On General Hospital, The PCPD is looking a lot different these days on the heels of the department losing two of their top cops (one in death, and one on a secret mission), but enter Harrison Chase (Josh Swickard), better known to all as just “Chase”.  Following the untimely death of Nathan West (Ryan Paevey), his replacement turned out to be this newcomer to Port Charles … but who knew he had a few surprising connections!

First, viewers learned Chase is the half-brother of Dr. Hamilton Finn (Michael Easton), and that relationship certainly has shown that there are chink’s in that armor.  Then, there is his secret past with “Janelle” aka Nelle Benson (Chloe Lanier) that has unraveled over the last few months.

Through it all, actor Josh Swickard has proven that he is a keeper on GH, mixing it up with some of the longtime all-stars of the series while holding his own, showing us he is more than adept at a song and dance, and as a potential great new love interest for any lucky lady in Port Charles … for instance, what about Maxie (Kirsten Storms)?

Michael Fairman TV dished with Josh on: how his first foray into soaps has gone thus far, how Chase will deal with the fallout from the events that finally put Nelle behind bars, the guilt the cop feels for his part in the “death” of Nelle’s baby, and just what on earth is going on between Finn and Chase that is not allowing for more ‘brotherly love”.  Here’s what he had to say about all of that, and more.

When you first came on to GH, did you know Chase was going to be revealed as Finn’s brother (Michael Easton), and also had a past with Nelle?

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JOSH:  I knew about Michael Easton about the first week I was on the show.  I had met with the writers and the producers and that was my intro: “You are going to be related on-screen to Michael, and you will be playing his brother.”  I thought that was wonderful, and then that Chase had a past with Nelle which I learned a bit later.  They told Chloe and me that we were going to work together, and we had not spent a lot of time with each other up to that point.  So, the next day on set after we found out the back-story we were like, “Alright! Let’s do this!”

That must have been a bit of a challenge, with no on-camera back-story previously, to all of a sudden jump to, “Remember, when we were lovers?” (Laughs)

JOSH:  Exactly! And I have to say; Chloe Lanier has been an absolute star though this whole process.

Photo Credit: JPI Studios

When you first came on the show, Chase was presented as this by-the-book cop opposite Dante played by the exited Dominic Zamprogna.  At first, it appeared that these new police partners were going to have an ongoing feud.   Did you like how that was beginning to play out?

JOSH:  I loved everything with Dante.  We didn’t have a feud in real life, but Dominic would give me a hard time, like playing a joke on me, etc.  I really enjoyed that, and it created a fun friendship.  Dominic is one of the most talented actors I have ever worked with on any show, let alone GH.  It was an honor working scenes with him.

So many people including myself, loved your performance at the Nurses’ Ball.  It must have been somewhat nerve-wracking for you being a rookie on the show, and then having to perform in front of the cast like that.  Was it?

JOSH:  I was absolutely terrified   It was quick rehearsals, and then as we were about to start filming, I realized this was the first time we were doing the number with costumes and lights.  I had a moment where I said to myself, “I don’t know if I am prepared!”  Then when we filmed it, they shot it from different camera angles, so we ran the number a few times and then they moved on.  I don’t fully remember it to be honest.  I think I blacked-out a little bit, because I was pretty new, and you are sitting there on-stage and literally: Maurice Benard (Sonny), Finola Hughes (Anna), and Michael Easton, all of these people are staring at you, and these are “Soap Gods!”  I said to myself, “What am I doing here?” (Laughs) Once I got rid of all that in my head, it ended up being a lot of fun.  The production does a pass where there are just cameras in the audience, but for my number, my first take was with the audience sitting there watching!  It got the jitters out of the way and brought back those old feelings of when I used to do theater, and the excitement in the pit of your stomach of performing live.

Photo Credit: JPI Studios

Did you know the song “Feel It Still” by Portugal. the man before they had you perform it?

JOSH:  I had heard it on the radio, but I had to memorize it and learn the lyrics.  In the original version, he sings the song up an octave from me as I have a deeper voice.  I went to my vocal coach for assistance, and the recording guys over at ABC who were wonderful.  We worked out my version of it, so it ended up being fun.

You have obviously sung and danced before in other shows?

