Home and Away is set to welcome some new faces in the coming months, with one fan favourite rumoured to be saying goodbye.
With the show regularly filming at the public Palm Beach in Sydney’s north, fans often get a glimpse of what’s in store months before the action hits our screens – and that sometimes includes the arrival of new characters.
In recent months, some new arrivals have been spotted on set, while one popular character has been conspicuous by their absence, fuelling rumours that they’re set to depart the show later this year.
Get ready to welcome Abigail, Jimmy, Perri, a new bad boy and a baby bump to Summer Bay, and are we about to say goodbye to Felicity?
New arrivals in Summer Bay
Abigail Fowler (Hailey Pinto)
While currently unconfirmed, it seems likely that new cast member Hailey Pinto is set to play Abigail Fowler, the as yet unseen sister of Eden (Stephanie Panozzo) and Levi Fowler (Tristan Gorey).
As reported last week, we saw Hailey filming during what we believe to have been Cash (Nicholas Cartwright) and Eden’s engagement party back in March, though we weren’t able to confirm either her connection or character name.
We did see Hailey’s character interacting a lot with Eden, and in the weeks since she has also been seen filming further scenes with both Eden and Levi.
A glimpse of a script, posted publicly on social media by a crew member, has since revealed that Eden and Levi were sharing a scene with a character named Abigail.
Until last year, Eden’s backstory had been relatively unknown, other than the fact that she grew up in a funeral home. When we met Levi in November, it was only then that we learned that Eden had been estranged from him ever since their father had an affair whilst they were in their teens.
Eden and Levi’s father had moved out of the family home, and Levi going to live with him was seen by Eden as him taking sides. As a result she had not spoken to her brother for around 15 years.
There have only been passing references to Levi and Eden having another sister however, with nothing yet known about the third and final Fowler sibling until now.
With the engagement scenes expected to air around August-September, Hailey Pinto’s character should be arriving on screens in the next three months.
James “Jimmy” Fowler (Aaron Jeffery)
It would appear that Abigail isn’t the only member of the Fowler clan to arrive in the coming months, with actor Aaron Jeffery due to make an appearance later this year.
Known for his roles in Water Rats, McLeod’s Daughters and Wentworth—and more recently seen alongside Toni Collette in Netflix drama Pieces of Her—the 53 year old Kiwi actor’s résumé has recently been updated to include an upcoming guest role on Home and Away as James “Jimmy” Fowler.
Given the name and the age range, it’s not too much of a leap to speculate that Jimmy could be Eden, Levi and Abigail’s father.
After his affair was revealed, their dad moved out of the family home to be with the woman who Levi claims he’d fallen in love with. Whilst Levi has even more of an understanding now, since the breakup of his own marriage to Imogen (Georgia Blizzard), Eden has not been able to look past the fact that her father’s departure had broken her mother’s heart.
Eden and Levi are both still in regular contact with their as yet unnamed and unseen mother, but as far as we know Eden hasn’t set eyes on her father since the day he left the family home when she was 15.
Whilst talking about her upbringing in the funeral home, Eden had explained that her family were hoping she would take on the business, but it was certainly not part of her career plan.
Levi’s relationship with his father remains a good one, and whilst it’s feasible that we will see Levi visit him at his home, how will Eden react if her father comes to Summer Bay?
Claudia Salini (Rachael Carpani)
Aaron Jeffery isn’t the only McLeod’s Daughters alumni heading to the bay, with actor Rachael Carpani’s résumé listing her as appearing as a character named Claudia Salini.
Rachael played Jodi Fountain over eight seasons of the Nine Network series, and was nominated for a Gold Logie for the role in 2007. More recently she has featured in Seven comedy drama 800 Words and the Ben Affleck movie The Way Back.
No further information is currently known about the character of Claudia, or whether it’s a one-off appearance.
Before rising to prominence in McLeod’s Daughters in 2001, Rachael had a small role in Home and Away as Miranda, one of the diner waitresses. She had also previously appeared as an uncredited extra, including as a member of Saul Bennett’s commune in 1997.
A new ‘bad boy’ (Joshua Orpin)
Australia’s Daily Telegraph reported earlier this year that Joshua Orpin, who is best known for playing Conner Kent (aka Superboy) in the second series of DC Comics’ Titans, has joined the show and will make his debut appearance later this year.
Character details are being kept under wraps for now, but the publication has revealed that he will be “a bit of a bad boy.”
I can say he is a bit of a bad boy who comes into the show and stirs up some trouble among the Summer Bay locals,” Joshua told the Daily Telegraph. “He is seemingly one thing on the surface but he has a great depth to him that I’ve had a lot of fun exploring.”
Summer Bay has been without a permanent ‘bad boy’ since the departure of Dean Thompson (Patrick O’Connor) last year. Dean arrived in the bay in February 2018 as the newest member of the River Boys, the Mangrove River gang formed by Darryl ‘Brax’ Braxton (Steve Peacocke).
The gang were a major part of Home and Away‘s storylines for a number of years, starting with Brax’s arrival in Summer Bay back in 2011.
Intriguingly, the publicity photo for Joshua’s character bears more than a passing resemblance to the one used for Dean’s debut.
