Martinez's Exit Plans

TV Guide Online

7/26/02

A Martinez (Roy) has a new Lifetime series, For the People, where he plays passionate public defender Michael Olivas.  At a recent press tour, Martinez stated he would complete his contract with General Hospital through September, but this dedicated GH-er won't abandon the Port Charles canvas until his storyline warrants a believable out.  "My goal is to finish (my storyline) and not leave it in the lurch," Martinez tells TV Guide Online.  "I don't know if it's going to end exactly when my contract ends, or it it's going to bleed on beyond that."  With his longtime relations with the creative team currently behind GH, Martinez isn't concerned with pinpointing an exact exit date.  "I'm sure there will be a graceful occasion for me to slip out...for the character to go on some really long excursion."

Martinez's would-be exit comes at a time when his onscreen persona is getting involved in an intriguing storyline, one that once again questions where Roy's loyalty lies.  "(Head writer) Bob Guza was running the show when Roy first came on (in 1999).  He had this plan laid out for Roy, but three months after I got there, he left,"  Martinez explains.  Guza's return along with co-head writer Charles Pratt, has put Roy back into the Mafia mix.  "The whole gangster group has come back into focus, and the way they maneuver each other is one of the things I've always loved about it," Martinez says.  "They've put Roy in this situation where he gets this money and all hell breaks loose as a result.  It definitely seems like there is so much tension accruing, Roy may be forced to disappear to survive."

  Return to Interviews page