JOSH:  Not on other shows.  I did theatre when I was younger and I took ballet when I was young, because I have three sisters and I just kind of followed what they did.  So, I ended up doing the singing and dancing, instead of the football stuff.  It was good to kind of flex that muscle again.

Did Chase scare every one of his co-workers away from the PCPD?  First, Dante leaves when Dominic decides to leave the show, and now Vinessa Antoine is leaving her role as Jordan!

JOSH:  I know!  The second I showed up everyone disappeared … so funny. (Laughs).

Courtesy/ABC

When Chase came up with the plan with Michael (Chad Duell) to nab Nelle … did he think for a second it would go awry and the car could crash?

JOSH:  Well, Chase devised this whole plan of rigging the car and getting the confession.  He feels entirely responsible, and goes to Sonny and says to Jordan that he had this situation under control.  Chase put everything on his shoulders.  When Sonny and Chase were standing there looking at the computer and monitoring Nelle and Michael in the car, and then all hell breaks loose, Chase is at a loss.  He’s by the book, but at the same time he cares for the Corinthos family and he has an odd sort of care for Nelle.  Chase needs everything to be OK.  I think in the scenes where he is looking for Obrecht (Kathlen Gati) and everyone else, Chase is going by the seat of his pants in that moment.  He wanted to make sure people are alive and safe.  He is being a cop in clean up duty right now, and then he will deal with the repercussions.

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When Nelle comes in to the hospital and lies that she lost her baby, thanks to the car accident, what is going on in Chase’s head at that moment?

JOSH:  Chase is beside himself going, “I don’t know how this happened.”  

As Nelle leaves the canvas, how do you feel it was left between her and Chase?

JOSH:  There is not, at this point, a huge resolution scene of our relationship and how everything went down.  As I mentioned, Chase has been in a cleanup duty, and it’s kind of a gnarly situation for him all-around.

But if Chase had his druthers, would he want Nelle locked up, or does he still have feelings for her that are coloring his thinking?

JOSH:  I believe he wanted to arrest her.  However, there were moments where he thought: “Do I really want to do this?  I do still like you in a way, but I know you are this evil person!”  There is just something about Chase and Nelle that is there.  At the end of the day, Chase’s job is way more important to him than any of that, and so the goal is to take her down.  I think there is justice in that for him.  That is exactly what he set out to do, and he got it done.

Photo Credit: JPI Studios

With Michael’s help, Chase got Nelle’s confession on tape; that she killed her ex-fiancé Zach, and wanted to kill Michael, and almost got her to confess that Carly did not push her down the stairs.  Does Chase feel relieved that he outsmarted Nelle, which has been kind of impossible for anyone else to do in Port Charles?

JOSH:  Yes. There was that moment on the pier between them when she kind of goes into what she did, and he says to himself, “Oh my gosh!  This is finally happening.”  Then, when Chase is standing next to Sonny on the computer, he had that final, “This is it!  We got her.  It’s over.  It’s in the bag.”  Chase then has his victory lap in his head, and then all hell breaks loose with something that he did not plan, which was the car crash.  I think Chase was so hell-bent on taking Nelle down that his judgment got cloudy.  Chase was just so ready to take her down, because of what she did.

Chase is devastated feeling he is to blame for the death of Nelle’s baby.  How will he live with that?  He ended up getting some friendly help from Lulu (Emme Rylan) who looked after him after he drank too much following the aftermath of the crash.

JOSH:  I think Chase is trying to navigate that now.  Where I’m at in the story, Chase hasn’t learned how to cope with it yet.  I think he’s got a surprising support system that will help him come out the other side of it.

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Finally, all of machinations came to light and Nelle was carted off to prison as Chase stood there and watched it all go down!

JOSH:  Yes, Nelle was carted away.  She attempts to kick Chase.  In rehearsal, Chloe got me with one of her kicks! (Laughs) In addition, Chase has a nice conversation with Sonny on how he was so committed to the plan, but the plan failed.  Sonny actually showed some mercy for Chase.  Sonny says: “It’s a burden you are going to have to bear, but it happens to the best of us, no matter what side of the law you are on.”  Even though Sonny is sometimes on the other side of the law, Chase does have a great deal of respect for him, and so this, coming from the grandfather of the baby that “died”, lightens the load just a little bit for Chase. Sonny is not playing the guilt trip card, and telling Chase what he could, or should have done.

