ALL: Characters Who Filled the Void of Another

[Liberty City]

• DAYS: Stephanie Johnson (Abigail Klein) is the replacement for Abigail (then-Marci Miller).
• GH: The quick return of Jordan (Tanisha Harper) was a replacement for the exiting Shawn (then-Sean Blakemore).

[detroitpiston]

Didn’t Mansi’s Abigail come on around the time Shelly Hening’s Stephanie left too?

[Liberty City]

Kate Mansi debuted as Abigail in March 2011, and Shelley Hennig exited as Stephanie in April 2011.

[P.J.]

lol...you must be right.  I thought it was closer than that. 

[Lye-C]

Diana Colville was created to replace Marlena on Days. Isabella was created to replace Diana. 

[edgeofnik]

B&B: Quinn absolutely filled the void for Sheila. On most scripts, you could even strike Quinn and insert Sheila and no one would've questioned it.

[Cheap21]

AMC

Cassandra and Natalia. Angie's daughter Cassandra joined the show in 2008 and exited after a few months. Later that year they brought on Jessie's daughter Natalia. They were the same exact character

[Dr Neil Curtis]

Did they interact much? I can’t remember. 

[SoapSurvivor]

Days:

• Carly Manning replaced Hope Brady, while Billie Reed took over for both Carly and Hope. All three women shared an uncanny resemblance. Recasting Hope with Chystal Chappell or Lisa Rinna could have easily achieved the same effect. To distinguish the three characters, Billie needed a confidence boost and became kind of devious, and Carly, upon her return, became edgier. This was because Hope, Carly, and Billie essentially portrayed the same character with varying backstories.
   
• Charlotte Ross's Eve Donovan was the blueprint for the character that eventually blossomed into Sami Brady.
   
• Nicole Walker's early days felt like a Billie Reed rehash. Similar backgrounds – simple girls from afar with overprotective brothers – made it hard not to draw the comparison.

[AMCOLTLLover]

I wouldn’t say she filled the void or was a replacement but it felt like with Hayley on AMc kinda out the door between 2000-2002 they tried to turn Greenlee into the new Hayley. But maybe that’s just me.

[AMCHistory]

I think this one is a stretch. Hayley and Greenlee not only overlapped tenures significantly, they overlapped storylines. Greenlee was just the next bad girl ingenue of the bunch (from Hayley, to Kendall, to Julia, to Kelsey, to Gillian, to Greenlee). We got a new one every year!

I think that the Sam McCall/Brenda Barrett archetype (where the players fill void with the same love interests/ part of the canvas) is the best example.

[Paul Raven]

AMC

Didn't Myrtle take the place of Mona in Erica's life as the wise older woman she could turn to for advice and support?

[Vee]

OLTL

A case can be made for Adriana replacing Cassie in Dorian's family - Melissa Fumero was so talented and had such good chemistry with Robin Strasser that IIRC what was intended to be a hoax storyline, with Dorian claiming Adriana as hers to keep her away from her grandson River, turned out to be the truth. Like Cassie, Adriana came to town a sweet young teenage girl who soon wanted to connect with her mother.

Later, Langston Wilde did the same to Adriana; Dorian adopted her in late '07, and Adriana (who had completed a bitch goddess arc) left for Paris the following summer.

[AMCHistory]

On AMC, there was parade of young women to take the place of Nina Cortlandt at the Cortlandt estate after Taylor Miller took leave. They needed to give Palmer someone he can obsess about and over protect. Julie Chandler first, then Lanie and Dixie. They became immediate infatuations for Palmer, despite being new kin. 
 

On AMC, Sean Montgomery basically replaced the much more memorable Reggie Montgomery.  Sean got the teen summer story. Sean became Jackson’s son figure. Sean became Lily and Bianca’s talk-to character. The worst part was that Reggie was still on contact and was allowed to fade into the background without any real goodbye scene. I think Michael J had the last laugh. 
 

[applcin]

GH:
Mac filled the void when Tristan Rogers left and they "killed" Robert, not only raising Robin but eventually becoming police commissioner himself.
There were multiple attempts to fill Genie Francis'/Laura's absence as the beautiful young heroine/damsel when she left the first time. Laura Templeton as the literal lookalike, Jackie Templeton as the interest for Luke. But I think the more popular and enduring one was Holly.