When Jacqueline Grace Lopez wrapped up her second General Hospital stint as Allison “Blaze” Ramirez in mid-August, her exit was very different this time.
As the actress previously shared, she was caught off guard when her storyline abruptly ended — Allie left town to go on tour with Miguel Morez.
But in a recent interview with Michael Fairman, Lopez revealed that thanks to the foresight that comes with experience, she was able to make peace with the show’s decision and say some proper farewells.
“I was able to have the time to do it and have the presence of mind to do it. Which is contrasting to the first time I was written off the show,” she explained, referring to her April 2023 exit when Blaze spoke at the board review to reinstate Chase on the police force.
“I didn’t know it was my last day. I say my big speech and then I left. I remember going, ‘I think I’m done.’ It wasn’t until a couple of weeks later that I read on Soap Opera Digest that I was in fact off the show.
So, I didn’t have a chance to say goodbye to people.
But… there wasn’t two years under my belt with these people.
So that’s my long way of saying it was very difficult, but it was also very beautiful.”
As is typical with recurring performers on GH, Lopez was used on an as-needed basis. But the actress noted that her “spidey sense” started tingling when she got her second-to-last script in which Blaze was offered a spot on Miguel’s world tour.
“I remember reading that and going, ‘Oh, well, I changed my mind so I’m staying and I’m taking care of my girlfriend.’ Because that makes sense.
I love her and I want to be there for her. Then the next day, I got the second script, and I was like, ‘Oh, I’m going.’”
Needing to know where things stood, Lopez reached out to GH’s executive team. “My last two days were the Monday and Tuesday before we went to break in July.
So, the week before, I sent an email. ‘I just need to know if I’m coming back on the other side of the break,’” she explained.
“And the response was, ‘We love you, but Blaze has to be gone for a while.’ So that’s how I found out.”
Full of “gratitude” for her time on GH, Lopez hopes that Blaze might someday come back. “I think there’s space for it,” she shared. “
From a character standpoint, I think Allie would drop everything for Kristina. But even if there isn’t, and they need a glorified Ficus in the corner of an office, I would gladly stand in a pot.”
After all, no door is ever truly closed on a soap opera! “It was so funny when I was saying goodbye to everyone — in true soap opera fashion — they were like, ‘But did you die?’ No. ‘Oh, well then you can come back!’” she laughed. “For my mental [health], I needed to say, ‘Okay, this arc has closed for the time being.’
But I never say never. With any opportunity. You never know what’s going to pop back up. I mean, they’re talking about All My Children again!”
