December was a big month for Esme Prince (Avery Pohl) on General Hospital. She not only moved out and got a place of her own for her and her son, but as family and friends gathered to celebrate Christmas, Esme was at Wyndemere, being assailed with vivid memories of her dark past. That presents quite a dilemma for Esme, since her amnesia was one of the deciding factors in the decision not to pursue charges against her for her role in framing Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali) for revenge porn. There was also the little matter of the attempted murder of Oz Haggerty that put him in a coma, and some other assorted crimes.
With Esme reeling from the realization that every awful thing that people had accused her of was true, there's only one place Esme can turn to for help sorting things out. Enter Esme's mother, Heather Webber (Alley Mills), who is currently incarcerated at Pentonville. Will Heather offer clarity? Unlikely, because where Heather goes, chaos -- and death -- follows.
Her role as GH's resident serial killer has already snagged Alley Mills the 2023 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Guest Performer. Be sure to check out her delightfully entertaining red carpet interview with Soap Central's eternally youthful Dan J Kroll. You can watch it and other videos in our 2023 Daytime Emmys section or watch it at the end of this article.
In an interview with Soap Opera Digest, Mills acknowledged that the plan had always been for Mills to return whenever possible, and Esme's Christmas revelation appears to be the perfect opportunity. "I just love working with Avery," Mills said. "I feel like Heather has had this whole life behind the scenes, kind of clocking everything that was happening with Esme and working to get back to her daughter somehow," Mills explains. According to Mills, Heather will be thrilled by her daughter's visit, especially when she realizes that she and Esme are a lot more alike now that Esme's memories have returned.
Mills points out that Heather has never seen Esme in action, so it was amazing for Heather to see a side of Esme that is both vengeful and passionate. It's the first time that Heather sees her daughter for who she really is rather than the frightened young woman with amnesia. While Mills enjoys playing Heather, the actress acknowledges that it can cause problems when she's running lines with her granddaughter because she suspects that she can be a bit too scary in character.
Mills describes Heather as a survivor, and she's eager to see what Heather will do to help Esme. "And the darker part is that she gets so excited [believing that] her daughter is as bad as her!" Mills says. Mills's initial scenes might have been with Pohl, but her visit to the studio fell on a day when a lot of the show's stars were on set, so she enjoyed reunions with quite a bit of the cast, including Maura West (Ava Jerome), Cynthia Watros (Nina Reeves), Genie Francis (Laura Collins), and Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos), whom she confessed that she loved working with. "It's just a great group over there and I have more [scenes] to shoot in January. I'm looking forward to it!" the actress teased.
Will Esme find what she's looking for when she visits Heather? Are you glad to see Emmy-winning Alley Mills back as Heather? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
