General Hospital’s Laura Wright: The Scene That Changed Carly’s Take On Nelle

Carly and Nelle are likely never ever going to be pals on General Hospital. But both women certainly have a lot in common. They’ve each lied and schemed to get what they want even though Carly most likely doesn’t see any of herself in the manipulative young woman.

Carly And Nelle The Same?

Recently, Nelle (Chloe Lanier) and Carly (Laura Wright) had a scene in Nina’s (Cynthia Watros) office in which Nelle opened up about what she really wants. Nelle said that she’d like to do exactly what Carly did — perform all kinds of despicable acts and then, later, earn the respect of people in Port Charles.

Carly is usually first in line to dismiss Nelle, but this time her words made an impact. After all, Carly did lie about Michael’s (Chad Duell) paternity and kept him from his biological dad, A.J. (Sean Kanan). She’s been forgiven by (almost) everyone. Why can’t Nelle follow the same kind of path?

Wright recently told TV Insider that Carly was indeed moved by Nelle’s words. “It affected Carly,” Wright said. “It only matters if [a moment like that] affects us. If we don’t let that happen, we have nothing to play.”

Wright gives kudos to her co-star and the GH writers for coming up with a scene that forced Carly to view her nemesis in a new light. “First, Chloe really knocked it out of the park,” Wright says. “The material was so well-written. We showed up and threw down. Chloe brought Nelle to such a vulnerable place. Carly had to be affected. When Nelle said, ‘You left me,’ that affected Carly.”

Afterward, Wright made sure the powers that be at GH were aware of how powerful the scene was. “I said to Frank [Valentini, executive producer] later, ‘This changes everything with Carly and Nelle,'” the Emmy-winning actress offers. “It’s not like Carly is going to forgive Nelle for all the things she’s done, but this does take it to a deeper level.

“Nelle let her wall down, and she may now come back fighting even harder. That’s what can happen when we show our vulnerability, and we don’t get the result that we want.”

Will Nelle’s drive propel her to win custody of Wiley (Erik and Theo Olson), her son with Michael? Stay tuned to find out!