From Audition to Port Charles: General Hospital's Rory Gibson Opens Up About Landing the Role of Michael Corinthos

Michael (Rory Gibson) has had to make some tough decisions lately on General Hospital. While he’s in the midst of battling Willow (Katelyn MacMullen) and Drew (Cameron Mathison) for custody of his children, he’s also had to say goodbye to Sasha, who left Port Charles with their baby, Daisy. Gibson recently discussed what it took to get the part after Chad Duell’s exit.

He wasn’t originally supposed to be Michael

General Hospital’s Rory Gibson was interviewed on the Michael Fairman Channel, and the host remarked that it was surprising how quickly fans accepted Gibson as Michael. “It's been really incredible. And it was really unexpected, too,” he stated, adding that he had previously been a recast on The Young and the Restless, “So I was kind of expecting some resistance.” He noted that Duell’s Michael was wildly popular since 2010, “So, I was kind of like buckling down and getting ready for people to maybe not be so welcoming to me jumping into such a big part of the show, but everyone has been overwhelmingly kind and loving and it's just it's really filled my heart up. It's been the most incredible experience.”

He was asked about how he got through the audition process with General Hospital casting director Mark Teschner. Gibson explained that he had originally tested for the role of WSB handler, Vaughn, but that part went to Bryce Durfee. The show had asked him to send in a videotape of himself trying out for the part. “I sent that tape in, and it felt like a good one. It was cool,” he stated. He said that it wasn’t long before he was asked by Teschner to come in for a reading, which he did with Eden McCoy, who plays Josslyn Jacks.

It was a big responsibility

For the two, it was a chemistry read, meaning the powers that be wanted to see if Gibson’s Vaughn and Josslyn had couple potential between them. But he noticed that after the screen test, which he thought went very well, executive producer Frank Valentini seemed to be pondering something. “Frank kind of leaned back in his chair and was just looking at me,” he said, adding, “and there was something going on where I could see him thinking and I didn't know if he was thinking, like, ‘this guy did a really good job,’ or ‘this guy did a terrible job. What's he doing here?”

Gibson was later informed that he didn’t get the part of Vaughn, but they wanted him to come back in for another reading, and were very cryptic about which character it would be. Gibson found it frustrating, but he went along with it and tested with Laura Wright (Carly) and later Steve Burton (Jason). The future General Hospital star knew who Burton was because of his video game voiceover work, but was frustrated by not knowing which character they wanted him for.

In an incredibly short amount of time, he was offered the part of Michael and did some research, learning that Duell had exited the part. “I saw that he had left the show and that he had good reasons to leave the show,” he said, further explaining that it, “Kind of just fueled me up even more to be like, ‘Okay, I want to really do right by this character because this guy, he took care of this character for such a long time.’”

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Realizing the importance of the mantle he would be taking on, Gibson eagerly stated, “So I definitely felt the responsibility of, you know, making this work, and I was happy to bear that responsibility.”

General Hospital can be seen weekdays on ABC and Hulu.

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