EastEnders spoilers follow.
Max Branning’s future on EastEnders has been revealed following the various cliffhangers from the flashforward episode. With several storylines set to come, how long will he stay in Walford?
The iconic character returned to Albert Square over the festive period after his history with Zoe Slater was revealed, while he also tried patching things up with children Lauren and Oscar.
On New Year’s Day, the BBC soap aired a special episode which took place one year in the future, with Max at the centre of the action as he prepared to wed a mystery bride while also being charged with solicitation to murder.
While those particular arcs will be developed over the coming months, more urgent matters were at hand as both Lauren and Oscar shunned him despite the fact that he had promised to be a better father.

BBC
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In scenes set to air on Monday (5 January), Max will reiterate his desire to provide for his children, though they are still not best pleased with him. He wants to stick around, however, and pledges to find a job; will he be successful?
Following the conclusion of the flashforward episode, several questions were left unanswered, and executive producer Ben Wadey shared that this was a deliberate decision in order to build suspense over the coming months.
“The joy for me of this story and where the team has done such a brilliant job, is we set up a gazillion questions in that episode – but you don’t have to wait an entire year to get all the answers,” he explained.

BBC
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“You’ll be getting answers from almost the episode after, and then through every month we’ll be giving you little bits. But also, we twist it – with a lot in that episode, things are not as they seem.”
“So things that you will assume are going on there, when you watch them in a year’s time, will actually have quite a different light on them,” he continued, before teasing that it will be “satisfying” for viewers.
EastEnders airs on Mondays-Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer, where most episodes drop early at 6am ahead of their TV broadcast.
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