Kelly Kruger Reveals the Surprising Reason She Nearly Never Became ‘General Hospital’s’ New Serena

Kelly Kruger made her General Hospital debut as legacy character Serena Baldwin on July 30th, something that almost never happened, as the actress was at a crossroads in her life when the opportunity to play Scotty and Lucy’s daughter came along.

Something That Felt Right to Kruger

Kruger is no stranger to daytime soaps, having played Mackenzie Browning on and off on The Young and the Restless between 2002 and 2019. She has also made appearances as publicist Eva on The Bold and the Beautiful, per IMDb. However, another soap and even another acting role weren’t even on her radar when GH came calling.

In fact, Kruger, who announced her divorce from B&B‘s Darin Brooks earlier this year, wasn’t even sure she wanted to continue acting, but then she got a surprise call, and everything fell together.

“I was passing on a lot of offers,” she said in an interview with TV Insider. “I didn’t want to do guest stars; I didn’t want to do pilots. I was done. One day, I just felt like I was questioning every life decision, and my phone rings with my agent basically saying, ‘Hey, General Hospital wants to offer you a role based off a tape you did three years ago.’ I have chills talking about it because in that moment, I was like, ‘I don’t think I’m done with acting the way I thought I was. This feels right to me.”

Kruger has joined the GH scene with a host of other Port Charles newcomers, including Jonathan Bennett (Joe Fitzpatrick), Dean Geyer (Tristan Roberts), and Troy Lennon Appel (Hudson), but her character is one that fans have been clamoring to see for years.

The last time Serena appeared on-screen was in 2017 when Carly Schroeder reprised the role she had played as a child for a special episode honoring Lee Baldwin (Peter Hansen). Now, she is back on the scene to help her mom, Lucy, take over Deception from the Quartermaines.