A Kiss Is Just A Kiss? The lip lock between Willow (Katelyn MacMullen) and Drew (Cameron Mathison) is sure to have ripple effects on GH.

Things have been quiet on the domestic front for Willow and her husband, Michael — that is, they were until the 4th of July, when Willow’s growing affinity for Drew (Michael’s uncle, and her mother Nina’s secret lover) led to a surprise kiss between the duo. General Hospital star Katelyn MacMullen (Willow) dished with Soap Opera Digest about the juicy storyline twist.

Soap Opera Digest: I feel like I need to begin this conversation by saying, “Congratulations!” Because who doesn’t want their character to be messy on a soap?

Katelyn MacMullen (laughs): Totally! I mean, it’s fun to play both — it’s fun to explore the good side of characters, but also the messy side. It’s so much fun.

Digest: When Drew and Willow first started keeping company together a little bit more often and having more one-on-one scenes, were you like, “Hmmm, this has to mean something?”

MacMullen: There were definitely certain scenes that Cameron [Mathison, Drew] and I would see where we were like, “Oh, this is interesting.” It was written as them just having a conversation, but there was wine being poured and we were like, “Huh.” There were definitely little things going off in my mind, like, “Could this mean something?” We just had fun with it. We were like, “We’ll just go for it and have fun and see what happens.” And then, of course, it turned into this, which has been really, really fun.

Digest: Did you get a heads-up that the kiss was coming, or did you find out when you got the script?

MacMullen: We did get a little heads-up. I think it was that Frank [Valentini, executive producer] came up to me and was like, “Just so you know, this is happening.” And I was like, “Okay! Let’s do it!”

Digest: After the kiss aired, it seemed from online viewer reaction that some fans were really excited, like, “It’s getting messy and this is a soap, so that’s always welcome,” but other viewers felt like it came too much out of the blue, since it’s not like Willow and Michael were unhappy or having problems in their marriage. So, how do you understand what prompted this turn of events for Willow?

MacMullen: From my understanding, Willow loves Michael very much, and it’s not like anything necessarily has happened [in their relationship]. But I think that Willow and Drew have just developed this bond and this sort of new mutual understanding and admiration toward one another. They love the family that they’re in, but they’re sort of [later additions to it] and I think that sort of bonds them in a way, too; there’s a little bit of an “outsider” thing going on that’s bonding them. And obviously, Drew saved Willow’s life [when he was part of the group that rescued Obrecht, whose bone marrow saved Willow from leukemia], so that’s a bond that only people who have gone through that can share. But I think even Willow, once it happened, was a little confused, like, “What just happened? How did this happen?” I think the feelings they’ve been feeling towards each other and maybe have been denying just sort of caught up with them. But at the same time, she loves Michael very much.

Digest: As we’ve seen, as much as Willow wanted to believe the kiss was just a mistake and meant nothing, it’s proving to be a little more complicated than that for her.

MacMullen: Yeah, I think so! Obviously, she knows the repercussions of this, but deep down, I know that Willow and possibly Drew both realize that there is more to this, potentially.

Digest: Let’s talk through some of those complicating factors, one being that Sasha witnessed the kiss, although Willow isn’t aware of that yet. On a scale of one to 10, how freaked out do you imagine Willow would be if she realized someone saw her smooching Drew?

MacMullen: Oh, definitely a 10. Probably an 11 [laughs]! The day we were shooting it, Sofia [Mattsson, Sasha] and I were like, “Ooh, I wonder what this will mean for us!” Our characters have always been so close, but I doubt Sasha feels great about [what she saw] and I wonder how that might impact their friendship, or what action she might take and how that might impact their relationship moving forward. We are definitely excited to see where it goes.

Digest: Complicating factor number two is that Drew happens to have been sleeping with Willow’s mother, Nina. What do you think are the potential dramatic implications of that in terms of what’s been unfolding between Drew and Willow?

MacMullen: Well, I think that Nina and Willow are just sort of slowly growing closer, so the complication is, “Will Nina tell Willow? If she doesn’t tell Willow, what will that mean? And if she does tell Willow, what will that mean?” Also, just the prospect of Willow finding out that they’ve been having a relationship of sorts … I don’t know how Willow would feel about it, but I doubt it would be a great realization!

Digest: Then, of course, there’s the third and arguably biggest complicating factor, which is that Willow is, once again, keeping a potentially relationship-altering secret from her husband.

MacMullen: I think Willow is caught between an impulse to just tell him right away, but then [telling herself], “It was just a kiss.” Her head is saying one thing and her heart is saying another. I think the longer she waits [to come clean], potentially that could have more impact and create more complications. But I think it’s just a really complicated situation no matter what. No matter what she does, the implications are quite large.

Digest: The one person Willow has confided in thus far is Nina, which seemed like a real indication of how much their relationship has improved and grown closer.

MacMullen: They definitely are growing closer, but I think it’s also one of those things where it was like, who else could she talk to? If you’re in a place where you’re desperate to talk to someone and confide in someone and get some advice, I think of all the people in Port Charles, Nina is possibly the only one who would have her back in this situation and just be someone she could talk to about it without them being super-mad at her or there being some kind of repercussion. Willow even said something like, “This is the kind of thing you can only tell your mother!”

Digest: For a long time, you had to play so much anger and resentment in the scenes that you shared with Cynthia Watros [Nina]. Have you enjoyed getting to play the evolution of that relationship, and the softening of that tension?

MacMullen: Definitely. I mean, we’ve always had so much fun playing the antagonism between Nina and Willow, but it’s been so fun and really interesting to explore them actually trying to come together despite that. Obviously I love Cynthia so much that it’s just so much easier to lean into my genuine appreciation and admiration for her, because how on earth could you possibly look at Cynthia with anything but so much love?

Digest: In the initial conversation between Nina and Willow, Nina did her best not to tip to Willow that she was shaken for her own personal reasons when she learned about the kiss.

MacMullen: Right. I think she’s probably tempted [to tell Willow about her own involvement with Drew], but I think that for Nina, in hearing all of this, she grows personally resentful and angry toward Drew and during the course of the conversation, she probably feels like it’s not the right time to tell her.

Digest: It’s that age-old conundrum — when is the right time to tell your daughter that you’re sleeping with the guy she just kissed behind her husband’s back? So, when you’re in the throes of a storyline like this, does it make it more fun to get your scripts and find out where the writers are going next?

MacMullen: Absolutely, because I feel like every time I get a script there’s more fall-out to play and it’s so fun and messy and it’s interesting to see where Willow is on any given day after this event has taken place. One of the reasons I think the scripts are so interesting is that they give clues into how Willow is feeling because I myself am wondering, “What drove her to this place?” Sometimes I think we do things and then we’re like, “How did that happen? Why did I do that? Why did I say that?” And it’ll be interesting to see how the writers answer that for Willow.