Maurice Benard and Laura Wright Preview What’s Ahead For Sonny and Carly!
During the latest episode of Maurice Benard’s weekly State of Mind YouTube show, the Emmy winner who plays GENERAL HOSPITAL’s Sonny — and, lately, the amnesiac “Mike” — hosted his leading lady, Laura Wright (Carly). The conversation between the longtime scene partners started off with Benard making a shocking confession about when Wright was cast as GH’s Carly #4 in 2005 before it turned to their current storyline that has “Mike” paired with a scheming Nina and Carly entering a marriage of convenience with Sonny’s right-hand man, Jason.
“I was done with Carly,” Benard admitted of his mindset 16 years ago, adding that it was nothing personal against the actress, who had already had lengthy runs as THE CITY’s Ally and GUIDING LIGHT’s Cassie by the time she arrived in Port Charles. “Laura came in and said, ‘I don’t care. I’m going to do this to the best of my ability.’ And she made Carly the biggest thing around.”
For her part, Wright revealed that she let Benard’s initial feelings toward her character roll off her back. “You were done with Carly,” she recalled. “And I didn’t take it personally. That has been the gift of our relationship. When I started, you really needed a break from it being Sonny/Carly. And the funny part is, I was like ‘That’s okay!’ And then they put me with Jax, so I was with Ingo [Rademacher] for 6 years. Which gave us great stuff. We were the best exes.”
Since the couple’s eventual reunion with Wright in the role, Sonny and Carly have weathered many storms over the years, building a super-strong fan base of viewers who ship CarSon along the way. But their current storyline — “Mike” living in Nixon Falls and romancing Nina, who knows who he really is, while Carly grieves for her presumed-dead husband back in Port Charles — has their fan base “split” according to Wright.
“Don’t even try to say it’s split!” laughed Benard. “Don’t even try to say it’s split! That’s ridiculous. If anything, it’s maybe 90/10 [against the “Mike”/Nina pairing] now. They’re turning a little bit around.”
While GH’s CarSon fans may not be loving the current direction the pair’s tale has taken, after years of playing the highly intense Mob boss, Benard is “having a great time” playing laid-back amnesiac Mike. And both actors promise that what is ahead for Sonny, Carly, Nina, and Jason will be a payoff well worth the wait. “We haven’t seen a script, but we know it’s coming,” previews Wright. “It’s going to be incredible. The next level is going to blow your mind.”
Agrees Benard, “It’s going to be outrageous. I don’t know how they’re going to write it, but once Sonny comes back, all hell’s going to break loose.”
We can’t wait to see how it all goes down!
