It’s been months since it was announced that soap legend Erika Slezak (ex-Victoria Lord Buchanan, “One Life to Live”) would be returning to daytime, this time in a newly created role on “General Hospital.”
As she begins taping her scenes this month at the show’s Prospect Studios set in Hollywood, we’re finally learning more about the role she’ll play in Port Charles, particularly in connection to Monica Quartermaine (played by the late Leslie Charleson).
“We’re in hock big time to [executive producer] Frank Valentini for coaxing Erika Slezak to come west and play with our cast. She’s a class act and a powerhouse,” commented the show’s co-head writers, Elizabeth Korte and Chris Van Etten, in an interview with TV Insider as they previewed what’s to come this fall on the daytime drama series. “We can’t wait to see how her character challenges the status quo in Port Charles.”
According to Korte and Van Etten, the Quartermaines will be devastated upon learning their matriarch, Monica, has passed away, with Jason (Steve Burton) and Tracy (Jane Elliot) hit the hardest by the news.
Further, as the family prepares to celebrate the life of one of their own with a grand goodbye after nearly 50 years of the character on the canvas, the occasion not only provides a time for mourning and togetherness, but also an opportunity arises with Slezak’s character arriving with a surprising connection to the Quartermaine clan and mysterious ties to others on the canvas.
While not explicitly stated by the writers, a report by Daytime Confidential in July revealed that Slezak is slated to portray Monica’s sister, marking the first time since the character’s introduction in 1976 (played by Patsy Rahn at the time) that the soap opera would establish a sibling for Monica, considering the character was known to have been an orphan raised by Gail Baldwin (played by the late Susan Brown) with no direct family ties introduced beyond her cousin Lorena Sharpe Barrington (Shelley Taylor Morgan).
An official first air date for Slezak has not been announced.
