How Nicholas Alexander Chavez Bridged The Gap For The General Hospital Recast
"General Hospital" is one of those shows that has been on for so long, entire generations have passed through its gates. Having originally premiered in 1963, "General Hospital" follows the happenings in and around a hospital, and although there are medical emergencies and drama, the true draw of the show has always been the people. Relationships are created, tested, destroyed, and cemented over the course of the show, which tends to be the fulcrum of "General Hospital." People aren't tuning in for a medical procedural show — they are tuning in to see how the characters are going to react to each other.
TVInsider notes that "General Hospital" has become the longest-running soap opera that is still in production, which makes perfect sense considering that the show has been on since before the Age of Aquarius. As such, plenty of actors have come and gone on the television series, sometimes for personal reasons and sometimes for plot, and occasionally actors must be recast. Sometimes this is explained by an in-universe absence, coma, tragedy, or natural progression of age, with one of the more recent recastings involving Nicholas Alexander Chavez and the character of Spencer Cassadine. However, it seems like Chavez is mentally prepared to bring his own take on the character of Spencer.
Chavez watched his predecessors take on the character of Spencer
According to the General Hospital Wiki, the character of Spencer Cassadine has been played by several actors since the character's inception — Nicholas Alexander Chavez is the ninth person to don the mantle of Spencer. Born out of wedlock between two characters who were already married in 2006, Spencer's life has been full of drama, promises of inheritance, and potent interactions with his parents and grandparents. Fans of "General Hospital," for all intents and purposes, have seen the character grow from a baby to a young adult, which highlights why the role has been recast so much.
Chavez made his first appearance as Spencer in early July 2022 and has already made his own mark on the character. During an interview on YouTube, Chavez was asked about the previous actor to have taken the role of Spencer, Nicolas Bechtel, and how he managed to take the character in a different direction from his predecessor, considering that Bechtel had to act through many scenes that now define the character. Chavez was then asked if he had watched or known of any of this prior to his casting, and Chavez replied, "I did. I watched some of it because I was of course, interested, like you always want to see what you are playing."
Chavez thinks it is the duty of the actor to consider what drives a character, and then to act on the interpretation
Chavez then went on and said that actors who are pulled into roles that have been recast have an interesting bridge to cross and specifically mentioned the Oracle character from "The Matrix" trilogy. He then elaborated his philosophy when it comes to Spencer's new iteration by saying, "You just have to look at the facts of the character, and what is the background, what has this person dealt with, what kind of psychological place are they operating from, and what resources do they have, what resources they don't have. And you have to compile all of that information, and ultimately as an actor, you have to make an interpretation of those facts, and then create a behavior from that interpretation."
It is important to note that "General Hospital" is the first major acting gig for Nicholas Alexander Chavez. As reported by Soap Hub, Chavez's role of Spencer Cassadine is his big break into acting, although it is mentioned that he majored in acting at Mason Gross School of the Arts Acting Conservatory and that he was forbidden from telling anybody about landing the role before his actual appearance on the show.
Chavez is thankful for all of the fan support he quickly accrued
Coming into such a long-running show and taking up the mantle of a long-running character like Spencer was not lost on the actor. Speaking with Soap Central, it was brought up that Chavez has already garnered a large following in a short period of time, and the actor responded by saying, "It's certainly been a whirlwind! The show did me a lot of favors by trusting me to play a legacy character from a legacy family, and I think the fan base was pretty eager to see what a new take on the role would look like."
He continued, "I'm very, very thankful to the fans for being open to my interpretation, and I'm thankful and so grateful for the love and support that I receive on a daily basis from the fans of this incredible show." In other words, it seems like Chavez's version of Spencer has proven to be a huge success with fans and that his interpretation of the character has rung true with longtime followers of "General Hospital."