“Charles Mesure opted to exit the role of Brennan,” a statement to Us Weekly on Monday, February 3, via General Hospital read. “We wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”
Mesure, 54 — who made his debut on General Hospital as Jack Brennan in December 2023 — had his last air date on Thursday, January 30. Beginning on Tuesday, February 4, the role of Brennan will be played by soap vet Chris McKenna.
“General Hospital looks forward to continuing Brennan’s exciting storyline with Chris McKenna in the role,” the statement continued. (McKenna, 47, has had several roles through the years including on Beverly Hills, 90210, That ‘70s Show, Criminal Minds, Chicago Fire, NCIS, NCIS: New Orleans and NCIS: Los Angeles.)
Months after Mesure was introduced as Jack Brennan on General Hospital, he shared in an interview with Soap Opera Digest that he “had never really thought about [doing a] soap opera or General Hospital” until the Writer’s Guild of America strike and the SAG-AFTRA strike.
“I’ll be honest about it, I thought, ‘I’m an old dog. I’m not sure if I can learn any new tricks! I’m not sure if I can adapt to the huge amount of dialogue that these fantastic actors on shows like General Hospital can learn,” Mesure told the outlet in July 2024. “I’m not sure if I can suddenly be a leading man again at the age of 53!”
He explained, “For 28 years, I came from a single camera film background where you can only do eight, nine, 10 pages a day, [while at GH] it’s no secret that they do 10 times that every day!”
After meeting with casting director Mark Teschner and reading opposite Laura Wright (who plays Carly), his mind was changed. “I thought, ‘Oh, I think I really want to work with her!’” he recalled.
While reflecting on his time with General Hospital, Mesure gushed that he had been having “an absolute ball.” He added, “I’m really surprised at how much fun this has been because I was so apprehensive about the workload, I was apprehensive about the pressure and the schedule and so forth, but I’ve had an absolute ball every single day I’ve been there.”
