Nooooooo! Adam Thomas has confirmed he’s leaving Emmerdale after eight years playing Adam Barton.
The rumour mill has been churning about his departure for some months, but Adam has so far insisted he’s staying put.
Read more: Adam Thomas’s son steals the show in family Father’s Day snap
When The Sun reported that he was leaving to host his own chat show, he even tweeted refuting the claims outright. But the paper stood firm and said he would be gone by the end of the year.
Turns out they were right.
Emmerdale announced the news on their official website, revealing Adam had “taken the decision to leave the show”.
Speaking of his time as part of the Barton clan, Adam said: “I’ve had an amazing eight years working on Emmerdale and I’ve loved every minute of it.
“It was a really tough decision to take to leave but I felt that now is the time to move on and challenge myself with some new roles.
“I’d like to thank everyone at Emmerdale for both giving me the opportunity to to work as part of such a great team and for giving my character Adam Barton some great storylines too.”
Show producer Iain MacLeod added his own feelings on the departure: “Everyone will be really gutted to see Adam go!
“He’s a top bloke and a really talented actor. But he’s given us a lot of notice, so we’ve been able to prepare a huge exit story for him.
“I’m really excited to see it play out on screen – however sad it will be to wave goodbye to such a brilliant character and cast member.”
Adam is currently fighting to win back his wife Victoria Barton after she found out about his kiss with Vanessa Woodfield.
The pair had split up due to his infertility, but when they reunited and agreed to look into adoption, Adam failed to come clean about his indiscretion with Vanessa.
Read more: Adam Thomas shares gorgeous snap of his son and niece
Will they reunite before he leaves? Or is it game over for good?
Speculation is now rife as to how Adam will exit and with Iain’s promise it will be massive, many have been left wondering if he will die.
Mum, Moira, has already lost her daughter Holly to a drug overdose and her husband John who died in an accident, plus John’s brother, and her former lover, James Barton who was pushed off a bridge by Emma Barton, so the death of another family member might just push her over the edge.
But is Adam really the sort of character who would just bid goodbye to the wife he adores, the mum he’s really close to, and his best mate, Aaron Dingle? Surely death or prison are his only ways out?
And as for in real life, there’s no word yet as to what he’s going to do next.
Last year he took part in I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! and won a legion of new fans. Could another stint on reality TV be beckoning him?
When rumours of his exit first surfaced, it was supposedly so he could host his own chat show – is that what’s going to happen? Will he be getting all his Emmerdale mates on the couch to interview them?
We bet he won’t be off our screens for long one way or another.