Photo Credit: ABC/Jeff Lorch
By Angela Ryan-Duncan
It’s never easy to come onto a soap opera as a recast and even harder when it’s with short notice, but Adam Huss has now done it three times as Nikolas Cassadine on General Hospital. He has blown us away every time but never more so than this latest stint when he stepped in when Marcus Coloma was unable to finish his final scenes.
Huss was thrown into the explosive conclusion of a storyline that had been building for almost a year with Nikolas, his ex-wife Ava (Maura West), mother Laura (Genie Francis), son Spencer (Nicholas Alexander Chavez), friend Elizabeth (Rebecca Herbst), and his son’s ex-girlfriend Esme (Avery Pohl), who is currently pregnant with Nik’s baby. Huss had heavy scenes with all of them and he more than brought his A-game. He clicked with every scene partner and generated chemistry as though they had been working together for years.
Adam put on a master class in acting in only one week, going from soft to manipulative to apologetic to angry to broken, and back again as though he had been portraying this complex character for years. He perfectly displayed every layer of Nikolas Cassadine and GH fans were captivated.
Every scene he was in was amazing but there were two standouts, in the hospital chapel with his mother and his son and then immediately after in the hallway, with his mother.
The revelation that his son was going to challenge him for custody of Esme’s unborn child and the realization that his ex-wife had supplied his son the ammunition he needed to do so was perfectly played out by Huss. The emotion he was able to express in his mannerisms and tone was perfection in the chapel scenes and even those who have been rooting against Nik cheered when he grabbed his son by the shirt and growled, “For all your talk about wanting to be your own man, you are every bit a Cassadine!”. That moment was the tipping point for the audience when it came to embracing Adam in the role.
Photo Credit: ABC
In the next scene with his mother, the anger was gone and replaced by a broken shell of a man who was coming to the realization that he had truly lost his wife and son, and the tearful goodbye he shared with his mother felt heartbreakingly final and foreboding. By the end of it, fans were largely united in calling for a redemption arc for Nik, played out by Adam Huss.
Photo Credit: ABC
Adam Huss stepped into an extremely difficult situation and created art that not only captured our attention and entertained us but also touched us in unexpected and wonderful ways. We can’t wait to see what else he has in store for us during the rest of his run as Nik and hope that the powers that be heed fan calls and bring him back in a contract role. If there was a higher grade we could give him, we would. He more than earned the A+ we are bestowing on his portrayal of Nikolas Cassadine on General Hospital.
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