Ever since she first debuted as Willow Tait on General Hospital in 2018, Katelyn MacMullen has been working closely with co-star and friend Chad Duell. So when he confessed to her his decision to leave the soap, she felt a flurry of conflicting emotions.
“On the one hand, I was so sad because I was like, ‘Wait, I can’t even imagine this. I’ve seen you ever single day, or practically every single day, since I started working here,’” the actress shared with Soap Opera Digest. “I was like, ‘You’re my pal, so this is so sad.’ And then on the other hand, I was like, ‘Okay, if this is what he wants, then I’m happy for him.’ The actor in me is like, ‘Oh my gosh, you have to follow your heart!’ So on the one hand I was happy for him, and on the other hand, I was very sad for me.”
Duell hasn’t been gone long yet, but already his absence is felt. “There’s definitely been a feeling of ‘It just feels different,’” MacMullen confessed. “But honestly, maybe I’m in denial because I still feel like he works here! I don’t know if it’s fully hit me yet, because it’s only been a few weeks at this point. I’m sure at some point, it is going to hit me. But I also think that because it might be more of a temporary situation.”
GH’s executive producer Frank Valentini has said there are “no plans to recast his role at this time” and Duell himself has expressed his gratitude that the door was left open for a potential return in the future. “I’m not letting my brain go to the place of, I’ll never see him in these halls again, you know what I mean?” MacMullen said. “Like, I’m just feeling hopeful that we will see him again.
“Whether he comes back or not, I’m just rooting for him in any capacity,” she added. “I think he is super-talented and he has every opportunity for success ahead of him.”
Love GH? Be sure to join our We Love General Hospital Facebook group to chat about all the latest storylines and juicy gossip!
