EastEnders have amped up Penny Branning’s storyline but many fans believe hints pointing at her death are ‘red herrings’ and the person Jack is mourning in the New Year flashforward is another Branning
20:00, 24 Feb 2026Updated 20:12, 24 Feb 2026
EastEnders fans ‘work out’ who Jack mourns in 2027 – and it’s not Penny(Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)
EastEnders fans think they know which Branning’s death is haunting Jack in the New Year flashforward – and it’s not his daughter Penny. Death fears for the eldest of Jack’s children first started circulating in January, when the time jump to 2027 saw her father looking very depressed as he struggled to take care of a newborn, whilst Penny was no where to be seen.
Some fans have become more convinced that Penny (Kitty Castledine) will die as the episode airing on Tuesday 24 February revealed she is pregnant with Vinny Panesar’s (Shiv Jalota) child. It’s looking more and more likely that the mysterious baby Ethan will be Jack’s (Scott Maslen) grandchild after all.
Kitty Castledine, who plays Penny, has teased her and Vinny’s future(Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)
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However, others have pointed out that there may be another Branning that Jack is missing in 2027. Ronnie Mitchell (Samantha Womack) became a Branning by marrying Jack just before she tragically died on their wedding day. After her sister Roxy (Rita Simon) started to drown in the hotel swimming pool, Ronnie jumped in to save her, but got caught in her wedding dress and drowned too, in a moment that has gone down in history as one of the saddest to appear on EastEnders.
But when did Ronnie die? On 1 January 2017, making the day of the New Year falshforward the tenth anniversary of not only her death, but her wedding to Jack.
“Jack was holding a wedding ring and 1 Jan 2027 is the tenth anniversary of Ronnie’s death, so it’s not surprising he is sad,” one fan pointed out. “I think (and hope!) they want us to think Penny is gone but it will be a red herring.”
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Another fan agreed: “I would actually love it so much if Jack’s New Year storyline was about Ronnie, a) because Penny dying is not something I want to see and so I’m choosing to believe it’s a red herring.
“But also because b) I really hope it becomes a vehicle to bring Ronnie back. She and Jack were perfect together. Ronnie was literally the love of Jack’s life and if Kathy can come back from the dead, so can Ronnie Mitchell! Would also be a great way to incorporate Amy into the Mitchell group.”
Samantha Womack has previously spoken about how Ronnie being killed off changed her. Speaking on Loose Women, she said: “You get to know such this wonderful group of people for such a long time and then Ronnie drowned in a pool.
Ronnie and Roxy died on the same day Ronnie married Jack(Image: BBC)
“I thought it was shot beautifully. In retrospect, it’s very easy to hold onto safety, isn’t it? Particularly in our game, being self-employed is terrifying. I don’t know if it was a favour [killing me off], but my whole outlook on life has changed.
“I got diagnosed with breast cancer and survived it for now but the beauty of everything that happens to you, the ups, the downs, is the beautiful chaos of it all and what you’d miss if you weren’t here.”
Other fans also felt Penny’s death didn’t quite make sense, as with Vinny as the father of the child, they felt certain that the Panesars would have jumped into to care for Ethan instead of Jack. One wrote: “Would Suki [Panesar-Unwin, played by Balvinder Sopal] really let her new grandchild be taken care of by Jack Branning?”
Suki and her wife Eve (Heather Peace) have been trying to adopt a child, with Suki even going so far as to try and convince her step-granddaughter Avani Nandra-Hart (Aaliyah James) that she should not get an abortion and instead give the child to her. The couple’s desire for a child is also the reason why Vinny chose not to invest in his half-brother Ravi Gulati’s (Aaron Thiara) business ideas this week, as Suki “couldn’t risk” having Ravi’s gangster reputation tarnishing their chances.
Other fans felt Ethan himself was the red herring. “I’m still not convinced that Ethan will turn out to be Penny’s. Wadey said they’d be loads of red herrings and I wonder if this is one of them.”
Another added: “Unless Suki has left, not a chance she would be letting that baby be with Jack and that’s why I genuinely think there’s a good chance Ethan is nothing to do with Penny/Vinny.”
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