Kate Oates has promised lots of familiar faces will be returning to Walford in the coming months, and Bobby Beale is tipped to be one of them.
The child killer is thought to be making a comeback this spring, when he is released from juvenile detention after three years inside.
Read more: BBC Boss defends the expanding cost of the new EastEnders set
EastEnders fans know that Bobby is the child of Ian Beale and Laura Beale, who was killed off in 2004.
Ian then found love with Jane, who later adopted Bobby – and came to seriously regret it!
The death of Lucy Beale was one of the show’s biggest whodunits in recent history, after her body was found on Walford common in April 2014.
She had been delivered a fatal blow to the head…
Read more: EastEnders SPOILER: Hunter caught out by the police
The dark storyline ran until the show’s 30th anniversary in February 2015, when the identity of the murderer was revealed as Lucy’s 10-year-old half-brother Bobby.
Bobby had lashed out at his sister after a confrontation at their home, hitting her over the head with a heavy jewellery box.
The young boy – played by Eliot Carrington – was then tried, found guilty, and sentenced to three years in a juvenile detention centre.
And he’s due out any day now…
Having served his time for the unlawful killing of his sister, Bobby could be returning to EastEnders for an uncomfortable reunion with the dad he disappointed and the Albert Square residents who don’t trust him.
After all, who else would have him?
But will he come back repentant and a changed boy? Or will his time inside and away from his family have hardened him?
A classic clue was dropped recently when the young killer was mentioned by Mel and Ian during a discussion about what to do when your child goes seriously off the rails.
Soap fans know this nearly always means the person being discussed is due back!
In the scenes following Hunter’s dramatic downfall, Ian confessed that Bobby refuses to see him and that he still doesn’t understand what went wrong.
In emotional scenes, Ian told Mel how Bobby used to be such a good child and how his guilt over his son still runs deep…
It’s only a matter of time before Bobby returns – but will the character still be portrayed by the same actor or will he have a new face like returning Ben Mitchell?
Watch this face, we mean space!
Would you like to see Bobby Beale return to Walford? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think!