THE SCOOP

As shown on the Wednesday, December 27 episode of “General Hospital,” actress Nicole Paggi temporarily replaced Kirsten Storms in the role of Maxie Jones on the daytime drama series.

Unlike last week’s news that the show had temporarily recast the role of Josslyn Jacks with actress Courtney Fulk as Daytime Emmy winner Eden McCoy takes personal time off after her mother passed away from cancer in November, with McCoy set to return on screen in February, Paggi’s time on the show will be much shorter. 

TVLine reports, “Paggi will fill in for Storms for just a couple of days.”

That said, in a preview for the Thursday, December 28 episode, Storms appears back on screen as Maxie which means fans shouldn’t be surprised if they see Paggi appearing again in a future episode, as “General Hospital” is known to tape by scene, not by episode. In fact, Storms is already back taping at the show as she appears in the cast photo for the upcoming Jacklyn Zeman (Bobbie Spencer) tribute episodes, airing Wednesday, January 10 and Thursday, January 11.

At press time, there was no official word for why “General Hospital” had to recast the role. Neither the show nor Storms have made any statements on the matter on social media.

In a post on Instagram, Paggi commented on her debut on the series, saying, “So fun playing Maxie [sic] Waters on ‘General Hospital!’” In addition to her post, she also shared several screengrabs of her appearance on her Instagram Stories timeline.

This marks the third time over several years in which the show has temporarily recast the role of Maxie Jones with someone else while Storms was unavailable. Jen Lilley (“Days of our Lives”) stepped in for several months from 2011-2012, and Molly Burnett (“Days of our Lives”) filled in for a couple of episodes in July 2016 and again in June 2018.

For those wondering where they might have seen Paggi before, the actress had roles on such shows as “Pasadena,” “Providence,” “Fastlane” and “Judging Amy” before making a name for herself in 2003 as the first Sydney Shanowski on the Kell Ripa/Faith Ford starring sitcom “Hope & Faith.”

Starting with season two of the series, the role of Sydney was recast with relative newcomer Megan Fox taking over the role as the family’s eldest daughter. In 2005, Paggi booked a series regular role in the fifth and final season of UPN’s “One on One.” Since then, Paggi has appeared in episodes of “90210,” “Rizzoli & Isles,” “9-1-1” and more recently “The Rookie: Feds.”

Check out the Thursday, December 28 episode preview, which includes Storms below.