Why Lydia Look Is Temporarily Stepping Away From General Hospital

The fictional town of "General Hospital's" Port Charles seems to be the mafia capital of the world — or at least the soap opera world — with the legendary "Five Families" running all of the illegal business at the various PC piers and always fighting to see who is in charge of what mob territory. In 2015, Mrs. Wu became the first woman representing the Five Families, with Carly Corinthos (Laura Wright) joining her in 2021. However, it wasn't until Carly decided to take over her presumed-dead husband's place at the table at a Five Families meeting that Mrs. Wu got a first name and became a true force to be reckoned with (via Soaps In Depth).

Lydia Look has been playing Selina Wu since the character's debut and has made her a force to be reckoned with as Selina became more prominent over the last year. She even got a family member tied to other characters when she revealed herself as Brad Cooper's (Parry Shen) aunt and made sure he got out of jail on parole to only take orders from her. Once "GH" viewers finally found out what Selina was all about, she became a fan favorite, as she took Michael Corinthos (Chad Duell) down a peg or two with just her eyes and made sure Brad poisoned fellow inmate Peter August (Wes Ramsey) before he was sprung from Pentonville, according to Soaps.com. Then, she seemed to disappear from sight, but for a very good reason.

When Lydia Look began truly fleshing out the character of Selina Wu on "General Hospital" in the latter half of 2021, she was thrilled that the soap was giving her so much new and meaty material. "I am so excited every time I open my script. I go, 'They've given me these words to say? I am so blessed.' I have not been disappointed once," Look told Soap Opera Digest. "They have made me so intelligent, so well-spoken, so smart, so tough ... I am so grateful to this writing team for representing me the way I'd like to be represented on-screen: as a smart, tough, Asian woman who holds her own against the men in our world."

However, all that extra screen time had to be put on hold as 2022 began because Look wasn't about to cancel a very important annual trip. "The end of the year is when I always go visit my mother in Singapore," Look told Soap Opera Digest (via Soaps In Depth). So, she asked the powers that be at "GH" to "please wait for me" because, "December/January is always family time ... and that comes first."

When Selina does return to the Port Charles scene, will Brad Cooper finally stand up to his aunt or continue to do her bidding?