{"id":727774,"date":"2026-06-10T16:49:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T16:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/727774\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T16:49:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T16:49:16","slug":"emmerdale-confirms-major-village-arrival-as-new-sugden-joins-cast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/727774\/","title":{"rendered":"Emmerdale confirms major village arrival as new Sugden joins cast"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Sugden dynasty is expanding in Emmerdale<\/a>, with the arrival of new face Serena.<\/p>\n

It has been announced today (Wednesday, 10 June) that actress Casey Al-Shaqsy will be joining the ITV soap as a new member of the legendary clan, who have been on our screens since episode one in October 1972.<\/p>\n

Following the departure of Victoria Sugden (Isabel Hodgins) and her son Harry, the Sugdens have been looking a little thin on the ground<\/a>. While her elder brother Robert (Ryan Hawley) remains and has taken charge of the family’s agricultural legacy, the only other characters sharing his surname are his niece Sarah (Katie Hill), and her husband Jacob (Joe-Warren Plant).<\/p>\n

There’s also their daughter Leyla, though as viewers know, her real parents<\/a> are Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) and Ross Barton (Michael Parr).<\/p>\n

Al-Shaqsy is already filming at the serial drama’s studios in Leeds city centre, and on location at the village set near Harewood House in West Yorkshire. We’ll see Serena on our screens later this month.<\/p>\n

\"Casey<\/p>\n

Casey Al-Shaqsy as Serena Sugden in Emmerdale.\u00a0ITV<\/p>\n

The character is to find herself thrown straight into the centre of the drama, as she navigates someone else’s traumatic situation. Questions will be raised about her true motivations for arriving in the eponymous village, and where her loyalties lie.<\/p>\n

Speaking of the new addition, producer Laura Shaw, said: “The Sugdens are a core part of the Emmerdale fabric, and we are thrilled to welcome Casey to the family.<\/p>\n

“Her character will be at the heart of some extremely gripping and unexpected storylines, forcing her to make difficult choices that will have dramatic consequences for some of the village’s biggest names.”<\/p>\n

Al-Shaqsy added: “I\u2019m absolutely thrilled to be joining such an iconic show and playing a Sugden! Serena is a fantastic character with so much going on beneath the surface. I can\u2019t wait for the audience to see the drama unfold.”<\/p>\n

The star has a number of musical theatre roles under her belt, including the UK tours of Hamilton, Wicked and Six: The Musical.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/p>\n

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 8pm on ITV1 and from 7am on ITVX.<\/p>\n

Add Emmerdale 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":"The Sugden dynasty is expanding in Emmerdale, with the arrival of new face Serena. It has been announced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":["post-727774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727774","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=727774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}