General Hospital Twist: Erika Slezak as New Monica Quartermaine – OLTL Star Recast?

General Hospital sees daytime legend Erika Slezak is coming to GH. If you watched One Life to Live, you know her as Victoria Lord Buchanan. Slezak played Viki Lord from 1971 all the way to the final episode that aired on ABC in 2012 and also in the brief online reboot in 2013 that didn’t last too long on the web.

But the big question is who will Erika play when she comes to GH? And we’re wondering if there is a possible huge recast twist involved. We’re going to talk about whether Erika Slezak is playing her character or possibly a recast of an existing character in her short arc.

Erica Slezak’s Return to General Hospital: Will She Play Viki or a Recast Character?

So, the official info on this appearance came first from Erika Slezak’s personal website with her admin posting. Erika has just informed me she has signed a short term contract with ABC’s General Hospital. The message continued with, “At this time, Erika does not know which character she will be playing or when her scenes will air but is excited to be working again with executive producer Frank Valentini and the cast of GH.”

And they promised more details to follow. Then the showrunner himself confirmed, and he posted, “I’m thrilled to confirm that my dear friend and former One Life to Live colleague Erika Slezak will appear on General Hospital this fall.” And Frank Valentini added, “Stay tuned and keep watching as we prepare to introduce another daytime legend to Port Charles.”

Fan Theories: Lulu Spencer, Viki Lord, and a Possible Monica Quartermaine Recast

So, obviously, longtime ABC soap fans are hoping Erika is coming to Port Charles as her Llanview character. And there was a little bit of a kind of a a hope about that for a few months now because when Lulu Spencer (Alexa Havins Bruening) woke from her coma and started reviving her journalism career, she was pursuing a position at the Llanview Banner with Victoria Lord Buchanan as her editor, and that’s what she’s doing now.

So, of course, with Lulu working for Viki well, that character is the most obvious choice. However, we are also wondering since they introduced it as a question mark, if Erika may instead be playing a recast character, possibly Monica Quartermaine (Leslie Charleson), to give the character an exit story. Just as a frame of reference, Erika and Leslie are only a year apart in age. So, it works.

Erika Slezak’s Legacy: Daytime Emmy Wins and Iconic Victoria Lord Storylines

We’re going to talk about it more in a minute, but no matter who she’s playing on General Hospital, Erika Slezak was absolutely amazing on One Life to Live. You may know that she won six daytime Emmys for outstanding lead actress over the years playing Victoria Lord Buchanan.

She won in 1984, 1986, 1992, 1995, 1996, and 2005. Erika holds the record, in fact, for most lead actress daytime Emmy wins. Amazing. So, and all well-deserved, of course. So, perhaps, you know, Viki’s best and most memorable storyline on One Life to Live to me, and you may have a difference of opinion, was her dissociative identity disorder.

Remembering Victoria Lord’s DID Storyline on One Life to Live

The DID storyline, it went on for quite a while and the DID story has been done on a lot of soaps, but I feel like on OLTL it was done right. Erika played it so superbly as Viki’s DID came and went, you know, it was on and off. Just when she thought she had beat it, one or more of her altars would come back. Viki had several altars who would take over her life and do things, big things that Viki didn’t remember.

If you watched One Life to Live, you may recall that one of her altars divorced her husband, Clint Buchanan, for instance. I think the alter who pulled that was Nikki Smith, who was a promiscuous 22-year-old, who was really good at fooling people into thinking that she was Viki. Nikki was the altar that we saw most often on OLTL. Another altar was Princess, who was Viki as a traumatized seven-year-old little girl who kept reliving the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her father, Victor Lord.

Viki’s Other Alters

Viki’s other altars were a young boy named Tommy who would try and protect Princess if I remember correctly. And then there was Jean Randolph who took care of the other altars and Tori Lord who later turned out to be the one who murdered Victor in 1976 but it turned out he had survived and then he finally died for real in 2003. And bizarrely her father Victor Lord was her final alter.

The bad guy who caused Viki’s did in the first place was ironically an alter. And that alter tried to convince Viki to kill herself. Terrible. It was a captivating storyline. And if you don’t remember, Viki died and was revived three times. Each time she went to heaven before being brought back to Llanview.

Precedents and Possibilities: Llanview Characters on General Hospital

Now she’s headed to Port Charles. The actress maybe or maybe not the character. They have not confirmed who she will be, but you know, this wouldn’t be the first time because Frank Valentini brought in Blair Kramer from Llanview for a couple of episodes in 2023. Before that, Norah Buchanan had three episodes in 2019, and there had been some earlier and then there was that whole Prospect Park lawsuit.

So, it’s not unprecedented to have Llanview residents pop up. But so far, we don’t know for certain who Erika will be playing. And while most people probably that watched One Life to Live hope that she will be Viki Lord, and that does seem most likely, I will say that.

The Monica Quartermaine Question: Could Erica Slezak Provide a Dramatic Exit?

But we also wonder if there might be a twist. As you may recall, longtime GH actress Leslie Charleston passed away in January of this year. But her character, Monica Quartermaine, is still alive. She’s in ill health. She’s mentioned now and then Leslie last appeared as Monica in 2023.

And at some point, General Hospital has to write out Monica and acknowledge Leslie Charleson’s character death somehow. So, that has me wondering if they would recast Monica for a big dramatic and sad exit storyline. A couple of actresses in the past subbed in for Leslie when she had health issues.

And you know, they could do it again. They could bring in Erika for a short arc to play Monica to give her a very dramatic exit death scenes with the family. We do know it’s just for a short arc in the fall. And again, Erika could be Viki. Makes sense. But if they’re going to recast Monica Quartermaine for exit scenes, Erica Slezak would be a brilliant choice because, you know, she slipped in and out of playing Viki and all those altars seamlessly.

So obviously she could play Monica. So the showrunners might be plotting a big exit for Monica Q, recasting her with daytime royalty while still honoring Leslie Charleston. I think it could be done very respectfully. And Erika Slezak is coming this fall. So, you know, maybe Monica gets a November sweeps epic exit storyline. You know, a recast played Monica in 2018 when Leslie Charleston suffered a leg injury. That was Patty McCormack. And then in 2022, for one episode, they brought in Holly Kaplan to play her when Leslie couldn’t. So, it’s not outside the realm of possibility to have a recast to play out Monica’s final scenes.

Fan Expectations vs. Showrunner Intentions: What’s Next for General Hospital?

On one hand, ABC soap fans would likely prefer to see Erika Slezak as her Llanview  character, Viki Lord. But on the other hand, General Hospital fans want closure on Monica Q and to see her properly laid to rest. And if they are going to recast Monica for one final story, I think Erika Slezak is a great choice, but it could rub fans the wrong way. We’ll see.

We also know Frank Valentini really doesn’t care what fans want because if he did, Sam McCall (Kelly Monaco) would be alive and Drew Cain Quartermaine (Cameron Mathison) would be dead. So, we’ll drop more details about Erika Slezak’s GH debut as info comes out.

The post General Hospital Twist: Erika Slezak as New Monica Quartermaine – OLTL Star Recast? appeared first on Soap Dirt.