It’s been a banner year for General Hospital’s Nicholas Alexander Chavez (Spencer Cassadine). He has been front and center in many of the series major storylines, is one half of the hottest young couple on the soaps, and just scored his first Daytime Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category. All of this, after taking home the Outstanding Younger Performer in a Daytime Drama prize at last year’s ceremonies.

Meanwhile, if you caught last Friday’s exiting cliffhanger of GH, Spencer finds himself smack dab in the middle of a drone attack on the Haunted Star. Can he escape unharmed as this throwback, action-adventure story of the soaps 80’s heyday is updated to the present, as part of GH’s 60th anniversary celebration and May sweeps? Stay tuned.

Michael Fairman TV chatted with Nick to get his thoughts on: competing in an Emmy category with his co-stars: Chad Duell (Michael), Jon Lindstrom (Kevin/Ryan) and Robert Gossett, (Marshall), what scenes were on his Emmy reel, how ‘Sprina” has captivated fans of the series, the evolution of Spencer, and much more.  Check out what Nick shared with us below.

Congratulations on this Emmy nomination. Now, you’re in the Supporting Actor category.  You’re movin’ on up, as they say, as several previous winners before you have done.

NICK: That’s kind of crazy, isn’t it? Thank you so much. I appreciate you saying that. I couldn’t submit in the Younger Performer category this year because they dropped the age down to 18.  So, I had to move up.

Photo: Getty

It’s interesting. You’re nominated along with three other actors from General Hospital in your category.

NICK: How cool is that, right?  That’s just a huge testament to everyone else. If you have four people nominated from the same show, that means that the writers are absolutely crushing it … the producers are crushing it … the directors are crushing it.  Everyone involved is doing a really fantastic job. GH actually received more nominations than any other show, which is also pretty cool.

Courtesy/ABC

What scenes did you end up submitting that landed you this nomination?

NICK:  I have the scenes where Spencer finds out that his dad slept with Esme (Avery Pohl). I have a bunch of stuff in Pentonville with Cyrus Renault (Jeff Kober) and Book (Brad Schmidt). I have Spencer super drunk talking to Finn (Michael Easton) about his issues with his father and being sort of like comically dismissive of it. Then, Spencer taking the stand and doing the right thing for Trina. It’s the scene when he says, “It’s time to do the right thing.” There is also a scene with Spencer talking with his Uncle Victor (Charles Shaughnessy) through the Pentonville partition glass on the phone. I have Spencer confronting Nikolas about, ‘sleeping with Elizabeth’, because they didn’t actually and that was just a cover. If memory serves, that’s most of it. I may be missing a couple things in there, but it actually ended up being a longer tape. I usually like to keep it around 10 minutes, but this one was closer to 15.

Courtesy/ABC

Those scenes showed a lot of range. What did you like about those moments?

NICK: I think that there’s a fair amount of emotional vulnerability that’s happening in those scenes, but also, it’s being counteracted with walls that he’s putting up. It’s being counteracted with the literal impediment of his drinking. Spencer sort of tries to override by making jokes or being dismissive, or acting snooty or whatever it might be. He has plenty of tactics to avoid this incredibly complex emotional life that he has. And then, whenever he’s forced to actually sit with it or something horrible enough happens that sets him off the rails or makes him explode, we see why he acts the way he does. He’s 80% one thing and then he’s 20% of the opposite thing. He’s 80% in some ways unredeemable, but in some ways just like a snooty rich kid. That’s his 80/20, but the 20% that comes out is just so, so, so heartbreaking. I think that I wanted to show scenes where the mask comes off, so that’s what I tried to do.

Courtesy/ABC

That’s actually a good analogy, because that’s exactly what the audience feels when Spencer does allow his true feelings come through. One of the scenes you included in your submission – where Spencer finds out about Nikolas sleeping with Esme and confronting his father – I touted last year when it aired.  What do you recall most about it?

NICK:  Spencer is in just such disbelief. The line that stands out to me the most is the one where he is asking for clarification. He’s like, ‘That’s what this is about?”  He screams at him and says, “revenge”. That scene feels like, and I’ve said this a lot, like a Greek tragedy. There’s really no other kind of writing that delves into that kind of story other than on a soap opera and/or Greek tragedies, like fathers sleeping with their son’s wives/ girlfriend. It just felt of that world to me. It was even written to kind of be of that world. So, for me, someone who naturally gravitates towards classic text, towards Shakespeare, towards old Greek dramas, I really, really enjoyed playing that.

