Soap Opera Digest: This has been such a significant storyline period for Brook Lynn, who had a starring role in the baby Bailey saga. Did you imagine, when this whole baby ruse began, that it would end up having such emotional heft, and peel back so many of Brook Lynn’s defenses?
Amanda Setton: No! Honestly, when I first came on the show as Brook Lynn, she was self-involved, bratty, getting arrested by Detective Chase. You know, always getting herself into trouble. You could see, I think — or I always hoped the audience could see — a sort of level of “heart of gold” that Brook Lynn did have. But even when she came back on the scene pregnant, or faking a pregnancy as it was, you think she wasn’t doing it for altruistic reasons, but she really was! She was doing it for her father. At the time, though, there was a sort of a devious, scheming, doing-it-for-her-own-reasons, lying [tendency] that kept it all very surface level. She could be pretty bitchy throughout that! I want to say that the turning point for me as an actor with Brook Lynn was the Valentin scenes in the hospital, where I had to just break this man [by telling him Bailey wasn’t his daughter]. I could see that what I had done was breaking this person, and it was so painful and so devastating, and I couldn’t tell him why, I had to just take it all on the chin. Those scenes were really painful. And after that, there was so much more of Brook Lynn with the baby and moving into the beach house and creating this sort of family with Chase, and it all deepened. This baby really gave her a sense of purpose and a home. She created a home as a result of having this child in her arms.
Digest: Those scenes between you and James Patrick Stuart (Valentin) were truly spectacular.
Setton: Thank you. I love James so much. I think he is an exquisite actor. He is always so present and so specific, and as an actor, to work off of someone who is giving you such specificity is a joy. We just have so much fun together and get along so well. As far as those scenes go, they were so heartbreaking, because again, Brook Lynn couldn’t tell him [why she had lied], so she was just getting beaten down by him and his anger, and rightfully so. In a lot of moments in those scenes, in my reactions to his yelling, I was like a scared child.
Digest: The alliance between Brook Lynn and Maxie brought about a real bond between these two women. Tell me about bringing that friendship to life.
Setton: I’m so glad that Brook Lynn now has a friend, and a very good friend, and there’s clearly a deep connection and loving respect between these two women. I enjoy that dynamic, I enjoy playing that on screen and I’ve played it on a number of different programs over the years. It’s been so fun that they’ve written that — on top of that, it gets to be with Kirsten [Storms, Maxie], who I love and adore so much. She is so much fun, she’s an amazing actor, she’s so prepared, she makes amazing choices. She’s a breeze to work with. People on the crew and upstairs call us Lucy and Ethel, which is so fun, because it feels like they are feeling what we are doing, what we are trying to create — these moments of funny, lighthearted shenanigans. Hopefully you’ll see more of those to come! I love it, and I adore her.
Digest: It was wonderful to see you work opposite Jane Elliot (ex-Tracy) in this arc, as well; gotta love how much Tracy has Brook Lynn’s number!
Setton: Such a gift to work with her. She is such a professional that her presence sort of walks in before her, in a positive way. She has an energy about her where you just want to rise to where she is. She keeps me on my toes when I get to work with her, in a really good way! I was so happy to get to work with her. That’s my Granny!
Digest: Brook Lynn becoming a mom, albeit temporarily, also brought new dimension to her relationship with her father. The scenes where he expressed that he was proud of her for the lengths she went to to protect Maxie’s baby were beautiful.
Setton: I love that Brook Lynn has all of these different relationships on the show, that you get to see her as a daughter, as a best friend, as a mom, in a way, and you’re getting to see her in a romantic light. That’s been really fun, to play all of these different relationships and the specific dynamics that come out of them. I love Wally [Kurth, Ned] so much. I feel such a closeness to him. There’s just this very easy, father/daughter chemistry between us that feels very natural. I feel very safe with him and as soon as we get on set, we can just go right into, “Oh, hey Dad!” That’s really how it feels. So those scenes, where I was finally having to confess what’s really going on, and Brook Lynn is so afraid of disappointing him and feels like all she does is disappoint him, just provided a really fertile ground for a lot of vulnerable moments. She is trying to hold it together; she is trying to explain things to him, and she finally just breaks down. In this moment with her father, we got to see the weight that she has been carrying and the fear that losing Bailey has elicited in her.
