Robert Kazinsky is set to reprise his role as Sean Slater in EastEnders – 20 years after his debut.
The BBC One soap has announced the news of the popular character's return in a regular role, having exited the soap as a full-time cast member in early 2009, three years after first debuting in August 2006.
Sean later returned for guest appearances in 2019, 2021 and most recently in 2022. Sean's sister Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) left Walford last year with her youngest children to go and live with Sean in Brazil.
So, what brings Sean back to swap Brazil for Walford? Well, the show has revealed that he very much returns for the Slater family and for reasons that will soon become very clear...
Speaking about his return to the soap, Kazinsky said: "I left EastEnders in 2008 as a 23-year-old boy and was lucky to spend the next 19 years of my life working around the world, always championing EastEnders and stating the fact that one day I wanted to walk in Sean’s shoes again, but this time as a man to see who Sean the man might also be.
"I wanted to do it for Sean, I wanted to do it for the fans that have supported me in every role since I left the Square but, mostly, I wanted to do it for me.
"I’m home, and I can’t wait to bring a new level of heartfelt chaos to Albert Square in the way only Sean Slater can."
"Sean Slater was a big part of the Slater family and as viewers will already know, where Sean goes, drama is not far behind."
Aside from his complicated relationships with sister Stacey and mother Jean Slater (Gillian Wright), Sean's primary storylines from his previous regular stint revolved around his romance with Tanya Branning (Jo Joyner) and his later marriage to Roxy Mitchell (Rita Simons).
Sean's original exit occurred following his discovery on Christmas Day 2008 that Roxy's daughter Amy (now played by Ellie Dadd) was not his daughter but actually was the child of Jack Branning (Scott Maslen). After kidnapping Amy for a week, Sean eventually returned Amy to her mother and fled Walford.
During his previous return stints, he reconciled with Jean and also met Amy and mourned Roxy following her death.
Sean's comeback comes at a time of big change for the soap with the addition of an entire new family in the form of the Hawkins clan and surprise relatives of Denise Fox (Diane Parish).
As well as Sean, it has also been reported that troublemaker Janine Carter (Charlie Brooks) will be making a short return to the soap too.
Additionally, there are three major exits on the horizon – with Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan) and Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) confirmed to be leaving the show and actor Aaron Thiara reported to have quit his role as bad boy Ravi Gulati.
Could Sean's return connect to the reports of Zoe's tragic demise? We'll have to wait and see...
EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and from 6am on BBC iPlayer. Visit our dedicated EastEnders for all the latest news, interviews and spoilers.
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