I also recall the scenes where Spencer was drunk.

NICK: Spencer being drunk comes right on the heels of finding out that his dad slept with his girlfriend. He’s getting hammered and then Finn is trying to console him and give him advice about his father. Spencer just basically dismissed it. He is like, “Well, that’s how things worked out between you and your dad. Good for you.” You know what I mean? It is the most apathetic response that you could possibly have to someone who’s trying to console you. I loved it. I loved that Spencer chose not to care … that he basically tried to tell the one person who was trying to be there for him to go screw himself. I thought it was really, really fun.

Photo: ABC

Do you love playing the ‘snooty’ in your scenes?

NICK: It’s not that I love playing the snooty, I think I love playing the mask, because snooty for the sake of playing snooty doesn’t work. I think everyone is always solving a problem in their life, right? So, it’s like, what problem are you solving by behaving that way? For Spencer, he’s trying to solve the problem of, “I don’t want to address what’s actually happening. I don’t want to address who I really am. I don’t want to address who I really could be. So, this is what I know and this is what works, and I’m just going to live here until I can’t anymore.” There are things that are slowly forcing him out of being able to live there, which is probably a good thing.

So, when you found out you were nominated, did you call anybody that you really wanted to tell, personally?

NICK: I called the people who already knew because I wanted to hear my parents be proud of me (laughs). I called my dad. I called my mom, and then I called our executive producer, Frank Valentini. They were all very, very sweet and said nice things, and I was very appreciative for that.

Photo: NAChavezIG

Going into Emmy night this year, having won an Emmy last year, do you feel more prepared for it? What would be your advice for anybody going through it for the first time?

NICK: Whenever I have a big meeting, I like to try to go to the place where the meeting is going to be the day before. That way, I can just remove a lot of the uncertainty out of the process. I know what route I take to get there. I know this and that and the other. And for me, it just makes me a little bit less nervous and I feel like this is kind of like that, right?  There’s no way you can do a test drive of the Emmy’s except to go for your first time, and I did that last year.  So, it’s nice to just have that level of familiarity and comfort with it. I think that it’ll make this year more about just enjoying the experience and having fun with it as opposed to, being nervous. I think that there’s always going to be some degree of butterflies because it’s exciting and nerve-wracking. But other than that, I think it should be good.

I am sure your scene partner, Tabyana Ali, reached got to get in touch with you when you received this Emmy nomination.

NICK:  Yes, of course. She said ‘congratulations’ and was very, very sweet. Tabyana definitely made sure to send me a message, which I thought was very kind.

Photo: ABC

Now, Spencer wants to be a father to Ace, and we’ve seen Spencer and Trina involved in this action-adventure story vs. Victor Cassadine and kidnapped on the Haunted Star. Much of this harkens back to the days of Luke (Tony Geary) and Laura (Genie Francis) and making Sprina, a modern-day version. What did you think about that, and the placement in GH history of Trina and Spencer?

NICK: I thought it was really cool that they were sort of trying to make that comparison, or make that analogy with the Ice Princess storyline between Spencer and Trina and Luke and Laura. I thought that was really powerful. What an interesting choice for them to make. As an actor, I love getting to play that action-adventure kind of stuff.  I think it’s fun for people to watch. It kind of got me out of this domestic family drama that I’ve been dealing with for the last two years and thrust me into something that is high stakes in the sense of, maybe not emotionally high stakes, but it’s physically high stakes. Someone is threatening to wipe out half of the world’s population, which is insane, plus you get an aspect of magical realism with the ice princess. There’s just so many aspects that allows you and frees you up to use more of your actor tool belt than some of the other stuff that I’ve done, which I was really appreciative of.

Courtesy/ABC

This kind of puts Spencer in a bit of an anti-hero role. He has been this questionable young man that the audience fell in love which has been a successful formula on the soaps.  How do you view Spencer at this juncture?

NICK: I think that he is developing his own moral code right now, so to say whether he’s a good guy or a bad guy right now, I really can’t say. I think that he is in a gray area of his own making, and he’s still trying to decide for himself what right and what wrong means. I think that he has pillars or like a foundation of things that he cares about certainly Trina, certainly his brother, and he has values like loyalty and being able to trust other people. But what that means in terms of like how far he’s willing to go to obtain the things that he wants in life, I can’t say right now. However, if had to make a guess, I would say that you’re probably right. Spencer is probably willing to do more bad than good later on down the line, if need be.

