Avery Kristen Pohl Opens up About Esme and Ryan’s Relationship on GH

When Esme first encountered Ryan on GENERAL HOSPITAL, fans immediately began suspecting that the apple didn’t fall far from the psycho tree and the pair were father and daughter. And even though she had only just started working on the soap, Avery Kristen Pohl thought the same thing and had her suspicions confirmed shortly before they began shooting the scene!

“Literally right before taping, [the director] goes, ‘Oh, Avery, by the way, yeah, that’s your dad,’” she revealed to Soap Opera Digest. “So I was like, ‘Okay, that changes things!’”

But the relationship between the two characters wasn’t confirmed for viewers until the March 9, 2022, episode when Esme sneaked into Ryan’s cell at Spring Ridge for a father-daughter chat. However, even after watching that episode, many fans were still confused about exactly what was going on between these two. “The biggest thing Jon [Lindstrom, Ryan] and I wanted to do was make the audience second-guess everything,” Pohl declared. “And I think we’re doing okay with that!”

Despite her calling him “Daddy” and him referring to her as his “beautiful, gifted daughter,” there was another layer to Esme and Ryan’s interaction that felt uncomfortably intimate. “On set, it was very interesting to do,” the actress admitted. “I was literally sweating while I was filming! They are naturally make-your-skin-crawl scenes.”

Pohl is also excited to be working with Lindstrom as her TV dad and appreciated his help in portraying their… unique familial connection. “He’s a super-nice dude, and I think we made those scenes as comfortable as we could,” she said. “But they were very interesting things to have to film, and a very questionable relationship to portray — to say the least!”

Esme is proving to be just as devious and unpredictable as her father, Ryan, so you’re definitely going to want to stay tuned to GH to see what she does next!