurt Carly if he wanted to,” he asserts. “I think his heart would prevent him from doing anything.”

Both actors agree that Jack and Carly’s split is only the beginning of a fresh wave of drama. “This particular crossing of the road starts off a chain of events that sends so many characters down a whole new path,” teases Wright. “It’s definitely going to be exciting and fun.” She sums up the twists ahead as “amazing craziness …  It’s great stuff and great acting.”

Echoes McKenna, “There are twists and turns that no one sees coming — and that includes Jack.”