Courtesy/ABC

For, Spencer, how do you see his intentions or agenda with wanting to raise his baby brother, Ace? Is it that he really wants to take care of this baby and give him a good home, or is he just doing it as a revenge tactic against his father?

NICK: I don’t know if it’s a vendetta against his dad, but that might be part of it. I think it mostly comes from it being just a control thing. I think he sees a lot of danger when he looks at Esme. I think he sees unpredictability when he sees his father. This is just his attempt to control and mitigate the situation so that this kid can’t be used as a chess piece on a chess board against him. It’s like, “if this kid is going to be in play, he’s going to be on my team, and I’m going to know everything about it.”

Photo: ABC

You’ve witnessed the popularity of Sprina on social media. Can you believe from whence you started with the relationship between the two characters to how big it’s become? Do you and Tabyana talk about it?

NICK: Yeah, we try to process it as best we can. It really feels very big when we do these in-person fan events. We just did some on the east coast, and it was insane. The fans put us up on a billboard in Times Square in New York City, which is absolutely wild and really cool. It has been fun to see this thing blow up. I think more than anything, the fans have become friends with each other because of this. So, in a way, that’s the thing that I’m most grateful for. I just read something this past week about how there’s a loneliness epidemic that’s happening in the country. I think that’s true and people are very, very lonely. I also think that social media has made people very isolated. It’s made me really happy all of the friendships that have formed because of Sprina and because of the work that is happening. It gives people common ground to connect with each other. When I talk with the fans, that’s the thing that they’ve raved the most about. They’re like, “I’ve made so many friends by being a part of this community. It’s really, really helped me.” I have a Patreon and a Discord where all of my friends talk and hang out and they talk about everything in there. It’s not just General Hospital. They talk about anything from: artistic projects that they themselves are working on to mental health, to other TV shows that they might be watching. Ultimately that’s what this is about. This is about community; this is about fun. This is about us coming together as people and forming good relationships and enjoying and loving life.

Photo: ABC

It has been wonderful to see GH investing the time in a love story involving a young interracial couple on the show.  Recently, and I don’t know if you saw this, there were some racist comments and symbolism directed towards Tabyana on Twitter that were offensive and hurtful.

NICK:  Tabyana very recently made me aware of that, like just the other day.  Of course, I’m sickened by that and my, my heart is very, very heavy for Tabyana that she has to deal with those kinds of comments. It makes me incredibly sad. I offered her my support in whatever way I can, but I know that nothing would be better than if those people just didn’t say those things and weren’t being bullies online and didn’t have so much hate that they felt that they needed to inflict it upon other people. What I’ve tried to encourage people to do is that no matter what walk of life you come from, is to, try to lead with love and empathy. I’ll go back to that quote from Martin Luther King Jr., “Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”  It’s important that we can cultivate positivity as much as we can, and focus on the good aspects of life. It’s horrible that those kinds of things have to find their way in. But leading with love is going to be the thing that I’m going to try to resort back to in any situation, at least at 23-years-old.  That seems to be the only tool that I have right now. So, until I figure out something better, that’s what I’m going to do.

Photo: ABC

This has been a bit of a whirlwind for you since you came to General Hospital.  I recall being very impressed by your work when you started to air.  I felt like this casting choice was going to work out well for you, and the show, and it really has. Do feel more pressure on yourself to try to top the level of your performances?

NICK: I feel way less pressure, actually. I feel as though I’ve settled into a comfortability that allows me to make exciting and bold choices. I’ve been blessed enough to work with a team of people that is receptive to that and willing to collaborate with me, many times just on the fly on what a moment could be. I’m really, really grateful for that because I think it makes for really interesting television when you open up that collaborative process and you allow the moments to find you as opposed to putting any sort of like preconceived notions on them. I think that can only be had once you have relaxed and settled into a level of comfortability, and with the absence of pressure, and you’ve opened yourself up to find something that is deeper and more interesting.

Courtesy/ABC

Last Friday. we just saw that Spencer is now trapped on the Haunted Star after knocking Victor’s head into the bar as drone strikes are starting! What can you preview?

NICK: I mean, it’s a life and death situation, so we’ll see which way it goes!

So, what did you think about the scenes,Nick chose for his Emmy reel? Will you be rooting for him come Emmy night?  What do you hope happens next for ‘Sprina’? Have you enjoyed the current action-adventure story as much as Nick has in playing it? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.