Digest: The scene where Maxie told Brook Lynn that she would be called “Mama Brook Lynn” — I was a mess! When you have a scene with so much emotion, how much do you come to set with a plan and how much do you just let what happens between you and your scene partner happen, and surprise you?
Setton: Mostly the latter. I try to just be as present as possible. You do some emotional preparation before; you just want to be in a place and a space and an energy so that once that emotion is elicited, hopefully by either the actual words on the page or your scene partner, then an actual, true emotion will just come out. That whole arc, from when Bailey was taken [by Peter] to when Maxie actually comes to take the baby home and the whole Mama Brook Lynn scene, for those few weeks of filming, I just tried to show up. I will say, I’m really grateful for how they played. I don’t sit and watch myself every day, but I wanted to see how the panic attack played, I wanted to see those scenes. I wanted to see how it read. And it all read pretty true to me. I think that’s also a testament to the writers; they wrote those scenes so beautifully, so well, and also to my scene partners — Kirsten, Josh [Swickard, Chase], Wally. These are heavy hitters who I just respect so deeply and absolutely adore, on screen and off, so to do those vulnerable scenes with people I care about, who I feel safe and comfortable with, made it much easier to go there.
Digest: Let’s get into Chase and Brook Lynn. Why do you think this pairing is jelling so well?
Setton: I think that when there is a chemistry that exists between two actors, the writers can feel it, and then as the actor, you feel it in the writing. I will also say the way in which these writers have been writing these characters, with so much angst and such a push and pull and so many pregnant pauses, will they, won’t they, all these missed opportunities and misunderstandings and miscommunication, I do feel like there is so much fertile ground for the building of energy, and if you have the two correct actors together, that energy is chemistry. Josh is an absolute joy. I feel so lucky that I get to work with him. He is a pro, a great scene partner. I think he’s hysterical, he’s hilarious. We have a lot of fun together and just play really well off each other. There’s the romance-y stuff, but there is also this friendship that the writers have built between them that has really grown over the years. As a result, we get to play a lot of different elements together. It’s not just romance. There is a real respect and connection between these two people.
Digest: I’m a sucker for the soap archetype at play here — “If only these two would get out of their own way!”
Setton: Yes, I think that’s exactly what’s happening! And I think it’s also rooted in each of these characters’ own stuff, which is why it feels viable, so to speak. Brook Lynn has been on her own for so long. She’s an only child, her parents are divorced — she rolls solo. I think she hasn’t had a lot of opportunity to trust people, and so here’s this, like, amazing man who comes into her world, a stand-up guy who is lying on her behalf, for the deepest cause, this beautiful baby. She just falls head over heels, but she can’t trust that. She can’t trust herself. She’s had some pretty questionable experiences in her life with men and there hasn’t been a real building of a relationship until Chase, and I think she is very afraid of that. Especially now, feeling all of these feelings around Bailey, I think she is even more afraid, because her heart has been opened now in a way that it has never been, so she can love in a way that she couldn’t love before.
Digest: How would you say Brook Lynn is navigating her separation from the baby now that Maxie has reclaimed her?
Setton: I think the reason she left town is that it was too much for her and she needed some time away. She needed to regroup. She knows that Port Charles is the place for her and where she wants to be. I’m sure her feelings for Chase are part of that, even though she’s fighting them as hard as she can. That relationship is a pull for her back to Port Charles, but she’s built a life there, and as far as she and Maxie go, I think it is really hard. Deep down, she knows that it’s the right thing [for Bailey to be with her birth mother], so she just has to continue to push through, and fortunately or unfortunately, I think Brook Lynn is used to that. She’s a fighter.
Digest: Since you’re not on any form of social media, what would you like to say directly to the “Chalynn” fans here in the pages of Soap Opera Digest?
Setton: Just that I cannot — we cannot — thank you enough! We do it for you, we do it to entertain you and to create a level of honesty and truth on the screen that elicits some sort of emotion and investment by the fans, so to hear that you’re into it and are stoked about the pairing, it just makes our hearts full. Josh and I are so excited to hopefully keep doing this for many years to come. It’s so refreshing, and it feels so great to know how invested the fans are. We’re having the best time, Josh and I. We really are.
