Former General Hospital star Chris L. McKenna (ex-Jack Brennan) recently sat down with Steve Burton and Bradford Anderson on their podcast, Stone Cold and The Jackal, to open up about his exit from the daytime drama, the reality of handling a soap firing now that he is a parent, and what lies ahead for his career—including exciting collaborations with familiar faces like Kelly Thiebaud (aka Britt Westbourne).
Key Takeaways
- McKenna said being fired felt different now that he has a child depending on him.
- He spent two days filming Brennan’s death and detailed the elaborate makeup involved.
- He wanted to help younger cast members deal with the reality of losing a soap job.
- McKenna is developing horror projects as a writer and producer.
- He’s also working on projects with familiar GH faces, including Kelly Thiebaud.
On Getting Fired as a New Father
Having navigated the ups and downs of show business for decades, McKenna is no stranger to the unpredictable nature of television. However, losing a job hits differently when family is involved.
“I have a kid now. It was the first time I got fired with a kid,” McKenna shared candidly on the podcast. “So that was the first time that I had to deal with that like, ‘Oh, there’s someone counting on me.’ I’ve been a Peter Pan my whole life… So that’s what I had to worry about. But, you know, once I got over the initial blow of that, there’s plenty of things on my plate that I’ve been meaning to get back to.”
He emphasized that having a child shifted his perspective on work and life priorities.
“It’s never been as important as it is right now. And I have more time again, and I can actually focus on my family even more than I could before,” he explained. “As great as this has been—and I’ve never done 180 episodes of anything before this—it still takes up so much of your bandwidth, attention, and time that it’s nice now that I have a runway and time right now to just focus on my family, do some of the writing when he’s asleep, and enjoy that.”
Filming That Gruesome Pool Death Scene
Before Brennan made his exit, viewers watched the character meet a tragic end in the Metro Court pool. McKenna gave fans a peek behind the curtain at what it took to film those dramatic final scenes. At the same time, he couldn’t help but sing praise to the show’s award-winning makeup team led by Stephanie Riley.
“I had to play my dead body for two days. I’ve been dead before, but I never played it for that long,” McKenna recalled.
“They progressively had to decompose Brennan. So we had full-on spray… they used the alcohol-based spray paint makeup so that it wouldn’t dissolve in the pool,” he adds.
“They airbrushed me, turning me more and more green—my lips green, my fingernails… they really get into it, and they did a great job making my veins turn green.”
He also revealed a hilarious behind-the-scenes mishap involving co-star Bluesy Burke:
“Bluesy Burke had to scream when she saw me underwater… That girl… the pipes, holy cow! There’s a clip of me holding my ears because she blew my ears out under the water. I didn’t know it would travel like that…” he noted.
McKenna also shared, “And also, I couldn’t hear ‘cut’ underwater, and I’m committed as an actor, so I stayed and stayed until eventually Kyle, the stage manager, banged on the side of the pool to let me know I could come up.”
Supporting Co-Stars and Handling Exit News
McKenna shared that he had known about his exit for a while before his final airdate, which gave him time to process the news and support others on set. That support included Paige Herschell, whose character, Jacinda Bracken, was written off around the same time. (She also spoke about it on the State of Mind podcast with Maurice Benard)
“At that point, I had known for a bit; I had time to process it,” McKenna stated. “Page Herschell found out at the same time that she wasn’t going to be coming back… She hadn’t been through this before. I have so much experience in this industry, and it’s been up and down so many times…
McKenna shared, “I don’t get rattled anymore by it. So it was important to me to make sure, first of all, everybody else felt comfortable, because everybody felt bad and felt sad and upset.”
He added: “I wanted to make sure that Paige got her flowers, had her attention, and got her send-off appropriately. I wanted to make sure I hugged her and told her to finish strong… I wanted to show them [the younger actors] how to handle it when you get bad news, that it doesn’t have to devastate you, and it’s not the end of the world.”
What’s Next for Chris L. McKenna?
Far from waiting around for his next audition, McKenna has been hard at work on the creative side as a writer and producer. Right before joining General Hospital, he sold a script and secured the adaptation rights to a catalog of work by the late horror author Thomas Tessier.
“I sold a script right before GH happened, and I have not been able to get back to it… I have the rights to a giant catalog of intellectual property now,” McKenna revealed.
He continued, “I produced a podcast about it, I’m now working on a second script, and I’m dealing with producers.”
He also revealed that he has some fun stuff coming up with GH people involved—however, he’s not at liberty to say just who just yet.
When asked about building relationships on the GH set and whether he plans to keep working with his former castmates, McKenna teased exciting future projects:
“I’ve noticed that you and Andi [Chapman] spend a lot of time together,” Bradford noted during the interview.
“We do! We hit it off right away,” McKenna responded. “We’ve been producing stuff together, and we’ve been working together. We have some stuff in the pipeline. Kelly Thiebaud has gotten involved… We have a lot of fun.”
He’s Not Just Waiting for the Phone to Ring
While he remains open to acting opportunities that come his way, McKenna is focused on bringing his vision to life behind the camera. “I will answer the phone, but I’m not just waiting for the phone to ring… I am really excited about having something that happened in my head up on the screen and actually coming out the way I intended.”
Watch the full interview below with Chris McKenna, Steve Burton, and Bradford Anderson.
Are you happy about Chris L. McKenna’s plans after General Hospital, and would you like to see him return to daytime in another role someday? Tell us what you think in the comments.
Photo Credit: ABC/Disney.
Follow Soap Opera News on Google News to stay up to date with all the latest news, spoilers, recaps, interviews, and more.
Leave a Reply