Coincidence, or a subtle clue from the Home and Away production team that we’re about to welcome a new River Boy to Summer Bay?
The Daily Telegraph reveals that Melbourne-born Orpin was keen to take the role as it helped cure his homesickness. The actor was in the US during Covid, and revealed that he was unable to return to his home country even between acting gigs.
“One of the reasons I was keen to do this gig was because of that, I have worked internationally and I have been quite homesick, especially over Covid where I wasn’t able to come back to Australia even when I wasn’t working,” Orpin explained.
“I was really keen to get stuck into some Aussie stuff… I really wanted to get stuck into some Aussie shows, film and TV and this came along and I thought it was the perfect opportunity.”
Fan photos taken at Palm Beach earlier this year showed an actor who appeared to be Joshua Orpin filming with Jacqui Purvis, with the two appearing to hold hands.
Is Felicity about to find romance with the new bad boy?
Perri
Another potential ‘bad boy’ heading to Summer Bay is 17-year-old Perri.
Although we currently cannot confirm who will be playing him, or whether he’s lined up as a guest or regular, BTTB saw several audition videos posted publicly online for the character earlier this year.
Whilst we must stress that scenes used in auditions can often differ from what ends up on-screen, the dialogue reveals that Perri is a former juvenile offender who is seeking self-defence classes from the unnamed other character in the scene (we’d hazard a guess at local gym owner Tane as opposed to JP).
“Let’s talk about why you want to do it,” the character asks. “Like I said, it’s not about throwing your weight around and starting fights.”
“I heard you, I just want to protect myself,” Perri assures them.
“For anything in particular? Are you in trouble?”
“You already know the answer to that, you’ve seen my file,” Perri replies.
Perri goes onto claim that whilst everything is okay at home, he’s turning 18 in a few weeks. Any further screw-ups would mean that he’d end up in prison rather than juvie, so he needs to be prepared.
Will the troubled teen’s time in Summer Bay allow him to turn his life around?
Is Felicity leaving?
Felicity (Jacqui Purvis) and her brother Cash first arrived on screens back in 2021, with party girl Flick causing trouble for her straight-laced policeman brother when she got them evicted from their rental house by ignoring noise complaints from their neighbours.
Her relationship with Tane (Ethan Browne) has dominated much of her time on the show. The pair met in the club where Felicity worked, and slept together while Tane was on the rebound from Ziggy Astoni (Sophie Dillman).
A difficult start to their relationship saw Tane accuse Felicity of stalking her, with the real culprit eventually unmasked as Felicity’s colleague Anne Sherman (Megan Smart), who took them both hostage after taking issue with the way Tane had spoken to her at Nikau’s (Kawakawa Fox-Reo) birthday party.
Things eventually improved for Tane and Flick, and they ended up in a relationship, before getting engaged in September 2022.
After some initial jitters from Flick, the pair attempted to get married in November 2022, but were forced to postpone after an act of sabotage from a bikie gang saw Eden crash the ute they were driving.
They finally married in March 2023, but by October, their marriage had ended, when Tane discovered that Felicity had continued to take her birth control meds after agreeing to try for a baby.
Now, rumours are flying that Felicity is set to leave Summer Bay.
Jacqui Purvis was still on set as of March this year, when Back to the Bay witnessed the filming of an engagement party, where Tane and Felicity appeared to have reunited.
Yet eagle-eyed fans haven’t spotted Jacqui filming at the Palm Beach set since March, while one fan on social media claims that a security guard informed them that she has left the show and is travelling overseas.
While nothing is confirmed, many of the show’s cast sign three-year contracts, and with Felicity approaching three years on screen this August, the timelines would certainly add up.
Harper falls pregnant!
Could we be about to welcome another Summer Bay baby?
Recent fan footage taken at Palm Beach appears to show Harper (Jessica Redmayne) with a baby bump, as Tane fawns over her.
A video from the same day shows Harper and Tane just wrapping up a training session. As Tane takes a break to talk to someone else, Harper doubles over and clutches her stomach.
Thankfully it seems there’s no reason to be alarmed, as Harper grabs Tane’s hand and brings it to her bump.
The pair are then seen with big grins on their faces, suggesting that Harper has just felt her baby kick.
Harper and her sister Dana (Ally Harris) have been Tane’s most enthusiastic personal trainer clients since they arrived in Summer Bay, and last year, as Tane rebounded following his and Felicity’s breakup, Tane misread the signals from Harper and planted a kiss on her.
Harper quickly pulled away and walked off, before later assuring Felicity that she had no desire to make a move on her ex.
Now, with Felicity potentially out of the picture for good, combined with Tane’s desperation to start a family of his own, have Harper and Tane decided to try for a baby? Or has Harper fallen pregnant with someone else?
If the baby is Tane’s, hopefully he and Harper will have better luck than Tane’s late brother Ari (Rob Kipa Williams), who was plagued with bad fortune.
Ari and Mia (Anna Samson) suffered multiple miscarriages in their many years together, both before and after their move to Summer Bay.
Mackenzie (Emily Weir) also discovered she was pregnant weeks after she and Ari split, but tragically lost the baby as she agonised over whether to tell Ari about her pregnancy.
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