There’s some exciting casting news over at the ABC studios and some familiar faces and fan favorites are headed to your ABC soaps.

Genie Francis, General Hosptal’s Laura Spencer, is set to reprise her Emmy-winning role this month. Although details are sketchy, it seems this will be a short visit and Laura will be dealing with her daughter’s mental breakdown after killing her ex-boyfriend, Logan Hayes. The character of Laura has been in a catatonic state, so it’s unclear if she’ll be a vision of her daughter’s mind or if she’s actually waking up.

Another fan favorite, A Martinez, is heading back to his daytime roots and joining One Life to Live. He is set to appear in the role of Ray Montez in late August. No word yet on what his connection or storyline in Llanview will be. Martinez is also a Daytime Emmy winner and is best known for his role on “Santa Barbara”. He has also appeared on General Hospital.

Vincent Irizarry recently ended his role over on The Young and the Restless, and now rumors have him returning to All My Children this fall. Irizarry would return to his role as Babe’s father, David Hayward, and I’m sure he will be in some sort of mischief in record time.

SoapNet’s primetime spin-off, “General Hospital: Night Shift 2” is also basking in casting news. In addition to bringing back Antonio Sabato, Jr. (Jagger Cates) and Tristan Rogers (Robert Scorpio), Finola Hughes (Anna Devane Scorpio) will be back as well starting on September 30. It’s shaping up to be a Scorpio family reunion as Robert deals with colon cancer and his daughter and ex-wife are there to support him.

In other SoapNet news, the success of Night Shift is paving the way for other daytime soaps to branch out. Brian Frons, President of ABC Daytime, announced that a primetime spin-off is being planned for One Life to Live. It’s early in the planning stages, but it sounds like the story will be based around Detective John McBain (played by Michael Easton) and his solving of a crime.