Sean’s return causes upset, injury and mayhem says EastEnders legend Rob Kazinsky
Ten years since Sean Slater left Walford, he’s back. And his return is as dramatic as his EastEnders exit was a decade ago…
At first, the Slaters have no idea that the prodigal bad penny has turned up, and it’s furious Jack Branning who deals with Sean for taking off with Amy, Jack's daughter who Sean once thought was his.
As the men rant and rave, Jack realises Sean hasn't a clue that Amy’s mum Roxy is dead. Taking Sean to her graveside, a fight kicks off after when vitriolic Jack blames Roxy for his wife Ronnie’s death.
"Jack and Sean share more things that either of them would ever admit; they both love Amy, they both lost the love of their life, and they never got to mourn," explains Rob Kazinsky who’s returned to reprise the role of Sean.
When Jack later tells Stacey her brother is in Walford, a whole new drama erupts. Jean’s ecstatic to see her longlost boy who then accompanies her to an appointment about her cancer battle.
Taken aback by the severity of his mum’s illness, flaky Sean contemplates leaving. After a mouthful from his furious sister, however, he agrees to spend some time alone with Jean.
At a remote farmhouse, their trip soon turns ugly. When Jean hurts herself, Sean panics and make a shocking admission to his mum…
"He knows he might only have a short period of time where he could tell her the things he was always too afraid to say," says Rob. "Sean comes back to make peace so that if Jean does die she knows the truth."
As the scary situation escalates, his mum loses consciousness. Sean calls an ambulance and then alerts frantic Stacey…
Is Jean about to die?
Returning to the Square has always been on the cards for actor Rob who figured a decade was a good moment to bring back Sean.
"Every few years I’ve had a phone call from someone at EastEnders saying ‘what about this year?’ and I always said no," he reveals. "I always wanted to come back and give Sean the send-off he deserved. This year I got the call and I thought it’s been 10 years since I left and if ever there’s a time for me to come back then this is probably it. So, I spoke to Kate [Oates, the soaps producer] who is literally the most convincing person I’ve ever met in my entire life and we talked storylines."
Sadly, Sean Slater isn't back for the long haul but the small taste of being back on familiar ground at Elstree left the actor with an appetite for more.
"I was very excited to come back but I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I have," he explains.
"It would have been brilliant to do more with Jessie Wallace [Kat Slater] but as I’m back for such a short amount of time we couldn’t. I would have loved more with Louisa Lytton who plays Ruby, too, I wanted desperately for Sean to realise that what he did to Johnny Allen was wrong, he took someone’s father. And I would have loved for him and Ruby to have scenes where Sean realised what he had actually done all those years ago and say sorry."
As for the scripts and storylines Rob was given for his character's big return, he promises drama: "I said to Kate let’s leave no questions unanswered. Let’s tell all the secrets."
We can't wait!
