‘General Hospital’: Nicole Paggi Temporarily Replacing Kirsten Storms as Maxie Jones

Martin Holmes December 28, 2023, 9:54 am

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Kirsten Storms and Nicole Paggi — Kirsten Storms (l), Nicole Paggie (r); Christine Bartolucci/ABC via Getty; Nicole Paggi Facebook

There is another face change in Port Charles as actress Nicole Paggi has temporarily replaced Kirsten Storms as Maxie Jones on General Hospital, beginning with the December 27 episode.

As first reported by Soap Opera Digest, Paggi will take over the role of Maxie, the eldest daughter of Frisco Jones (Jack Wagner) and Felicia Cummings (Kristina Wagner), who has been a part of the long-running daytime drama since 1993. Storms, who was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in 2009, has portrayed the character since 2005.

This isn’t the first time the character of Maxie has changed faces. Robyn Richards first portrayed the role from 1993 to 2004 before Storms took over in 2005. In 2011, Storms took extended medical leave, with Jen Lilley temporarily taking on the role. Storms also had temporary absences in 2016, 2017, and 2018, with Molly Burnett frequently stepping in in her place.

Paggi is perhaps best known for playing Jennie Bradbury on Mike White‘s critically acclaimed Fox series Pasadena. She also had a regular role on the ABC sitcom Hope & Faith, where she played Sydney Shanowski opposite Kelly Ripa and Faith Ford, and on the UPN sitcom One on One, where she starred as Sara Crawford.

Following the birth of her first daughter, Paggi took a break from acting but made her on-screen return in 2021, playing Lizzie Hill on an episode of ABC’s police procedural 9-1-1. She’s also had a recent guest role on ABC’s The Rookie: Feds and will appear on the FX mini-series The Sterling Affairs.

'General Hospital': Is Jack Wagner Returning to Show?

The casting change comes just a week after Courtney Fulk made her General Hospital debut, temporarily replacing Eden McCoy in the role of Josslyn Jacks. Fulk began appearing in the role on the December 18 episode and will be portraying Josslyn for the foreseeable future.

While no official reason for McCoy’s recasting has been given, fans have speculated it’s due to personal matters. In November, McCoy shared that her mother had passed away, so it’s likely she took time off for that reason. Given the soap’s loaded schedule, which shoots about a month in advance, it makes sense why McCoy would be absent from the December episodes.

“Wanted to hop on & wish everyone happy holidays,” McCoy told her fans on X last week. “I think I’m gonna take some time off of Twitter, but first needed to give thanks for any of the support within the last few weeks. Been a strange year, but I still feel very lucky. Wishing everyone reading this love and health.”

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