Hollyoaks star Stuart Manning has admitted he didn’t want to be killed off on the soap.
The actor recently returned as multi-millionaire businessman Russ Owen to the Channel 4 show.
But just three months later he met his end when he was brutally murdered.
He was beaten over the head with a wooden mallet by Breda McQueen.
And now Stuart has revealed how he knew he was going to exit but didn’t want to be killed off.
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He told the Metro: “To be honest, I didn’t want to die.
“The thing was it kind of felt right for Russ’s character because to bring him back full time would be a bit difficult, especially with Mercedes and how big her character is within the show.
“I think Russ would get lost if he wasn’t with her.”
He added: “It kind of made sense, we spoke about it (producer Bryan Kirkwood) and we said it feels right.”
And he revealed the short return stint actually paid for his recent wedding, so it was a no brainer to return.
Soap boss Bryan himself recently told how it was always the plan to kill Russ off to propel Mercedes McQueen into a new year.
Read more: Hollyoaks Jen Metcalfe teases new storyline which sees the ‘worst thing Mercedes has ever done’
He told The Sun Online: “Lovely, clever, talented Stuart Manning came back with us, and he knew it was for a limited time.
“After missing Mercedes for a year, we wanted to bring her back and revisit the girl we first fell in love with with the boy she first fell in love with which was Russ.
“And use that as a launch pad for the best year of Mercedes yet. He’s such a good and kind man, Stuart so it was lovely to have him back, but where this takes Mercedes is very exciting.”
Are you sad Russ was killed off?