General Hospital's Alexa Havins reveals the secret behind Lulu's great awakening

General Hospital's Lulu is finally awake after four years in a coma. This time, All My Children alum Alexa Havins is playing Luke and Laura's only daughter after Julie Marie Berman and Emme Rylan previously held the role.

General Hospital's Lulu is ready for action

Havins' first scenes were of Lulu emerging from her long slumber, which was something the actress was determined to do right — or at least as right as a soap would allow. Not only was Lulu first waking from a years-long coma, but she had also just undergone a liver transplant and didn't even know it.

"I was asking myself, "How do you wake up from a coma? What do I do? A lot of it is, what does the director want? I come prepared with what I think and what I want, and then it’s very collaborative," Havins told Soap Opera Digest. "I was chatting with [my husband] Justin [Bruening's] mom, who is a nurse, about liver transplant incisions, and I was thinking about things just from a medical standpoint to bring as much realism to it as I could, like, 'Your eyes haven’t been open for four years, so the lights are bright.’ But they wanted that quick [opening of her eyes] like, 'Hello! Here I am!'"

Indeed, that's exactly how Lulu woke. She didn't open her eyes slowly at all, and while she blinked at the bright lights around her, Lulu then sprung into action and didn't look back.

Has a new Lulu emerged?

When Lulu first entered her coma, she had just learned her boyfriend, Dustin (Mark Lawson), had died and was ready to tell Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) that she still loved him. She even mouthed the words, but Dante was so concerned with Lulu passing out in front of him that what she was trying to say never registered. Now, Lulu is awake and about to learn that it's not 2020 anymore — not by a long shot.

When Havins was first offered the role, she was determined to make it her own. For now, she is taking the writers' lead but inserting her own nuances where she can.

"What did the fans love about Lulu? That’s what I was really interested in: What do the fans want to see continued with Lulu? Obviously, I can’t be somebody else, and I can’t be Julie, and I can’t be Emme, but I can give them who Lulu is," Havins said. "I’m relying a lot on the writers to write that for me and to lead me as well, and to [explain] where we’re going next. There are options for them to make some pivots and maybe mature her a bit, but I still want to have that spark in her, but then still a love and a softness, but then, you know, be ready for anything, that jump-into-action side of Lulu that’s like, 'Let’s go!' That 'jumping in before you think' quality."

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Indeed, that's exactly what it looks like we're getting from Lulu. She didn't hesitate to walk right out of Turning Wood and then flag down a stranger on the side of the road. She is ready to get her life back and we can't wait to see it happen.

Catch all-new episodes of General Hospital weekdays on ABC and Hulu.

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