Now that there has been this baby switch, do you think that Chase will be the one to discover what actually happened?

JOSH: Oh, I hope so!  I sure hope so!  I would love for Chase to be able to go to Michael and have that information.  I truly know nothing about how it will play out, but I would love for that to be the case.

Photo Credit: JPI Studios

In regard to Finn, it seems that Chase really wants to get to know his brother.  You could tell Finn was proud of Chase after his performance at the Nurses’ Ball.  Do you know the issue that has caused the rift in their relationship?

JOSH:  I think it’s slowly evolving, and for so long the audience has not known why Finn does not like Chase.  However, we are slowly on-camera coming around to having more of rapport with one another. Coming up, their dad is coming back and so in the near future, the audience is going to find out the whole back-story with them.  Chase came to Port Charles because Nelle was there, but he also knew Finn was there, and he wanted to have a relationship with him.

Maxie and Chase are being teased a bit as potential couple after some recent scenes between you and Kirsten Storms (Maxie) aired.   The only problem with that is that Maxie could appear like she dates every cop in town. (Laughs) After all, Chase was Nathan’s replacement at the PCPD, following his death.

JOSH: (Laughs) Personally, I love Kirsten Storms and she is such a powerhouse on General Hospital.  We worked really well together when we shot our scenes.  As the new guy, I was super comfortable working with her.  Kirsten was really kind with me.  I think the pairing would be great.

The Nelle story gave us a glimpse into the darker side of Chase than just the “Dudley-Do-Right viewers were getting used to seeing.  Do you think we might see more of that?

JOSH:  Not so prim and proper?  I would like that, personally as Josh.  It would add some fun layers to the character … he’s a bad guy, but is he really?  I appreciate it the scenes where the writers gave me a chance to play with that.  Chase has had enough moments being by-the-book, and he is by-the-book, but there are also some ulterior motives with him, and I think that will continue.  But, that is just my guess.

Thus far on your GH journey, what has been your favorite scenes?

JOSH:  I can think of a few different ones:  the flashbacks with Chase and Nelle were great and made for good TV.  Both Chloe and I thought they were good. I t’s tough in daytime, because we work so fast, and you will get out of a scene and go, “I don’t know if I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish.”

Photo/ABC

What are you hearing from the fans on social media?

JOSH:  I think people liked the Chase and Nelle scenes and that relationship.  To be honest; I really try hard not to read social media and what people are saying about me.  Sometimes, there are fans where I would like to reply, but sometimes I could find myself going down a rabbit hole and you don’t want to do that.  The fans have been super kind to me thus far in accepting my character, and telling me they are looking forward to seeing Chase develop.  It was great for this character to have a storyline for the last couple of months.  I think people enjoyed it … at least, I hope they did. 

Courtesy/ABC

Has the grind of working on a soap been what you thought it is was going to be?

JOSH:  It was better!  When I first came on they kind of dabbled me in to the story.  I really appreciated that, because people would tell me about working on the soaps: “You’re not going to remember your name …  it’s going to be the most stressful part of your life.”   I said, “No.  I got this.”  Then, when the Nelle storyline rolled around, I was working long hours five days a week.  I finally had that moment where your brain hit the breaking point and you are truly feeling that you cannot digest any more information.  You call your loved ones going, “I don’t know if I can do this!”  But you power through, and it is a grind, but you learn so much about yourself, and your craft in a different way than you haven’t thought of.   Now, I am just insanely grateful for the opportunity to be in daytime, because I am learning so much about work ethic. Once you are in the scene you just play and live, because it really is like live theatre televised.  We get one take, and if you mess up, we get two.  It’s a cool art form that I haven’t been exposed to before.  I am just so thankful and feel a little bit blessed to be a part of it.  The GH family is unreal and I mean that in the best possible way!

So, what have you thought of Josh’s performance thus far?  Do you think Chase is still harboring feelings for sociopath Nelle?  What do you think is the issue between Chase and Finn?  Did you enjoy Josh’s performance in the Nurses’ Ball, and the big question … who would you like to see Chase paired with romantically on the GH canvas?  Share your thoughts via the comment section below!