Here's how Braedyn Bruner prepared to take on the role of General Hospital's Emma

General Hospital’s Emma Drake-Scorpio was originally played by Brooklyn Rae Silzer, who practically grew up on the show. Although Emma hasn’t been seen for a while, just popping into Port Charles every so often, fans were shocked when it was announced that Emma would be back on the canvas for a longer stretch, but as a recast. She joined the show in December 2024, and recently opened up about what she did to prepare for her new role

She wants to keep Emma’s core qualities

Bruner appeared on The Daily Drama Podcast, which is hosted by General Hospital’s Steve Burton (Jason) and Bradford Anderson (Spinelli). She explained that as she gets scripts with her scenes, she can see the layers of Emma being peeled away, giving the audience more insight into the character and her motivations. When Silzer played Emma, the character was one of the nicest people on Earth who wouldn’t dream of causing trouble. But this iteration of Emma seems to have a typical teenager attitude and isn’t afraid to break the rules as she sees fit.

Bruner had an inkling as to what part she was going for in the audition and remarked, “When I knew I was reading with Finola [Hughes, Anna] for the screen test, that’s when I started assuming it was for an Emma recast.” She noted that she started watching old clips of the character on YouTube, remarking, “I watched the HIV story with Robin [Kimberly McCullough], the Stone story, I watched Finola as far back as I could find her, I watched Emma when she was being born…anything that was on YouTube that I could get my hands on, I watched.”

Bruner understood that her version of Emma is much different than Silzer’s, and although she boned up on that take on the character, she explained “I never want to copy another actor’s version of something that they’ve done because in the end, I’m Braedyn and so I have to find my way to create this version of her.” However, she got a good understanding of who Emma was, and noted, “But I still want to humanize her, and I still want to keep those core qualities.”

In going through the audition process, Bruner was able to take an educated guess as to which character she was trying out for. She was asked if she had been familiar with the show and responded, “Yeah, I mean both of my parents were huge General Hospital fans. My Grandmother was as well, particularly, I mean during like the Luke and Laura [Anthony Geary and Genie Francis] stories. They definitely educated me.”

You can watch new episodes of General Hospital on ABC and Hulu.