{"id":317783,"date":"2025-11-30T03:32:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T03:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/317783\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T03:32:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T03:32:10","slug":"eastenders-confirms-max-branning-return-date-and-teases-flashforward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/317783\/","title":{"rendered":"EastEnders confirms Max Branning return date and teases flashforward"},"content":{"rendered":"

Actor Jake Wood has confirmed Max Branning\u2019s return date in EastEnders<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The BBC One soap aired a shorter return for Max in the Autumn<\/a>, but now he will be back full-time from December.<\/p>\n

Speaking on The One Show on Friday (28th November 2025), Jake Wood revealed when fans can expect Max to be back in Walford.<\/p>\n

Max\u2019s return episode will air on 16th December 2025.<\/p>\n

This episode follows the return of Max\u2019s former lover, Linda Carter (Kellie Bright)<\/a>, the previous day, after leaving Walford in July<\/a> for a world cruise.<\/p>\n

Fans will be well aware that Linda and Max\u2019s family are hiding from him the fact that Linda\u2019s daughter, Annie Carter, is in fact Max\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n

Referring to the secret keeping by the other Brannings, Wood revealed: “That\u2019ll be a big betrayal for Max.”<\/p>\n

\"Jacqueline<\/p>\n

Linda Carter (Kellie Bright, right) will be back soon – and she’s been hiding a secret with Max’s daughter Lauren Beale (Jacqueline Jossa).\u00a0BBC\/Jack Barnes\/Kieron McCarron<\/p>\n

Max was last seen leaving Walford in disgrace after causing chaos at daughter Lauren\u2019s (Jacqueline Jossa) wedding<\/a> to Peter Beale (Thomas Law), his past affair with Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan) being exposed<\/a>, and failing to convince old flame – and daughter-in-law – Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) to take up a romance with him before she departed the UK<\/a>. So, what prompts Max\u2019s return to Albert Square?<\/p>\n

Of course, the other big thing on the agenda for Max is that he will be the focal point of a special flashforward episode to air on New Year\u2019s Day 2026, but it will be set on New Year\u2019s Day 2027.<\/p>\n

Little has been revealed about the episode, but only that it chiefly concerns Max and the Brannings and will pose questions about what happens in 2026 and then what will happen next.<\/p>\n

Wood revealed on The One Show that filming recently concluded on the instalment before teasing it further.<\/p>\n

“Max is in a lot of trouble in the lead-up,” teased Wood. “Those episodes are amazing.”<\/p>\n

\"Max<\/p>\n

A special episode has been confirmed to focus on Max.\u00a0BBC<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cThen, suddenly, we cut to The Vic, and it\u2019s not New Year\u2019s Day 2026, it\u2019s New Year\u2019s Day 2027. We see Max, obviously, he\u2019s had a very busy year; he\u2019s been in lots of drama; there have been a lot of events that have happened.<\/p>\n

“I think the audience is really going to love it. There\u2019s gonna be so much speculation.<\/p>\n

“And it\u2019s just a really interesting way of telling the story because over the next year we\u2019re going to build up to what we\u2019ve seen.”<\/p>\n

He noted, “Honestly, it\u2019s so jam-packed. Full of questions.”<\/p>\n

Wood teased that the episode will be both “intriguing” and “confusing” for viewers, with the cast themselves joining in the intense speculation.<\/p>\n

Just what trouble has Max got himself into this time?<\/p>\n

\"Pierre<\/p>\n

There’s a big 2026 ahead for the Branning clan.\u00a0BBC\/Jack Barnes\/Kieron McCarron<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the coming week will see the departures of Freddie Slater (Bobby Brazier)<\/a> and Anna Knight (Molly Rainford)<\/a> as the couple head off travelling, while the week after will see the return of another Walford troublemaker: Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, aside from mischief, Sam has an emotive and important storyline<\/a> for her return stint.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/p>\n

Visit our dedicated EastEnders<\/a> page for all the latest news, interviews and spoilers.<\/p>\n

Add EastEnders to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app<\/a>\u2013 download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.<\/p>\n

Check out more of our Soaps<\/a> coverage or visit our TV Guide<\/a> and Streaming Guide<\/a> to find out what’s on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Actor Jake Wood has confirmed Max Branning\u2019s return date in EastEnders. The BBC One soap aired a shorter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-317783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}